12 Edible Wild Weeds and Plants

Wild weeds and plants can often be used as an emergency food source or for everyday use if you are careful and know what is useful and what’s poisonous. Many of the weeds we hate in our yards are actually quite useful food stuffs if you know what to do with them. Don’t be so quick to eradicate all those weeds, as you may need them one day. Here are some of the more common ones found in the South East. Always be careful as there are many poisonous look-a-likes. Know for certain what the plant is, before tasting it. Use a good field guide to determine the plant identity unless you know for sure what it is.



1. Wild rose – is a common edible flower found near water sources. The flowers are a good source for edible rose hips. The Petals are sweet and aromatic and can be used in salads. The petals and leaves can be dried and used for tea. The tea is an excellent source of vitamin C and can be used to treat worms.



2. Wild grape – is a climbing vine with clinging tendrils, green flowers in a cluster, and heart-shaped leaves. The leaves and fruit are edible. To make raisins, dry the grapes in the sun for three days. Grape leaves can be added to dill pickles, or can be a vegetable accompaniment or wrapped around meat and other vegetables. These grapes have been used to treat fertility, diarrhea, snakebite, and may help prevent heart disease and stroke.



3. Red staghorn sumac – is a shrub with lance shaped leaves that have several leaflets, cone shaped flowers and berry clusters. The large berry spikes can be harvested in late summer. Soak the berries in hot water to make a lemonade like drink. The flower can be used as a tea, which may help ease stomach pain. Make a gargle from the berries for sore throats.



4. Dandelion – This common yellow flower is considered an invasive weed by most people but has numerous edible qualities. The leaves, crowns, roots and flowers are all edible. The seeds make a good bird food. Dandelion leaves are best for salads in early spring and are high in vitamins A, C, and B1. Older leaves can be improved by soaking for a couple of hours in a bowl of water with a teaspoon of baking soda, or salt and cooked as greens. The crown of the plant, the white part just below the leaves and above the roots, can be sliced, breaded, and fried. The flower petals, which are beta-carotene rich, are a good addition to salads and other foods like rice when broken up and sprinkled on top. You can make homemade coffee out of the long tap root. Let the root dry out for a few days in a warm dry spot, then lightly roast the root and grind it up. Add 1 teaspoon of it to 1 cup of hot water for a caffeine free drink. Dandelion tea can also be made from the roots and may stimulate the flow of milk for nursing mothers and help reduce fever.



5. Bull thistle – is thorny biennial with a purple flower on a spiny bract. The first year growth of leaves can be eaten after thorns are removed with a knife. Wear gloves. They can be eaten raw or cooked and have a celery-like flavor. Harvest leaves in spring and fall, flowers in summer. The roots can be boiled, sliced, and stir-fried. The outer green bract can be steamed and eaten like an artichoke.



6. Buchhorn plantain - have either broad ovate leaves or narrower lance-like leaves with many small green flowers on a stalk. Plantain is best before the flower stalk appears, but new leaves come all year. Often a yard weed. Use the young leaves in salads, soak older leaves in water with baking soda or salt and cook as greens. Dried seeds can be eaten whole or ground into flour. The plant can be boiled as a tea and used as a fever reducer. The leaves can be applied to burns, cuts, and scrapes as well.



7. Yellow and sheep sorrel - Yellow sorrel has a shamrock shaped leaf with yellow flowers. Who as a child has not chewed on one of these? Sheep sorrel has a shield shaped leaf, with pinkish flowers growing on a stalk. Both have a strong lemony flavor, being high in oxalic acid, so use sparingly, as it can hinder absorption of calcium. The leaves, flowers, and seeds can be used for salads, or brewed into a lemonade-like beverage. The warm tea may be used to reduce fever, and swelling.



8. Daylily – The wild orange day lily is often found along roadsides and can be transplanted into the yard and garden. The yellow tuberous root can be harvested all year and cooked like potatoes or eaten raw in salads. The strong tasting flowers are flavonoid rich and can be tossed in salads. The flowers and unopened buds can be steamed, boiled, stir-fried, sautéed, or dipped in batter and fried. Serve with butter or cheese sauce.



9. Spiderwort - is a common yard weed with violet trillium flowers and lance shaped leaves. The young shoots and leaves can be eaten, but are rather gooey. The slimy texture will release and thin mucus. The flowers bloom every morning all summer and can be used in salads and sprinkled over omelets. A tea from the leaves is good for a stomachache. The long leaves can be used to bind wounds and are antiseptic in nature.



10. Wild ginger – is an aromatic root that smells like traditional ginger. It has two heart shaped leaves with hairy stems, and purple flowers around May. When dried and grated it’s a good substitute for ginger. It’s often found in wet woodlands.



11. Cleavers, bedstraw - is a sticky weed that grows on a slender stem with eight leaves in a whorl and has tiny white flowers. It’s often a yard weed and is invasive. In early spring the leaves are good in salads, and older leaves can be cooked like greens. Summer seeds can be roasted and ground as a coffee substitute like chicory. A tea made from the whole plant is good for kidney stones.



12. Sassafras – is a small aromatic tree with leaves shaped like a mitten. Some have three lobes. Boil sucker roots, sweeten and use as tea. Use dried leaves as a spice. Leaves can be made into tea and rubbed on the body to make a good mosquito repellent.