wood sorrel

Cause apparently, it does not stop.  I had such a good time on this website, I went in search of the rest of the species around the neighborhood.  Above, we have violets and yellow sorrel (the heart-looking clover.)

Violets are generally considered non-toxic, but the roots will make you sick.  Since most violet species are prepared the same way, my favorite edible plant site has recipes for you.

Yellow Woodsorrel, Oxalis stricta is supposed to be entirely edible, including the roots.  But if you have kidney stones or gout, avoid it.  Also, if you were to eat it “like a force-fed lab rat,” it could leech calcium out of your bones.

 

mock strawberry

Indian mock strawberry, Duchesnea indica (also called Potentilla indica),  has been called everything from a cure to a poison.   Most foragers just say its yucky, but not poisonous.  I’m not sure what to teach the kids.  Thoughts?

field madder

If you look right in the middle and you will see some four-petaled flowers. In the pic, they look white, but they’re really blue.  Field madder, Sherardia arvensis,  doesn’t seem to have any uses other than a weaker dye potential than other madders.  It doesn’t seem to have any edible or medicinal applications, but it also doesn’t seem to be poisonous.  Anyone know?

Common Lespedeza

Common lespedza (Japanese clover), Kummerowia striata, is a nitrogen-fixing little puffy mat beside my driveway.  It’s my kids favorite to wallow in.  Feels good on the feet.  Apparently invasive as all get-out!  It didn’t get here until 1850.  I can’t find any information on poisonous/beneficial qualities if the kids took a mouthful.

carpet weed

Carpetweed, Mollugo verticillata, if it weren’t on my same busy-street curb, edible.  It’s especially good young (meristem state?) as a “pot herb.”  That’s hard to google, but it supposedly means it can be boiled as greens or used in soups.  Okay.  The “whole” plant is edible, but the linked author says that it doesn’t include the roots.  No word, so far, if they are poisonous, or just not yummy.