Showing posts with label Green Fruit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Green Fruit. Show all posts

Balloon Vine

Scientific Name(s): Cardiospermum corindum
Abundance: invasive
What: young leaves; vine tips
How: cooked
Where: fields, borders, dry, moist
When: spring, summer, fall, winter
Nutritional Value: minor
Dangers: none

Leaf Arrangement: The leaves of Cardiospermum corindum are arranged alternately along the stem.

Leaf Shape: Leaves are compound, usually with three leaflets, each leaflet being broadly ovate to heart-shaped, measuring approximately 1 to 3 inches in width.

Leaf Venation: Pinnate venation, with veins running from the base to the tip of each leaflet.

Leaf Margin: The leaf margin is typically serrated or toothed.

Leaf Color: The leaves are green.

Flower Structure: The flowers are approximately 1/4" across, with four petals, and occur in clusters.

Flower Color: Flowers are typically greenish-white.

Fruit: The fruit is a distinctive, papery capsule with three inflated chambers, resembling balloons.

Seed: Inside each inflated capsule are small, black seeds with a white band running partway around the seed. 

Stem: The stem is typically climbing or trailing, and it may have fine hairs.

Hairs: Appears hairless or extremely fine hairs.

Height: Cardiospermum corindum can climb to significant heights but is often seen trailing along the ground or climbing on other vegetation.


Ballon vine plant in the fall.
BalloonVine2

Balloon Vine flower. They can keep producing flowers while the temperatures are still warm.
BalloonVine

Balloon vine leaf.
BalloonVineLeaf

Balloon vine leaf and green seed pod "balloon". Seed pod/seeds are NOT edible.
BalloonFlowerPod1

Dried balloon vines seed pods.
DriedBalloonVine

Balloon vine seeds.
BalloonVineSeeds

North American distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture.
BalloonVine

Balloon Vine on the left, Ground Cherry on the right.
BalloonVine-GroundCherry

Across fields and disturbed areas of Texas and the South, Balloon Vines are taking hold. Keep an eye out in sunny fields, especially along ditches and other areas where water may collect. Balloon vines are easily spotted by their small, puffy, pointed seed pods. These pods are mostly air with the fruit located in the center. If the weather stays warm these vines can produce these balloon-like seed pods all year long so you may see white flowers, young, green pods, and dried, brown pods all on the same vine.

Balloon vines are an invasive species from Asia and can quickly cover and kill native plants. This makes a good argument for eating them! The edible parts are its young leaves and vine tips. These are cooked before eating, though to be honest I don't know why. That's how they do it in Asian countries, which is a good enough reason for me.

The puffy seed pods are not eaten, nor are the seeds contained in these "balloons". However, both the leaves and seeds were used medically in India and Asia, along with the roots. Leaf poultices were used on skin wounds and infections as well as minor muscle and joint problems like strains, sprains and arthritis. Tea made from the leaves was traditionally used against stress and bronchitis. Tea from the root was applied topically to treat hemorrhoids. The seeds were crushed for a tea given to relieve fevers and joint pain.


Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

Bastard Cabbage

Scientific Name(s): Rapistrum rugosum
Abundance: invasive
What: young leaves, flower buds, flowers, young seedpods
How: raw, cooked
Where: sunny ditches, fields, disturbed areas
When: late fall, winter, spring, early summer
Nutritional Value: minerals, vitamin C, antioxidants
Dangers: none known

Leaf Arrangement: The leaves are arranged alternately along the stems.

Leaf Shape: The leaves are broad lanceolate, with a length of approximately 1.5 to 4 inches and a width of about 0.5 to 1 inch. Some lobes may be present, especially on older, larger leaves.

Leaf Venation: The venation is pinnate, with prominent veins running from the base to the tip of the leaves.

Leaf Margin: The leaf margins are serrated or toothed, creating a slightly jagged edge.

Leaf Color: The leaves are generally green, with no significant color variation between the top and underside.

Flower Structure: The flowers are small and have four petals, forming a cross-shaped structure. They are clustered at the ends of the stems.

Flower Color: The flower color can vary but is often yellow.

Fruit: The fruit are small, bulbous, pod with a spike at the tip, growing in a spiraling pattern up the ends of stem and branches. 

Seed: Seeds are small, oval-shaped, and numerous within the pod. They may have a brown or black color.

Stem: The stems are erect, branching, and may have a reddish or greenish hue.

Hairs: The plant may have fine hairs on the stems or leaves, contributing to a slightly textured appearance and fuzzy feel.

Height: Rapistrum rugosum typically grows to a height of 1 to 3 feet, depending on environmental conditions.


Full plants seen along a roadside.
Bastard Cabbage

Bastard Cabbage

Bastard Cabbage

A single stalk of Bastard Cabbage. Note the alternating leaf pattern.
Bastard Cabbage

Close-up of flowers and flower buds.
Bastard Cabbage

Close-up of seedpods. Note the "beaks" extending from the tips of the pods away from the stem.
Bastard Cabbage

Close-up of the stem and unopened flower buds. Note the hairs.
Bastard Cabbage

Mature leaf of Bastard Cabbage.
Bastard Cabbage

A seedling of Bastard Cabbage.
Bastard Cabbage


Texas distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture. The marked counties are guidelines only. Plants may appear in other counties, especially if used in landscaping.
BastardCabbageTX

North American distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture.
BastardCabbageNA

There's a yellow-flowered invader lining the roadsides and taking over fields of Texas and the rest of North America and it's name is Bastard Cabbage! Wow, that was a lot of "and"s in that previous sentence. Oh well. These plants prefer cool weather, fall through spring, during which time they're unfortunately everywhere. On the plus side, being a member of the brassica (mustard) family, pretty much all parts of this invader from southern Europe are edible.

Starting at the top and working our way down the plant, it's flowers have the standard mustard-family structure of four petals (yellow in this case) in an "X" arrangement surrounding six stamens, four of which are long and two stamens are short. The flowers grow in bunches off the stem and before they blow the highly-packed clusters look like tiny heads of broccoli, which is also a member of the mustard family. Below the flowers are seedpods arranged in a spiral up the stem. Note the "beak" jutting out from the top of the seedpod away from the stem.

The stem itself is somewhat hairy branched. The leaves at its base are large, broad, deeply lobed, and form a rosette whereas the leaves closer to the tops of the stems will be elongated, narrow, and unloved or very shallowly lobed. Underground, bastard cabbage forms a heavy taproot, similar to that of horseradish.

How do I eat this invasive species? The flowers and green seedpods I like raw straight off the plant or added to salads. The broccoli-like flower buds are also eaten raw or cooked like broccoli florets (drizzled with cheese!) The younger, tender leaves are cooked like turnip/collard greens, sautéing them with some garlic and bacon. The younger, tender parts of the stem do well when cooked/steamed like asparagus. I have yet to experiment with the roots but suspect a low-grade "horseradish" sauce could be made from them.


Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

Bittercress

Scientific Name(s): Cardamine hirsuta
Abundance: common
What: leaves
How: raw when young, cooked when older
Where: moist shaded yards, borders, and woods
When: fall, winter (in Houston), spring
Nutritional Value: Vitamins A,Bs,C,K and minerals

Medicinal Summary:
Leaves - contain lutein which is important for eye health (eaten)
Leaf Arrangement: The leaves are arranged alternately along the stem.
Leaf Shape: The leaves are pinnately compound, consisting of small, rounded, lobed leaflets. Each leaflet is approximately 0.5 to 1.5 inches in length and 0.25 to 0.75 inches in width.
Leaf Venation: The venation is pinnate, with veins running along the length of each leaflet.
Leaf Margin: The leaflets may have a toothed margin big enough to appear as lobes.
Leaf Color: The leaves are green.
Flower Structure: The flowers are small and have four petals, forming a cross-like structure. They are arranged in loose clusters at the tips of the stems.
Flower Color: The flower color is white.
Fruit: The fruit is a slender, elongated pod (silique) that develops from the flower. The grow in a spiraling pattern at the ends of stems.
Seed: Seeds are small, elongated, and can vary in color, often brown.
Stem: The stems are slender, erect, and may have fine hairs.
Hairs: Fine hairs may be present on the stems and leaves, contributing to a slightly hairy or textured appearance.
Height: Cardamine hirsuta typically grows to a height of 6 to 12 inches, with variations depending on environmental conditions.

Wood bittercress
bittercress

Bittercress

More young bittercress plants.
bittercress

Bittercress

Closeup of seed pods and flowers.
Bittercress

Close-up of seedpods.
Bittercress IGFB RPL

Bittercress Seedpods IGFB5

Texas distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture. The marked counties are guidelines only. Plants may appear in other counties, especially if used in landscaping.
BittercressTX

North American distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture.
Bittercress

Bittercress pops up when most everything else is brown. Look for it yards, flowerbeds and assorted border areas where low growing plants aren't swallowed up by taller stuff. I've been known to buy a potted plant on clearance just because it had some nice bittercress growing in the pot.

Bittercress comes up with a rosette of deeply lobed leaves and small, white flowers which twist up the stem like a spiral staircase. After the flowers come long, thin seedpods which explode open on touch once they've matured and turned brown.

Bittercress has a wonderful horseradish flavor that is great for spicing up sandwiches and salads. The young leaves can be eaten raw while older, larger leaves can be cooked like traditional mustard greens. The seeds are too small to be ground into a mustard-style condiment but the tender, young seedpods are as good or better than the young leaves for a raw blast of flavor.

The leaves and seedpods must be chewed for a bit for the full, powerful flavor to develop. Their taste doesn't come from chemicals found in the plant but rather from the product of these chemicals as they undergo a reaction initiated by chewing. Chewing smashes the cell walls, releasing the compounds so they can react with the oxygen and water in your mouth, resulting in the excellent horseradishy punch.

Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

Black Walnut

Scientific name: Juglans nigra
Abundance: common
What: nuts, sap
How: nuts raw, cooked, picked, or tinctured; sap boil to syrup
Where: forests, fields
When: fall
Nutritional Value: fats, protein, some minerals
Other uses: dye, fish poison
Dangers: shell juice stains objects and poisons fish

Black Walnut trees at a roadside rest area in east Texas.
Black Walnut

Almost ripe nuts. They are a little larger than golf balls when ripe.
Blackwalnut1

Blackwalnut

Green ones picked from the tree are better than brown ones from the ground.
Black Walnut Nut Harvest

The compound leaves of Black Walnut contain an even number of leaflets.
Black Walnut

Close-up of the leaves, front and back.
Black Walnut

Branch tips with new, young leaves.
Black Walnut

Craggy, grayish bark of a Black Walnut tree.
Black Walnut Trunk IGFB12

Texas distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture. The marked counties are guidelines only. Plants may appear in other counties, especially if used in landscaping.
BlackWalnutTX

North American distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture.
BlackWalnut

Standing up to 125’ tall with a rounded crown, black walnut trees cut an impressive figure across the fields of Texas. They prefer open, sunny locations but can also be found in forests. Black walnut leaves are compound with an even number of leaflets and being deciduous, drop off in the fall. The bark is grayish, dark and deeply furrowed/rough. The round nuts of this tree are contained in a thick, green cover which begins to splits open when ripe. The juice of this green coat smells like iodine and will stain skin and cotton fabric brown. Black walnut tree leaves, bark, and nut husks contain a poison which kills most other non-grass plants so do not add these materials to compost piles. The wood of black walnut trees is treasured by woodworkers and commands a premium price. This has led to many incidents of “tree rustling” where huge, old trees are cut down and stolen.

The nuts become ripe in the fall. Peeling the green husk is staining so wear gloves and avoid letting the peels come in contact with anything you don’t want turned brown. The thick shell of the walnut is very hard and most standard nut crackers can’t crack them. Waiting a few weeks after removing the husk allows the nuts to dry some, making shelling them slightly easier. The usual method of shelling black walnuts is to run over the nuts with a car followed by picking apart the shell with a nutpick. If you only have a few nuts they can be broken open with a hammer. If you have a lot of nuts it may be worthwhile to invest in a manual cracker specifically designed for black walnuts. Black walnuts have a stronger flavor than English walnuts so most people reduce the amount of nut meat used by one half in recipes.

The crushed green husks were used by Native Americans as a fish poison. Several large, woven bags of these husks were placed in a still pond or weir and the chemical juglones would seep out and stun the fish, causing them to float to the surface.

When the nuts are still green and soft enough to cut in half with a knife they can be pickled and then blended not a ketchup-substitute. As they get bigger the still-unripe notes can be soaked in vodka with a bit of lemon peel, cinnamon, star anise, and sugar syrup to create the Italian liquor "Nocino". Black walnut trees grow farther south than maples and though they produce only about 1/4 as much sap as maples, the resulting syrup made by boiling the sap down is quite delicious.

Never plants a Black Walnut near a garden as the roots, twigs, and leaves all produce a toxin which kills many other plants. Native grasses seem to resist this poison better than domesticated, decorative or food plants. My mom still nags me about the black walnut seedling I planted at the edge of her garden which eventually grew tall and wiped out a quarter of her crops even though this happens 30 years ago.


Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

Bull Nettle

Scientific Name(s): Cnidoscolus stimulosus, Cnidoscolus texanus
Abundance: common
What: seeds, taproot
How: seeds raw, roasted; root baked
Where: sunny fields
When: summer, fall
Nutritional Value: protein, calories
Dangers: entire plant is covered in stinging hairs similar to stinging nettle.

Leaf Arrangement: The leaves of bull nettle are arranged alternately along the stem.

Leaf Shape: Leaves are deeply lobed, often resembling a maple leaf, with pointed tips.

Leaf Venation: The venation is palmate with each lobe having its own prominent, central vein.

Leaf Margin: The margins of the leaves are serrated or toothed.

Leaf Color: They are typically bright green in color.

Flower Structure: The flowers of bull nettle are small and white, arranged in clusters.

Flower Color: Predominantly white, sometimes with a hint of green or yellow.

Fruits: The plant produces spiny fruits 3/4" in diameter, that contain the seeds.

Seeds: The seeds are small and hard, approximately 1/2" long, with a brown mottled skin. 

Stems: The stems are covered in stinging hairs, which can cause irritation upon contact.

Roots: Large tuber up to two feet long and eight inches wide, with 1" diameter side-roots coming off the tuber.

Hairs: The hairs on the stem and leaves are one of its most notable features, delivering a stinging sensation when touched.

Plant Height: Bull nettles typically grows to a height of 1 to 3 feet.


Bull nettle plant.


Bull nettle flower.
Bullnettle2


Bull nettle leaves.






















Bull nettle leaf stem.























Bull nettle seed pod which hold the tasty seeds.


BullNettleSeeds

Bull nettle plant.


Digging up a Bull Nettle root.
Bull Nettle

Holy crap!!
Bull Nettle Root3

Texas distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture. The marked counties are guidelines only. Plants may appear in other counties, especially if used in landscaping.
BullNettleTX

North American distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture.
BullNettle

Usually found in sunny, loose-soiled fields and other disturbed areas, these small, leggy bushes rarely grow more than two feet tall. The stinging hairs which cover bull nettle stems, leaves, and fruit offer a great protection against man and beast. While the pain they inflict is fierce, it often lasts less than an hour. The white blooms begin appearing in early spring and continue on through mid-summer. The green seed pods track the flowers by about a month.

Strangely enough, bull nettles are often commonly found growing near sassafras trees in Central and East Texas woods such as the Sam Houston National Forest. Bull nettles prefer full sun so finding them in the woods is odd, especially only in the presence of sassafras. Perhaps the sassafras root system both loosens the soil and releases some chemical which aids the bull nettles growth.

This plant, though armed with a similar defensive mechanism, is not related to stinging nettle. It's leaves are not edible in any way.

Harvesting the delicious seeds is best done using BBQ tongs or thick leather gloves to remove the seed pods from the plant. Then place these pods in a brown paper bag and wait a while (days). The pods will dry and then rupture, releasing the seeds which can then be toasted for a wonderful treat. The roasted seeds can also be pounded/ground into something similar to cornmeal and used in the same manner.

Digging up the taproot can be tricky. First, carefully cut away the top part of the plant with a machete or other long blade, then dig a hole 18" deep approximately one foot away from the stem of the plant. Carefully shave away the soil on the plant-side of the hole until you see the earth-colored root. At this point carefully remove the dirt from around the fragile root until you can lift it from the soil. Peel the root and then either roast or boil it like a potato. It will retain a bit of firmness rather than turning as soft as a potato. Through the root’s center runs a strong fiber core which needs to be discarded.


Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.








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