Barbados Cherry

Scientific Name(s): Malpighia glabra and other Malpighia species
Abundance: common
What: flowers, berries
How: flowers raw or tea; fruit raw, jelly, jam, wine
Where: landscaping
When: spring, summer, fall, winter
Nutritional Value: vitamin C
Dangers: none

Leaf Arrangement: Leaves are arranged oppositely along the branches.

Leaf Shape: The leaves are ovate to elliptical, typically measuring 1 to 3 inches in length.

Leaf Venation: Venation is pinnate, with a distinct midrib and smaller lateral veins.

Leaf Margin: Margins are entire, smooth, and sometimes slightly wavy.

Leaf Color: A glossy green, often with a leathery texture.

Flower Structure: The flowers are small and have a diameter of approximately 1 inch. They are typically arranged in clusters at the terminal ends of branches. Flowers have five club-shaped petals spaced widely apart.

Flower Color: The flowers are typically pink or rose-colored with a diameter of about .

Fruit: Produces a bright red, berry-like fruit, similar in appearance to a cherry.

Seed: Each fruit contains several small seeds.

Stem: Stems are woody, with a branching habit forming a dense shrub.

Hairs: There are no significant hairs on the leaves or stems.

Height: The plant usually forms a shrub up to 3 to 6 feet tall, sometimes taller under ideal conditions.

Barbados cherry bush.


Barbados cherry fruit.






Close-ups of the Barbados cherry flowers.




Barbados cherry leaf.




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.


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


Barbados cherries originally come from the Caribbean. When it was discovered a single berry contains the daily recommended dose of vitamin C it was quickly adopted by navies to help against scurvy and so planted in many places. The plant doesn't handle cold well, though it does fine in normal Southern winters if only a few hard frosts occur. They are evergreen, which increases their appeal in landscapes.

The flowers can be eaten raw or used to make tea. However, it is best to leave the flowers alone so as to maximize fruit production.
The fruit starts appearing in May and will continue to appear waves through the winter if the weather is mild. These berries range in flavor from somewhat sweet to very acidic, with the higher acid content also having the higher vitamin C. Eat the berries raw if they aren't too sour/acidic, otherwise use them in jelly, jam, juice or wine.

Many plant nurseries have Barbados cherries for sale. Plant in sunny, well-drained soil but do keep them watered. A layer of mulch will help prevent the roots from drying out. Single plants will produce berries but the fruit production will be much higher if two or more Barbados cherries of different varieties are planted within 4-16 feet of each other for cross-pollination.


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.

Bay Laurel

Scientific name: Laurus nobilis & Persea borbonia var. borbonia
Abundance: plentiful
What: nuts, leaves
How: roast nuts, used leaf as seasoning
Where: woods, borders
When: leaves all year, nuts in the fall
Nutritional Value: Calcium, iron, other minerals, vitamins A, C, B6, folate.
Other uses: nuts contain a mild stimulant
Dangers: Looks similar to the very poisonous cherry laurel. The leaves of cherry laurel smell like cherry/cyanide and have toothed edges while bay laurel leaves have smooth edges and smell like Italian seasoning.

Medicinal Summary:
Leaves - aid digestion; reduces bloating from gas; soothes skin, urinary tract and bronchial inflammations (tisane)

Laurus nobilis (Sweetbay) Structures:

Leaf Arrangement: Bay Laurel leaves are alternate, glossy, and lanceolate.

Leaf Shape: Leaves are elliptical, measuring around 2 to 4 inches in length.

Leaf Venation: Prominent veins are visible on the leaves, contributing to their overall structure.

Leaf Margin: Leaf margins are typically smooth, without serrations.

Flower Structure: Bay Laurel produces small, yellow-green flowers arranged in clusters.

Fruit: The fruit is a small, shiny black berry, approximately 0.5 inches in diameter.

Bark: The bark is smooth and light gray-brown on younger branches, becoming rougher on older trunks.

Height: Bay Laurel trees can reach heights of 30 to 40 feet.

Hairs: Leaves are generally smooth, but young leaves may have fine hairs on the undersides.

Fragrance: The leaves emit a distinctive "bay" aromatic scent when crushed.

Color: Leaves are dark green, and flowers are yellow-green.

Persea borbonia (Redbay) Structures:

Leaf Arrangement: Redbay leaves are alternate, simple, and lanceolate.

Leaf Shape: Leaves are lance-shaped, measuring around 3 to 6 inches in length.

 

Leaf Venation: Prominent veins are visible on the leaves, contributing to their overall structure.

Leaf Margin: Leaf margins are typically smooth, without serrations.

Flower Structure: Redbay produces small, greenish-yellow flowers arranged in clusters.

Fruit: The fruit is a small, shiny drupe, black when mature, approximately 0.5 inches in diameter.

Bark: The bark is smooth and reddish-brown on younger branches, becoming rougher on older trunks.

Height: Redbay trees can reach heights of 30 to 50 feet.

Hairs: Leaves are generally smooth, without noticeable hairs.

Fragrance: The leaves may have a pleasant scent of traditional bay spice when crushed.

Color: Leaves are dark green, and flowers are greenish-yellow.

Young tree. They get much bigger with time.



Much older, larger bay tree!


Leaves closeup (Bay Laurel leaves have smooth edges)


Nuts


Dead leaves on a bay tree suffering Laurel Wilt. This fungal disease is transferred by an alien beetle and is wiping out our native bay trees. Currently there's no cure. :-(


Teeth (pointy bits along edge of leaves) + cyanide/cherry smell = poisonous cherry laurel. DO NOT EAT CHERRY LAUREL!!


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.

I know these can be found in Montgomery County, TX.

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


Texas has multiple types of bay trees. Around Houston the most common are sweet bay (Laurus nobilis), redbay (Persea borbonia) and laurel cherry (Prunus caroliniana). All three grow in the same environment, preferably as understory trees in moist, shaded areas. Very slow growing, most you’ll find will be small trees around 20’ tall. However, mature trees can rival oaks in size and appearance. Crushed sweet bay and redbay leaves have a wonderful bay aroma while laurel cherry smells like bitter almonds or artificial cherry scent. That bitter almond smell is poisonous cyanide and the so the leaves of the laurel cherry should not be used as a seasoning or consumed in any other manner.

Besides scent, the toxic laurel cherry trees can be distinguished from safe sweet bay and redbay by the edges of their leaves. The sweet bay and redbay leaf edges will be smooth while the dangerous laurel cherry leaves will have teeth, ranging in number from two very small ones near the base to many all along the leaf edge.

The leaves of the sweet bay and redbay are available all year long and are added to sauces and other foods where one would traditionally use bay leaves. They do have a very potent flavor, so you usually don't need to add more than 3-4. They can be used fresh or dried. Add the leaves while cooking but remove them before serving as no bay leaves should actually be eaten. Supposedly these stiff, hard leaves can penetrate an intestine.

In the fall the dark nuts are toasted and then nibbled on as a strongly-flavored snack. Remove the soft flesh from the bay nut then roll the nuts around in a very hot pan until they start to split open. Remove the outer brittle husk then return the inner meat back to the pan for a final toasting. No oil or grease is needed. These toasted nuts can also be ground and used as a seasoning. 3-5 of these roasted seeds, when boiled in water then adding nutmeg and cinnamon make a very pleasant drink which tastes somewhat like coffee.

Our bay trees are currently under grave attack by a fungal disease transmitted by the invasive, Asian beetle Xyleborus glabratus. This fungal infection first shows up by branches dying and their leaves turning brown. Eventually the whole tree will die, taking with it the main birthplace of Palamedes Swallowtail butterflies. So this disease may not just wipe out one of the south's most common trees, it may also drive that butterfly to extinction, too.


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.

Beech

Scientific Name(s): Fagus grandifolia
Abundance: uncommon
What: nuts, inner bark, young leaves
How: nuts raw, roasted; inner bark toasted, boiled; young leaves raw
Where: woods
When: winter, spring, summer, fall
Nutritional Value: calories
Dangers: beech nuts contain small amounts of oxalic acid and a few other compounds with minor toxicity.Small amounts of the nuts can be eaten raw but larger quantities should be roasted to remove the compounds.

Leaf Arrangement: Beech tree leaves are alternate along the branches.

Leaf Shape: Leaves are elliptical with a pointed tip, measuring approximately 2 to 4 inches in length.

Leaf Venation: The leaves have prominent parallel veins.

Leaf Margin: Leaf margins are serrated, featuring small, fine teeth.

Flower Structure: Beech trees produce small, inconspicuous flowers of both sexes on the same tree. Male flowers are arranged in catkins.

Fruit: Beech nuts are contained within prickly husks, commonly known as beechnuts or mast. Each nut is about 0.5 to 0.75 inches long.

Bark: Beech tree bark is smooth and gray on younger trees, becoming rougher and developing fissures as the tree ages.

Height: Beech trees can reach heights of 50 to 80 feet.

Hairs: The leaves are generally smooth without noticeable hairs, but some varieties may have fine hairs on the undersides.

Fall Color: Beech trees display vibrant autumn foliage, ranging from golden yellow to rich coppery-brown.

Color of Beech Nuts: Beechnuts are typically brown when mature, enclosed in spiky husks.

Beech leaves and young nuts


Close-up of young nuts


Beech nuts ready to eat but still in husks (fall).


Peeled beech nuts.


Beech leaves


Beech leaves in fall


Underside of beech leaf in fall


Beech tree bark


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.


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


When walking through East Texas woods always be on the lookout for the fantastic beech tree. They are definitely uncommon to almost the point of being rare but a well-trained eye will likely find one. Beech are kind of strikingly ordinary trees. Their gray, relatively smooth bark white occasional splotch of white lacks the craggy coolness of oaks. The alternating, slightly ruffled, dark green leaves rarely call attention to themselves. During most of the summer and even fall the beech nut husks can easily be mistaken for acorn husks by novice woods roamers. The most likely time a beech tree will stand out is in early to mid winter when the surrounding deciduous trees have lost most of their leaves beech beech leaves will have turned tan/brown but will be clinging tenaciously to the tree, giving it a big ball of tan color among the winter grays.

In later winter/early spring the new beech leaves make a find salad green. Be sure to use a pruning shears to harvest the leaves so as to minimize the damage to the bark, a common entry point for tree-killing fungi. I'm told the young leaves can be soaked in a mixture of brandy and gin for a few weeks to make a liquor called Beech Noyau. Unfortunately I haven't been in the presence of a beech at the right time to gather leaves for this drink.

The nuts spend most of their time completely encased in a somewhat spiked husk which doesn't split open until fall, if ever, to reveal the single, three-sided nut inside. After removing the outer husk there's a second, inner sheath encasing the nut that should be peeled off before eating. Beech nuts are loaded with fats which make them an excellent source of calories in the woods. As mentioned at the top of this article, it's best to roast beechnuts if you plan on eating a lot of them.

Think of the inner layer of bark (cambium) of beech trees as emergency oatmeal. To eat this inner bark, peel it as thinly as possible and then let it dry. Once dried, chop it up into flakes which are usually pounded into a low-grade flour or boiled like oatmeal. The flavor is on par with that of boiled paper but it will give you calories. Remember to harvest the inner bark from strips running lengthwise on branches rather than from the stem so as to minimize "tourniqueting" the sap flow, killing the tree. The inner bark can be harvested all year long.

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.

Betony

Scientific name: Stachys floridana
Abundance: common
What: tubers, leaves, stems
How: tubers raw, cooked, or pickled; leaves & stems in tea or smoked; leaves in salad
Where: shady undergrowth, lawns
When: during cool seasons, especially winter
Nutrional value: calories from tuber, antioxidants in leaves,
Dangers: plants can reproduce from even small section of tuber making them invasive

Medicinal Summary:
Leaves/Stems/Flowers - hemostatic; reduces cold symptoms; reduces bronchial issues; improves digestion; soothes skin inflammations (tisane, smoke, poultice)

Leaf Arrangement: The leaves are arranged opposite-alternating along the stems.

Leaf Shape: The leaves are lanceolate, with a lengths of approximately 1" and widths of 3/4". Base is broader than the rounded tip.

Leaf Venation: The venation is pinnate.

Leaf Margin: The leaf margins are toothed, providing a slightly scalloped appearance.

Leaf Color: The leaves are typically green, and there may not be a significant color difference between the top and underside.

Flower Structure: The flowers are arranged in dense spikes at the tips of the stems, with individual flowers forming small, tubular structures. Each flower typically has a hood-like upper lip and a three-lobed lower lip.

Flower Color: The flowers can vary in color, commonly appearing in shades of pink, purple, or lavender.

Fruit: The fruit is a small nutlet or seed, produced after the flowering period.

Seed: Seeds are small, ovoid, and may have a brown or black color.

Stem: The stems are typically square-shaped, a characteristic feature of the mint family (Lamiaceae).

Roots: Fibrous root structure with numerous white, segmented tubers when plant is mature.

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

Height: Stachys floridana can reach a height of 12"-18", depending on environmental conditions.

Young plant and immature tubers


Plant and edible tuber


Mature plant after it dropped its flowers in the spring.


Betony patch (plants with the purple flowers are betony)






Close-up of betony flowers.




Close-up of betony tubers. The tubers will be this large in the spring and summer.




Close-up of betony leaf. Note the square stem and the alternating, opposite leaf arrangement. These are signs of the mint family.




If you have a cold, sell your coat and buy betony!
-Italian proverb

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


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.

This map is VERY incomplete. Betony appears all through Gulf & East Texas.

Large patches of betony plants can be found in local forest from mid-fall until mid/late spring. During this time the tubers are growing, reaching full size of over four inches long. Not every plant produces a tuber, you need to dig up quite a few to find them. The looser the soil the bigger the tubers will grow. These plants readily reproduce from bits of tubers and roots and so are considered to be invasive.

Betony flowers in the spring and this is a sign the plant is almost done for the year. You can eat the flowers or make a tea from them but they don't have the strong medicinal properties of the younger leaves. Usually by the time the flowers appear it's too late to harvest betony leaves.

Betony has a long history of being an herbal "magic bullet" capable of curing many ills. It's high tannic acid content helps it staunch bleeding; assorted alkaloids and antioxidants supposedly give relief from fevers and headaches along with improving overall blood circulation. In Europe it is believed to help with issues with the stomach, liver and gallbladder. It was ingested as a tea, herb, and also by both smoking and as snuff well before the arrival of tobacco.


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




More young bittercress plants.




Closeup of seed pods and flowers.


Close-up of seedpods.




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.


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


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.