Purple Sage

Scientific Name: Leucophyllum frutescens
Abundance: common
What: leaves
How: tea
Where: arid plains, landscaping
When: spring, summer, fall, winter
Nutritional Value: medicinal

Medicinal Summary:
Leaves - antimicrobial; congestion relief; cough suppressant; liver protection (tisane)

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

Leaf Shape: The leaves are simple, opposite, and lanceolate, with a length of approximately 1 to 2 inches.

Leaf Venation: The venation is pinnate but not highly noticeable due to the small size and simple structure of the leaves.

Leaf Margin: The leaf margins are entire, with a smooth and unbroken edge.

Leaf Color: The leaves are typically gray-green, and this color is uniform on both the upper and lower surfaces.

Flower Structure: The flowers are tubular and are clustered at the tips of the branches. Each flower has a five-lobed corolla.

Flower Color: The flowers can range in color from shades of purple to lavender or pink with a white throat spotted with brown dots.

Fruit: The plant produces small, inconspicuous capsules as fruit.

Seed: The seeds are contained within the capsules.

Stem: The stems are woody and may have a somewhat tangled or bushy appearance.

Hairs: The plant has fine hairs on the stems, leaves, and flowers contributing to a fuzzy or velvety texture.

Height: Leucophyllum frutescens typically reaches a height of 3 to 8 feet, forming a dense and rounded shrub.

Purple sage (also known as cezino) plant.


Close-up of single stalk.


Close-up of plant tip.


Close-up of single leaf.


Close-up of flower.


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.


Purple sage, also known as cenizos, gives rise to the purple prairies of Texas, though it's found mostly in the more arid regions. The plant retains its leaves all year long but the flowers appear in the summer and fall, blooming after rains. They prefer full sun in well-drained, alkaline soils.

The leaves are dried and then used to make tea. This tea is an enjoyable drink and often just drank for the taste. However, traditionally this tea was also used to fight the symptoms of colds, including the congestion, fever, and coughing. Recent research has shown these leaves help protect the liver.

Purple sage can be found for sale at most plant nurseries. If you are not in their native range, plant the cezino in full sun in a raised bed to insure adequate drainage. If kept to wet purple sage may die.


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.

Pyracantha

Scientific Name(s): Pyracantha genus
Abundance: plentiful
What: berries
How: raw, syrup, jelly, dehydrated fruit leather
Where: landscaping, woods
When: fall
Nutritional Value: vitamin C when raw or dehydrated
Dangers: thorns contain a natural, painful irritant

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

Leaf Shape: The leaves are typically elliptical, with a length of 1 to 2 inches and a width of 0.5 to 1 inch.

Leaf Venation: The venation is pinnate.

Leaf Margin: The leaf margins are serrated, with sharp teeth along the edges.

Leaf Color: The leaves are usually dark green, and their color is uniform on both the upper and lower surfaces.

Flower Structure: The flowers are small and grouped in clusters called corymbs at the tips of the branches. Each flower has five petals.

Flower Color: Flower colors can vary but are commonly white, cream, or light pink.

Fruit: The plant produces small, apple-like pomes/berries as fruit, usually in clusters.

Seed: The seeds are contained within the fleshy pomes.

Stem: The stems are woody and may have thorns or spines, depending on the variety.

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

Height: Pyracantha species vary in height, ranging from 6 to 15 feet, forming dense, evergreen shrubs.

Leaves look like Yaupon holly leaves but Pyrancantha leaf edges are smooth whereas Yaupon holly leaf edges are bumpy.


Leaves and thorns


Thorn


Close-up of flower


Unripe fruit, April in Houston. Note the "crowns" at the base of the fruit.


Almost ripe, October in Houston.


Fully ripe and ready to be made into jelly, January in Houston.


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.


Fall brings forth a lot of different red berries in Texas, both wild and landscaping. One of the most thickly-covered red berry bushes is Pyracantha. These started out as a non-native landscaping plant but due to birds LOVING these berries, the seeds have been spread far and wide. Finding these thorn-covered bushes in the wild is becoming more and more common. The alternative name for these is "fire thorn" because the tips of its long, sharp thorns contain a powerful irritant, making any scratch from it hurt a lot more than expected.

Ripe, red Pyracantha (aka fire thorn) berries are a bland food but high in vitamin C. The most common use for these berries is to make jelly. Like with beautyberry, you need to add a lot more pectin to the syrup to get it jell up properly, up to doubling the amount pectin for a proper jelly. Some cinnamon improves the apple-like flavor. The end result will have lost a lot of its vitamin C due to the cooking process.

The best place to plant these evergreen shrubs is in front of large, first-floor windows. Their sharp, irritating thorns make an excellent barrier, sending thieves looking for an easier target. Food and protection in one plant! Prune it 1-2 times a year to shape the wall of thorns. If you're a birdwatcher, placement by a window will give you a front row seat as cedar waxwings and other birds show up to devour these berries.


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.

Purslane

Scientific name: Portulaca oleracea
Abundance: common
What: stems, leaves
How: raw or cooked
Where: sunny sidewalk cracks, yards,
When: spring, summer
Nutritional Value: Vitamins A, C, Bs; minerals, omega-3 fatty acid

Medicinal Summary:
Leaves/Stem/Flowers/Seeds - high in omega-3 fatty acids; improves heart strength; antidepressant (eaten)

Leaf Arrangement: The leaves are arranged alternately at the lower part of the stem and opposite or whorled towards the top.

Leaf Shape: The leaves are small, fleshy, and spatulate or obovate, typically measuring about 0.5 to 1.5 inches in length.

Leaf Venation: Due to the fleshy nature of the leaves, the venation is not really visible.

Leaf Margin: The leaf margins are smooth (entire).

Leaf Color: The leaves are a bright green, sometimes with a reddish tinge, especially along the edges.

Flower Structure: The flowers are small and solitary, with five petals, opening only in bright sunlight.

Flower Color: The flowers are yellow.

Fruit: The plant produces a small, round capsule.

Seed: The seeds are tiny, round, and black.

Stem: The stems are thick, fleshy, reddish-green, and often spreading or trailing along the ground.

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

Height: Common Purslane is a low-growing plant, typically reaching only a few inches in height but spreading widely.

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.


Here in Houston purslane is often found thriving in the cracks of sidewalks and driveways during the worst of summer's heat. The tiny black seeds are prolific and will easily grow in containers, flowerbeds and just about anywhere else. Purslane will also reproduce from plant fragments, making it very easy to propagate.

Purslane is very rich in omega 3 fatty acids as well as other nutrients. It is delicious raw, steamed, fried or cooked. The thickest stems can also be pickled using the recipe & canning time of pickled okra.

The toxic Spotted Spurge (Euphorbia maculata) shows up at the same time as Purslane and while they may look somewhat similar to novices, they are very easy to tell apart. Spotted Spurge stems always remain thin, never even becoming even as thick as a pencil lead whereas Purslane stems can become thicker than a pencil's shaft. The spurge's stem always is a dark red while purslane stems very from green to purple, though are often "earthworm" pink/red. Spurge bleeds a white, latex sap but purslane's sap is clear if it even is seen. Spurge leaves remain small and flat while purslane leaves become thickly succulent and as large as the first joint of a pinkie finger.

Purslane (left, large, edible) and Spotted Spurge (right, thin, poisonous).



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.

Queen Anne's Lace/Wild Carrot

Scientific name: Daucus carota, Daucus pusillus
Abundance: uncommon
What: young root, young shoots, seeds
How: 1st year root raw, cooked; 2nd-year flower stems peeled raw or cooked.
Where: fields
When: early summer
Nutritional Value: High in vitamin A and minerals
Other uses: crushed leaves work as an insect repellent
Dangers: don’t confuse with deadly water hemlock. Queen Anne's Lace sometimes has a small red flower in the center of the white flowers and the root smells like carrot. Hemlock has a very foul, disagreeable odor.

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

Leaf Shape: The leaves are finely divided and fern-like, similar in appearance to domestic carrot leaves, typically measuring about 2 to 4 inches in length.

Leaf Venation: Due to the finely divided nature of the leaves, the venation is not prominently visible.

Leaf Margin: The margins of the leaflets are finely toothed or lobed.

Leaf Color: The leaves are a bright green color.

Flower Structure: The flowers are small and clustered in umbels, which is a flat or slightly rounded cluster that resembles an umbrella.

Flower Color: The flowers of both species are usually white, sometimes with a hint of pink. Daucus carota flower clusters will have a single red/purple flower in the center while Daucus pusillus does not.

Fruit: The plant produces a small, dry fruit that is oval and slightly ribbed.

Seed: The seeds are small, elongated, and dark in color.

Stem: The stem is slender, erect, and can be branched.

Hairs: There will (must!) be hairs present on the stem. Leaves are also hairy.

Height: Wild carrot typically grows to a height of about 1 to 3 feet tall.

Wild carrot flower and stem. Note the hairy stem. Hemlock (TOXIC!) has a smooth, hair-free stem.


Close-up of Queen Anne's lace stem. Notice the hairs and reddish stripes.


Wild carrot (Daucus pusillus) flowers lack the center, solitary red flower found in Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota).

 

Sideview of the wild carrot flowers. Note the "Kermit the Frog" collar beneath the flower head.

Queen Anne's Lace flowers, with the single red-purple flower in the center, marked by the blue arrow. 

Young flower head before the flowers have opened.


Queen Anne's Lace leaves. They have almost a fractal pattern.






Queen Anne's lace "carrot".


Wild carrot seed head after the flowers have gone. They close up like a bird's nest whereas hemlock seed heads remain open.


A stand of wild carrots along a road. Note the closed-up "bird's nest" aspect of the older flower heads.


Highly toxic hemlock along a stream. Note how the flower clusters branch off from each other unlike the single stalk growth pattern of wild carrot.


Here is the toxic Hemlock flower. Note how it is much more open with large spaces between the clusters compared to the wild carrot. It also lacks the "Kermit the Frog" collar.


Left side is Wild Carrot, right side is deadly Water Hemlock. Note the "chambers" in the Water Hemlock root and the purple strips along the hemlock's stem. Hemlock flower lacks the "collar".


Close-up of stems and roots. Wild Carrot stem is hairy, hemlock stem is smooth.


Water Hemlock 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.


Standing in showy white clusters along many Texas roads, wild carrots are an interesting spring/summer plant. They are the mother-species of domestic, orange carrots but wild carrot roots are white and also rather woody. I usually just use the "carrot" for flavoring soups and stews but then remove and discard them before eating the meal. The seeds are a spicy substitute for celery seeds. The flowers can be made into a jelly just like elderberry flowers or used to make a delicious tea.

Hemlock is an extremely poisonous plant which looks very similar to wild carrots. Luckily there are several ways to tell them apart:
1. Wild carrot flower stem is hairy, hemlock flower stem is smooth/have no hairs.In some cases the stem hairs of the wild carrot are not easily seen but if you run your finger along it's stem it will feel like day-old razor stubble.
2. Wild carrot flower stem is solid, hemlock flower stem is hollow.
3. Wild carrot flower stems are green and occasionally have long, reddish stripes. Hemlock flower stem have red/purple spots of assorted size and the occasions partial stripes but will be purple at the bottom.
4. Wild carrot flower stems are not powdery, hemlock flower stems often have a white powder on them.
5. Wild carrot flowers (umbels) are arranged in a a thick, tight pattern with only a small amount of open space between them. Hemlock flowers are much more sparse and have open areas between the smaller flower clusters making up the umbel head.
6. Wild carrots usually don't grow more than 3-6 feet tall, hemlock can grow 6-9 feet tall.
7. Wild carrot flower umbels will curl up into a "bird's nest" when they dry, hemlock umbels remain in their original "umbrella" shape when they die and dry up.


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.