Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: edible

This beautiful tiny flower grows in clusters in early to mid-Spring. Thy look like little rectangular bouquets which can only be appreciated when your nose is almost touching the flowers! From Wiki: Valerianella locusta is a small dicot annual plant of the family Valerianaceae. It is an edible salad green with a characteristic nutty flavor, dark green color, and soft texture. Common names include corn salad (or cornsalad), lamb's lettuce, mâche, fetticus, feldsalat, nut lettuce, field salad, Nüssli Salat, and rapunzel. In restaurants that feature French cooking, this salad green may be called doucette or raiponce, as an alternative to mâche, by which it is best known.

Even though this flower is considered to be an invasive weed, I've always loved its unusual and interesting shape. What I didn't know was its colorful history! A native plant of Europe, it is now found in most parts of the world and has been found all the way back to the early Neolithic age, about 8,000 years ago! I wonder if that's why it's so odd looking!!! There is evidence that people in what is now Germany gathered "Plantago lanceolata" for a food source for their farm animals. It has been historically known as a medicinal cure-all, even mentioned by Chaucer and Shakespeare! Today, this herbal plant is found to be useful as a cough suppressant and if you look up Ricola , you'll see this herb listed as one of the ingredients they use in their formulas! It's also used in teas and other herbal remedies. Besides its mediciinal uses, Plantains (not related to the banana relative by the same name) are also edible; young leaves and flower heads can be added to salads; the leaves can be substituted for spinach. If you would like to know more about its edible and medicinal uses, there's a great page here: Prairie Land Herbs: Plantain If you would like to know more about the plant in general, Wiki has a source here: Wiki: Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) and here Wiki: Plantago Explored on June 10, 2012, placement at #406

(+2 insets!) :D This is one the most beautiful flowering trees on our property, and like other fruit trees, the flowers come and go very quickly. Last year I meant to take pictures with my older camera and I missed the flowers, but this year I visited every few days to make sure I didn't miss the show!! Such a beauty...I didn't realize how elegant the blossoms were until I took a close look! I also had no idea what it was until I began my research tonight. When I saw pictures for Serviceberry flowers, I knew I'd found the right one! Just to be sure, I ran out the door to see how it was doing, and sure enough, there are beautiful blue and red berries growing now!! I'll be taking pictures tomorrow to share soon! :) The Western Serviceberry is in a group of about 20 species, all of which are shrubs or small trees and is in the rose family! Serviceberries are found all over the Northern Hemisphere in temperate areas. They are edible and are said to taste a bit like blueberries with almond-flavored seeds! The berries can be made into pies and jam! I'm so excited...if there are enough ripe berries, I'll pick them and we can make a pie or put them into muffins!! :D YAYYYY!!! If you would like to know more about Serviceberries, here are two sources: www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Plants.Folder/Juneberries.html en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelanchier

What a gorgeous new discovery to find on our property! I was amazed to learn that this is a kind of onion! You may be surprised to find that the "Allium" family is full of lovely species which are very popular garden flowers. I like how the edges of these petals appear to be frosted with sugar! Taper-tip Onions are the most common wild onion in the Pacific Northwest. It ranges in color from palest pink to hot pink, as well as this beautiful hot magenta. It prefers dry habitats and grows fairly low to the ground, about 6"-10" high. The bulbs were eaten by Native Americans as part of their diet. If you would like to know more about this flower, Wiki has a page here: Wiki: Taper-tip Onion (Allium acuminatum)