Plant Recording in Coole Park

On Saturday 10th August I went plant recording in Coole park with lecturer Micheline Sheehy Skeffington and some of her students.
On our arrival, we were met by one of the workers there who lead us to specific interesting plants

Helleborine - Epipactis helleborine

And some others, but we kept stopping along the way to record other plants - like this red Valerian which was growing on the wall.

Red valerian - Centranthus ruber

This is not the real valerian, however, as I learned. But we did find that later on:

Valerian - Valeriana officinalis

Later on we found a large supply of Dewberries - like a delicious version of blackberries - it's true that blackberries are delicious too but these are milder  in acidity and more juicy. Basically, you can eat more of them - besides they look lovely and were plentyful.

Dewberry - Rubus caesius

 Here's a treasure I learned about and tried - water pepper. Like the name suggests it is quite spicy - I wonder if the the spicyness would last in cooking...

Water Pepper - Persicaria hydropiper

 Finally, not so much on the edible menu unlike the previous few (Helleborine and Red Valerian are NOT edible), we have this interesting shrub: Purging buckthorn

Purging Buckthorn - Rhamnus cathartica

These are just a few of the plants we found, recorded and learned about. But mostly these are the ones I took a photo of. I took many more of the next trip - to Towen Island.

Sunny Summer Greetings

I went back to that place where I found the Spring Gentians only a week later and now they are in full bloom:

Spring Gentian

Also, yestarday I found Sea Pink/Thrift (Armeria maritima) in flower on the Aran Islands, even though it is suppose to flower between the end of May and July.

Sea Pink on the rocks, Inis Mór

Sea Pink Close up

So it seems that even though we got a stunt to spring, now that spring has finally broken through, and now we are into summer, everything is in a hurry. Almost all trees have their leaves now. Ash are just opening, while oak is still sleeping. There is an old saying 'Ash before the oak and we'll have a soak'. This would indicate we are in for a wet summer. However, yesterday being the beginning of summer on the Celtic calander, I got some sunburn - I think it is off to a good start : )))

Finally:

Babbington's leek - something very common on the Aran Islands, but rare otherwise. Smells like garlic

Spring is back

Last Wednesday cycling along Dyke road, against the wind and rain, I noticed something strange. The wind, for the first time in more than a month, was warm. We finally have our prevailing winds back, from the Atlantic bringing us back spring. Since then I've been out walking a bit and noticed spring suddenly picking up in pace.
Today, I went across the scrubland hills (which are similar to the burren) and I found some plants of interests:

Cowslip (P. veris)

False Oxlip (P. x polyantha)

Both of these are in the same genus as Primrose and the second is a hybrid. I found all 3 in close proximity. If you find them, please don't pick either of these two as they flowers are in decline due apparently to over-picking, farming practices and habitat change. The area where I seen these seemed like it was poorly managed farm (over grazed maybe), yet these were abundant albeit locally.


I also found some spring gentians - but they have yet to open their flowers. I passed some lovely smelling juniper - the berries green and unripe.
Some other flowers to be seen on limestone pavement at this time of the year (that I've noted) include the Blue Moor Grass, Wood Anemone and the barren strawberry.  http://www.wildflowersofireland.net/ is great to see what is in flower and where - anywhere in the country.

Seaweeds - group forage

Even though we failed to find sea spaghetti on Saturday, we did come home with a range of other seaweeds. By far the most common being Carrageen moss, then Ulva (sea lettuce). This time we had a much larger group and so it was a bit complicated to arrange and organise all the carpooling, with the result that the tide was already on the way in when we arrived.
Now equipped with my dehydrator, I have been able to dry much of the Carrageen moss and Ulva.

Dried Carrageen Moss on Dehydrator tray, Ulva beneath

I am also making more Carrageen moss pudding, this time with lemon and strawberries (I know, they're not in season...). This recipe I adapted from the first one listed on the Flora Celtica page.

Carrageen moss, cinnamon bark and lemon - the first ingredients to make Carrageen pudding. I used water this time (instead of soya milk as it sticks and burns)

Some of the kelps we found included:

Saccharina (S. latissima) - I mistakenly called it Sargassum. It was formally classified as Laminaria (Kelp) - this is the seaweed people use to wrap fish, but Flora Celtica lists other uses. The real Sargassum, I believe we seen it there (in the deep water), but I don't know of uses for it.

Other Kelps, including (from right) Laminaria hyperborea, L. digitata and again the Saccharina.

We also found 2 of the 3 common Fucoids: Serrated (F. serratus) and Bladderwort (F. vesiculosus). I didn't find the spiralled one (F. spiralis). The serrated one was the dominant one, in fact it was pretty much all one could see on the shore at first glance.
Of the Ulvas, we found different forms (including the 'entromorpha' one and maybe claudophera), but it is the sheet like sea lettuce recommended as better for eating. While we did find Nori, it was loose (washed up) and so no good to eat as it was bleached by the sun and probably half rotten already.

Seaweed Foraging Trip - 30th March anyone?

There is another spring low tide at the end of March. This time we plan to go to Finavarra, co. Clare in the hopes to find some sea spaghetti there. If you're interested to come along, please get in contact. We'll be car pooling from Galway.

Me trying Sea Spaghetti (4 years ago)

Seaweed Collecting

Even though Seaweed is not eaten much in Ireland, seaweed collecting, by people living near the coast, goes back centuries. It has been used as a fertiliser for the land (like we see in The Field) and in the compost heap, burned as kelp and now it is experiencing a revival in the cosmetic industry, including use in creams and seaweed baths of course. All that said, I'd like to focus primarily on its edibility. While there may be very few potentially harmful species of macroalgae (seaweed) growing on British and Irish coasts, many are not so edible due to their structure or taste. The best known edibles include: Carrageen Moss (both species), Dulse/Dillisk, Sea Lettuce (Ulvas) and the kelps including sea spaghetti. Indeed sea spagetti is something interesting to try, and I've yet to find some culinary recipes that make good use of the Kelps.

Seaweed Foraging Trip

For gathering seaweed to eat, it is important to collect from a clean site, especially since toxins and all sorts of nasties easily diffuse in the water - and are absorbed by whatever is in it (including seaweed).

Me looking at seaweeds

With Wild Food Mary [see her blog here], we went seaweed collecting and identifying last Sunday out the coast beyond Spiddal.

Fucoids and Ulva

In the above photo, we can identify 3 seaweeds: Fucus vesiculosus, F. serratus and edible Ulva - sea lettuce.

Navelwort on wall

Afterwards, we found a nice surprise on the wall - Navelwort/Wall Pennywort - a yummy edible at this time of year, but has too strong a taste by the end of the summer, as I recalled from last September. PFAF say that this "can be eaten in quantity".







In the following days, besides freezing some seaweed, I used some Ulva to make seaweed scones...

Ulva Scones

Also I experimented with making Carrageen Jelly using the second recipe on this Flora Celtica Page. It actually turned out excellent, even if a bit too cinnamony. I didn't follow the recipe exactly, I admit, using blackberries from the freezer instead of lemon. Anyway, here is a pic of the results:

Blackberry Cinnamon Carrageen Jelly made in Silicon Bun mold

And no, it doesn't taste like seaweed : )))

At this time of the year it much too early for sea spaghetti and some other seaweeds are small or old (last year's growth), however it was a worth while trip. In February or March, we may be going again, maybe as a group - so let us know if you are interested.

And now I am off to try out Dulse Scones.

How To Identify Dandelions

I posted previously about Dandelions, how they may be very good food to eat, being both high in nutrients, and good for your health. As promised, here is a (somewhat complex perhaps) guide to figuring what is and isn't a Dandelion. Following the table, I treat each group in details. The table can serve as a good reference - even though it is, as yet, incomplete.
Please note that there may be other plants growing in Ireland which may superficially resemble Dandelions, also that Dandelions have up to 250 species growing in the UK and Irl, which would require someone well versed in their nuances to identify them (a similar story as the Brambles/Blackberries). The common Dandelion's scientific name (Taraxacum officinale), thus, is given as an agglomeration of the species. It technically doesn't really exist.

	Cat's Ear	Hawk's Beard	HawkBit	Hawkweed	True Dandelion
Stem branching	some	frequent	never	frequent	never
Stem fluted*	no	deeply			no
Stem hollow	no	?	no		yes
Stem Latex	?	?	no	yes	yes
Leaves	Rosette + stem bracts.	Rosette + stem leaves (latter deeply lobed, spiny with auricles)	Rosette only - long and straight leaves	Rosette and often stem too. Depends on species.	Rosette only
Leaf lobes	rounded	Deep lobes	Bluntly lobed		toothed/unlobed
Leaf midrib	Tinged purple	red			Varying colour
Hairs	Leaves only	Rough – bristly!	v. hairy stem	variable	hairless
Outter Ray Florets*	orange/reddish stripe	orange/reddish stripe on some.		variable	normal yellow
Disk Florets*	In centre	Each with 2 hair-like projections	None (?)	none	none
Sepals	Of varying lengths, with scales	Same lengh with bracts beneath.	No scales		Same length; sometimes with bracts forming a ring
Fasciation*	Succeptable	?	?	?	Succeptable
Seed head	Brownish white	Slightly grey-white		White	White
Max height	60cm	65cm	50cm	variable	50cm
Edibility?	Yes	Yes, mildly bitter	Yes	At least one species edible.	Yes, almost always bitter

Table of some of the features of Dandelions and their look alikes

Cat's Ear Example (source)

Cat's Ear: Smooth (Hypochaeris glabra – rare in Irl) or regular (H. radicata – freq in Irl). Perennial. Flowers rarely fully open (except maybe in strong sun) and have disk florets at the centre. The leaves of the 'normal' species are hairy, not those of the smooth species. Flowering stems have scale-like bracts (like cat's ears) just below the flower head, but no leaves except the basal rosette. The seed head ('seed clock') has an off-white, brownish colour. More information: WildFlowerFinder; Edibility and medicinal information: PFAF and MiddlePath. 

Hawk's Beard Example (source)

Hawk's Beard (Crepis spp.): Beaked, Rough, Smooth and March species are common in Ireland. Annual. Easily distinguished by a double row of spreading bracts below the sepals. 'Beaked' and 'Smooth' species have an orange-red stripe on the outer ray florets. Stem is often deeply fluted* with red tinge, or mostly red. Leaves with few but strong hairs (can pierce skin!). Few basal (rosette) leaves. More information: WildFlowerFinder. Apparently it is edible, but with little or no medicinal usage: PFAF.

Photo L. hispidus (source)

 HawkBit/Leontodon: Both Rough (Leontodon hispidus) and Lesser (L. saxatilis) Hawkbit are frequent in Ireland. Perennial. Possibly one of the closer 'look-alikes' to Dandelion in appearance, with similar diuretic effect and it is edible raw or cooked according to PFAF. Some distinguishing features include: forked (t-shaped) hairs, leafless stems - leaves only in rosette, like dandelion (and cat's ear but without bracts), no latex and undivided stems. 

 Photo H. umbellatum (source)

Hawksweed (Hieracium spp./agg.): There are many different Hawksweed species found in Ireland and more in Britain. They are a notoriously difficult group to classify. Some information on Wikipedia to illustrate this: Wikipedia also see anatomy. The good news is that they don't seem to be toxic (in case you mistake it for a dandelion or similar), with at least one species edible, according to PFAF. 

Photo Dandelion (source)

True Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale): Perennial, frequent throughout Ireland. Dandelions are best distinguished by a combination of: basal (rosette) leaves only – which are hairless and (usually) tooth-lobed; undivided flowering stems with no bracts or leaves – the stems being both hollow and latex containing; flowers contain ray florets only without red colouration – the sepals have the same lenght with bracts forming a ring around the base. The entire plant is usually hairless and usually bitter tasting. Dandelions have many edible and medicinal uses, see Plant For A Future page for more details: PFAF. Apparently there are up to 250 varieties/species belonging to 9 sections to be found (at least in the UK, 8 sections are found in Ireland), but being very similar they need an expert to distinguish. The significance of this is that it is, in theory, possible to find a dandelion flowering at any time of the year (however any given plant does not flower all year around!). More information on this at WildFlowerFinder.

Glossary 
Ray Florets:  "(in a composite flowerhead of the daisy family) Any of a number of strap-shaped and typically sterile florets that form the ray. In plants such as dandelions, the flowerhead is composed entirely of ray florets" – The Free Dictionary.com
Disk Florets: "(in a composite flowerhead of the daisy family) Any of a number of small, tubular, and usually fertile florets that form the disk. In rayless plants such as the tansy, the flowerhead is composed entirely of disk florets" – The Free Dictionary.com
Fluted Stem: Deep ridges and furrows running vertically up the stem.
Fasciation: where the normal flower development is interrupted (can be due to either a mutation, infection, herbicide use etc.) and so the flower develops in an oval form, or maybe as a double head. This is possible in many flowers, but common only in a few (such as Dandelion, Willow and Foxglove).

Sea Mayweed or Chamomile?

Sea Mayweed and other Mayweeds (Tripleurospernum spp.) superficially resemble Chamomile. Pineapple Mayweed is possibly the easiest, due to its reported smell of pineapples. Non-scented Mayweed may be more challenging, but I think that Sea Mayweed may be easier to confuse, because it smells similar to chamomile (to me at least).
A few months ago, with a few friends we found what seemed to be Chamomile out at Rusheen Bay. At the time, I was busy and didn't look it up, but pressed it.

Samples of Mayweed (Jan 2013)

Today in  Renville I came across a similar looking plant in a similar habitat - the high shore. It turned out to be not Chamomile - but Sea Mayweed. One main giveaway is the underside of the flower. On the left and below are some photos of what I found today. The flowers are still green (i.e. unripe), notice also the woody stem base as well as the succulent leaves. In both photos, you can see a small, partly opened flower which has bracts underneath.

Mayweed flower close up (Jan 2013)

Here we have the flower close-up, where we can notice the bracts on the outside of the petals, they are green with a brown margin. Chamomile has none!


Despite its name, we have Mayweed flowering in the winter. Unfortunately I have difficulty to find edibility information on this, however it is a distant relative of Chamomile (German Chamomile especially) and Pineapple Weed, which are edible - used in tisanes. But I don't suggest trying it without certainty of its edibility. Also, it has been noted that some of these plants cause allergic reactions in some people (on contact). Caution is strongly advised.

Getting back to the distinction from true Chamomile, on the underside of wild Chamomile's flowers, it is possible to see some of the flower's yellow as well as a more engraved receptacle with sepals and bracts absent. However, Pineapple weed, being in the same genus, has no flower bracts or sepals either. Compare the above photos of Sea Mayweed with this photo of Chamomile from [www.aphotoflora.com]:

Underside of Chamomile flower (Photo from www.aphotoflora.com)

Besides, there are no Chamomile individuals recorded in this area, from the BSBI Maps. Now examining the pressed sample from Rusheen bay, however, it seems to be indeed Chamomile. The flowers didn't press that well, losing some colour and the form distorted by it being forced into 2D. I'll have to go back and see if I can find the same individual and, if it really is chamomile, I shall record it.

Foraging Wild Garlic

Some woodlands around Galway experience wild garlic as a carpet covering in spring, the scent of which is easily noticeable once you step into the woodland.
Wild garlic (Ramsons, Allium ursinum)  is an edible that could, in theory, replace the need for cultivated garlic. Not only is it available all year round, it is good too, and not quite as strong as its cultivated counterpart - making it possible to eat it as is. Usually the plant comes up in early spring and flowers by April or May. It is a vernal plant, taking advantage of the low leaf density of trees during spring time, and dying back in summer. The bulbs, however, remain in the ground all year around. This year, I notice it is up particularly early:

This is my first attempt at making a video about foraging. I apologise about the poor sound quality, as this was due to the camera.

Wild garlic is usually easily distinguished once familiar, especially thanks to its garlic smell. However, to the untrained eye, it may look like any of the following:

-Hart's tongue fern - leaves look very similar and it is also found in the same woods!
-Lilly Of The Valley  - similar leaves and flowers, but rare in Ireland
-Lords and Ladies - looks slightly like it
-Autumn Crocus - leaves only

Have common sense and never try something if you are not sure.

Winter Wilds

...and locals...
Last Saturday, I decided to see what I could find forage-able at this time of year. I wanted to make a wild food buffet salad for Kat who was returning after being abroad 3 weeks. I thought it'd be nice to present her local foods, to help her quickly feel 'at home' here, and maybe reduce jet-lag etc. However, when I went to the market to see what locally produced fruit and veg they had, I only ended up getting some carrots, potatoes and onion. Now is a rather slack period for gardening in the west of Ireland, but I thought I'd be able to find some winter cabbage or Brussels sprouts.
Anyway, I was quite surprised with some of the wild foods I found for foraging:

Wild 'Buffet' Salad

Ingredient list  by plate (starting with the bottom plate and moving clockwise):

Plate 1:

• Blackberries - at this time of the year! I never expected this, however their almost complete lack of taste kills the excitement.
• Heather (Ling) - this was more for decoration, but can be used for an infusion.
• Daisy - not only looks nice, but is good to eat too.
• Gorse flowers - removing the outer sepals, the tender flower is nice to eat with a beany taste (like vanilla to some).
• Snowberries - not very edible. These give you an upset stomach if you eat too much (toxins include sopanoids), but are ok to try one or two. The name really fits, I find, as not only are these found into the winter, but the inside flesh resembles for all the world like snow in appearance and texture. Be sure to research these before you risk trying them (See PFAF entry: Snowberry).
• Hawthorn Berries - I only found two and they seemed in quite a pathetic state - but it surprised me to find them at all this time of year!

Plate 2:

• Dandelion - leaves, flower and root - all good to eat. See my post on dandelions for more.
• Wild garlic bulbs - these are best used with something else due to their strong flavour, but can be used just as normal garlic cloves. Be careful harvesting as they look like toxic plants (such as Lilly of the Valley) when in flower.
• Plantain - Excellent medicinally and also good to eat - especially the smaller/younger leaves, which I placed on top.

 Plate 3:

• Wild Strawberry leaves (lower right) - these are better when younger, and not to be confused with barren strawberry with which it often grows. The leaves are also good as an infusion.
• Primrose leaves (upper right) - another great evergreen herb, but again the leaves are best younger. Also I find that dirt easily sticks to the leaf underside amongst all the veins.
• Wood Sage (middle) - Actually this doesn't taste or smell like sage, and its habitat is not restricted to woodlands. It is one of those plants not toxic but not edible either for its extreme bitter taste. I added it just to try. Apparently it is used as a hopps substitute (see PFAF entry: Wood Sage)
• Clover (lower left) - similar tasting to the Gorse flower, but more edible I think. It grows in most meadows and waste places - available all year around (if not grazed!).
• Sorrel (upper left) - this one is great to forage and have in salads all year around. Sadly I found but 3 leaves.

Plate 4: Some herbs from my garden: Thyme, Sage, Rosemary and Mint.
Plate 5: Carrot and onion locally grown (from market)

In the centre, in my Morter&Pestle, I have hazel nuts which I collected in September.

I had hoped to get more sorrel, and also some nettle, but the latter is kind of dying back at the moment.

Conclusion: It is not easy to offer a (nearly) complete wild meal such as this to someone not wont of eating wilds. I guess some of the tastes are a bit strange, and it is true that nowadays we are not often used to eating bitters (such as dandelion). I was asked several times: "But are you sure one can eat that?"