It is in flower from July to October, and the seeds ripen from August to October. The green leaves are large and plentiful where they grow. flour. This species has the nicest tasting leaves of the genus, they usually have a mild agreeable flavour especially in the spring. — Wild Plants, Foraging, Food, Art and Culture How to identify and use sowthistle, the perfect edible weed. Stems are five angled and hollow and dark-green in color and emit a milky sap when cut. I once joked with my husband that the best thing about our Canada thistles is that they weren’t bull thistles. Description: Sow thistles are an erect, herbaceous, taprooted annual that can grow to over 1m in height if the plant is damaged or cut it exudes a milky latex. How to identify and use sowthistle, the perfect edible weed. Everything in the sow thistle family is edible, and I'm pretty sure all the dandelion tribe is edible as well, but this post specifically is focusing on the type of sow thistle known scientifically as sonchus oleraceus, or colloquially as common sow thistle. These plants have hollow stems, a short taproot and deeply lobed leaves. Sow thistle sends a taproot several feet into the soil as well as producing lateral side roots that spread vigorously underground in all directions. Visit other areas that are regularly cleared. The common sow thistle plant can grow up to 40 to 150 centimeters (15 to 59 inches) tall, with an upright taproot possessing many branches. Sonchus arvensis is a PERENNIAL growing to 1.2 m (4ft). They are also edible to humans as a leaf vegetable; old leaves and stalks can be bitter but young leaves have a flavour similar to lettuce. Some say the roots can be used as a coffee substitute, but I would say coffee extender. But, the reward is edible stalks, edible leaves trimmed of spines roots and unopened flower bud bottoms. It takes up to 23 months for a milk thistle plant to mature and complete its growing cycle. I got the message that this plant is super healthy and definitely edible but the scientist in me wants some solid proof. In this new series Raven and I will find one new edible plant to eat for every day of the week. Green Deane’s Eat the Weeds – Sow Thistle article has wonderful details of its identification and history. Its edible leaves make a palatable and nutritious leaf vegetable. MYTHOLOGY & HISTORY: It is native throughout Europe and northern Asia, and widely introduced elsewhere. Sonchus oleraceushas hollow stems that exude latex, if damaged. Beef stock or water. This thistle is also commonly known as the creeping thistle and field thistle. Th… The nectar and pollen of native thistles are incredibly valuable food sources to bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. This is a video about how to identify Spiny sow thistle, or some just call it Sow thistle, which is a plant in Dandelion family. The entire plant is edible but it recommended that the leaves be eaten raw while they are young and tender. Thistles, in this case Cirsium horridulum (SIR-see-um hor-id-YOO-lum) are among the hardest to gather of wild foods, Black Walnuts probably being the worst. There are many recipes online. Purple thistle, sow thistle, etc. Ground nutmeg – pinch. As mentioned earlier, they thrive in disturbed soils.) Like many tasty wild plants, the thistle did not make its way into main stream food channel because of the spines and its two-year growth habit. The Sow Thistles are sometimes mistakenly called Milk Thistles from the milky juice they contain; the true Milk Thistle is, however, a very different plant. Common names: Common sow thistle, sow thistle, annual sow thistle, milk thistle, milkweed, thalaak, colewort, hares lettuce, soft thistle. Bull thistles (Cirsium vulgare) are exactly that – bullish. ... too. Plant description. The plant body looks a lot like bull thistle but sow thistle has a number of small, yellow flowers rather than one bulbous purple or tan flower. 1 or 2 handfuls sow-thistle leaves – young. 6 Since it is classified as a weed, it can grow almost anywhere there is soil, such as roadsides and fields. Sonchus oleraceus, with many common names including common sowthistle, sow thistle, smooth sow thistle, annual sow thistle, hare's colwort, hare's thistle, milky tassel, milk thistle, soft thistle, or swinies, is a plant in the dandelion tribe within the daisy family.It is native to Europe and western Asia.. Its specific epithet oleraceus means "vegetable/herbal". For this recipe the young 2- to 4-inch leaves of common sow-thistle [Sonchus oleraceus] are best and when the leaves are not bitter. Sonchus oleraceus in Latin means hollow (sonchus) cooking vegetable (olraceus). 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