(Okay, standard disclaimer here -- POSITIVELY IDENTIFY EACH PLANT FROM AT LEAST THREE DIFFERENT, RELIABLE SOURCES BEFORE GETTING IT ANYWHERE NEAR YOUR BODY!!! YOU are responsible for knowing what you're picking, and never take chances. If you're not absolutely positive, just leave it alone until you are. NEVER make exceptions! It just ain't worth it. Okay? Okay. Now check out these great tasties!)


1 - Dandelions
As for nutritive value, you can't get any better. According to Wildman Steve Brill, "The leaves are more nutritious than anything you can buy. They're higher in beta-carotene than carrots. The iron and calcium content is phenomenal, greater than spinach. You also get vitamins B-1, B-2, B-5, B-6, B-12, C, E, P, and D, biotin, inositol, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and zinc by using a tasty, free vegetable that grows on virtually every lawn."



2 - VIOLETS
The flowers have a wonderfully sweet aftertaste -- for a special occasion you can candy them for a beautiful topping to cake or pastry. (Or just freak your neighbors out by stopping every so often while you're cutting the grass, pick a few and pop them in your mouth!) Plus, violet leaves are super nutritious. 1/3 cup of violets has all the Vitamins A & C you need for the day. In spring, when they're at their prime, violet leaves have about 10 times the vitamin A of spinach.



3 - CHICKWEED
t's high in calcium, potassium and iron and has some traditional medicinal purposes as well. Chickweed is a cool weather plant; once the summer heat hits it's gone until the fall. You can find it sometimes during the winter I've been told, and I have no reason to doubt it.



4 - Clover

The dried flowers and seeds can be ground into flour, which is a great way to add extra protein to lots of baked goods, or can be sprinkled over stuff like rice to add a bit of extra flavor and nutrition. You can also add the dried flower heads to teas and infusions. I've read many references to clover as a traditional medicine, so this is one of those that's probably best used sparingly rather than an everyday addition to your diet. Sure is a great spring treat though!




5 - Plantain Plant (not the banana)
. This one if very high in Vitamin B and Riboflavin.
Plantain is also a great plant to know as a "first aid kit in a leaf". It has way too many medicinal qualities for me to list here (I have only 5000 characters left to use!) and I'm focusing this lens on edible plants, not medicinals, but just cause it's so very cool, I'll include this link to a page that lists a bunch of them.
Here's just a few of the basics:
- It's a great styptic, meaning it stops bleeding and promotes fast healing of damaged tissue.
- It has contains a powerful anti-toxin and works great for bee stings! If you get stung, grab a few plantain leaves, chew them up (get lots of saliva mixed in there with them) and stick them on the bite as a poultice. (Back in the olden days it was apparently used to treat snake bites.)
- It is antibacterial, antiseptic, anti-inflamitory and antispasmodic, meaning that you can use it one way or another for almost anything! (I've even heard that, when prepared correctly, the seeds can be used as a laxative and the leaves make a killer wrinkle remover -- how cool is that?!)
A friend just told me recently that plantain is not native to North America, but a European import. He said it was known by Native Americans as White Man's Foot, because wherever white people set foot, plantain started to spread soon after!



Click here for 5 more edible plants