Foraging Calendar May 2018
We seemed to go from winter straight to summer this year. A whole cluster of early spring edibles are still out there, and May's crop is coming in. Lots of good shoot vegetables and some new greens characterize this time of year. Next month we'll start in on fruit!
As before, this is just a list to get your curiosity tickled or to serve as a reminder to go check something out. I leave ID, safety, and preparation considerations to your own research. The list is somewhat skewed towards native an unusual selections (i.e. I might not always have something like plantain on the list).
Any questions about these, feel free to leave a comment and I can get you started in the right direction.
Keep your eyes out for morels as well.
- Ramps (Allium tricoccum)
- Spikenard (Aralia racemosa)
- Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
- Spring cress (Cardamine bulbosa)
- Cutleaf toothwort (Cardamine concatenata)
- Chicory (Cichorium intybus
- Canadian honewort (Cryptotaenia canadensis)
- Bigleaf aster (Eurybia macrophylla)
- Virginia waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum)
- Wood nettle (Laportea canadensis)
- Virginia pepperweed (Lepidium virginicum)
- Bee balm (Monarda didyma)
- Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
- American pokeweed (Phytolacca americana)
- Smooth Solomon's seal (Polygonatum biflorum)
- Hairy Solomon's seal (Polygonatum pubescens)
- Tall rattlesnakeroot (Prenanthes altissima)
- Carrionflower (Smilax herbacea)
- Common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
- American basswood (Tilia americana)
- Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica)
- Common blue violet (Viola sororia)
Photos: Morels with ramps, giant Solomon's Seal shoots, linden (basswood) leaves