A Foraging

A field Guide
FALCON
GUIDE® CALIFORNIA
Finding, Identifying, and Preparing
Edible Wild Foods in California

Foraging California
From field to table: finding, identifying, preparing,
and cooking wild edibles in California
From acorns, cactus, and yucca to mesquite, manzanita, and lamb’s quarter— Foraging
California guides readers to the edible wild foods and healthful herbs of the Golden State.
Organized by plant families, this book is an authoritative guide for nature lovers, outdoors
enthusiasts, and gastronomes. This guide also includes:

• Species ranging from herbs to trees

• Forager notes and expert advice on identifying, preparing,
freezing, drying, storing, and cooking wild edibles
• Tools, techniques, and foraging etiquette
• Recipes to prepare at home and on the trail

Christopher Nyerges, cofounder of the School of Self-Reliance, has led wild-food walks for thousands
of students since 1974. He is the author of ten books on wild foods, survival, and self-reliance, and he
has written numerous newspaper and magazine articles. He teaches and lives in Los Angeles County.
Visit him at ChristopherNyerges.com.

Front cover photo of passionflower by Rick Adams

Back cover photos of elderflower (left) by Christopher Nyerges and ripe toyon berries (right) by Rick Adams

falcon.com
FalconGuides® is an imprint of
Globe Pequot Press
CHRISTOPhER NYERGES
 Foraging california

 i

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 This amazing book catalogues in clear, direct language the full range of wild
edible plants found in California. Organized by latest scientific family and
ecological region. it teaches not only a plant’s place on the land but its essential
botanical attributes. More than that, Christopher’s lifetime of dirt-time experience
makes him expert on the edible and nutritional properties of this wonderful flora,
so easily overlooked but at our disposal everywhere. I have followed Christopher
on endless plant walks and never failed to learn something new and important.
Now at last it’s all in one brilliant guide!

—Paul Campbell, author of Survival Skills of Native California

ii Foraging California

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 Foraging california
Finding, Identifying, and Preparing
Edible Wild Foods in California

Christopher Nyerges

 iii

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 GUIDES ®
FALCONGUIDES
Copyright © 2014 by Morris Book Publishing, LLC

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and
retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission
should be addressed to Globe Pequot Press, Attn: Rights and Permissions Department, PO Box 480,
Guilford, CT 06437.

FalconGuides is an imprint of Globe Pequot Press.

Falcon, FalconGuides, and Outfit Your Mind are registered trademarks of Morris Book Publishing, LLC.

Chart on page 10 by Thomas Elpel, reprinted with permission.

Photos by Christopher Nyerges unless otherwise noted.

Map: Melissa Baker © Morris Book Publishing, LLC

Text design: Sheryl P. Kober
Project editor: Julie Marsh
Layout: Sue Murray

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is available on file.

ISBN 978-0-7627-8684-8

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The identification, selection, and processing of any wild plant for use as food requires rea-
sonable care and attention to details since, as indicated in the text, certain parts are wholly
unsuitable for use and, in some instances, are even toxic. Because attempts to use any wild
plants for food depend on various factors controllable only by the reader, the author and
Globe Pequot Press assume no liability for personal accident, illness, or death related to these
activities.

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 Dr. Leonid Enari, my teacher, mentor, and friend

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Foraging_CA_3pp.indd 6 4/4/14 11:28 AM
 Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Plants Listed by Environment Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Collecting and Harvesting Wild Foods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
How Much Wild Food Is Out There, Anyway? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Are Wild Foods Nutritious? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

SEAWEEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Marine Green Algae (Chlorophyta); Brown Algae (Phaeophyta); Red Algae
(Rhodophyta) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

FERNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Bracken Family (Dennstaedtiacea) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

GYMNOSPERMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Ephedra Family (Ephedraceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Mormon Tea (Ephedra spp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Pine Family (Pinaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Pine (Pinus spp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

MAGNOLIIDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Laurel Family (Lauraceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
California Bay (Umbellularia californica) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

EUDICOTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Muskroot Family (Adoxaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Elderberry (Sambucus spp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Fig Marigold Family (Aizoaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
New Zealand Spinach (Tetragonia tetragonioides) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Amaranth Family (Amaranthaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Amaranth (Amaranthus spp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Carrot Family (Apiaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Sunflower Family (Asteraceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Chicory (Cichorium intybus) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Prickly Lettuce (Lactuca serriola and others) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Sow Thistle (Sonchus oleraceus and others) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

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 Mustard Family (Brassicaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Mustard (Brassica spp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Sea Rocket (Cakile edentula and C. maritima) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Indian Cabbage (Calanthus inflatus) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Shepherd’s Purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Watercress (Nasturtium officinale) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Radish, Wild (Raphanus sativus and R. raphanistrum) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Hedge Mustard (Sisymbrium irio and S. officinale) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Cactus Family (Cactaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Prickly Pear (Opuntia spp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Pink Family (Caryophyllaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Chickweed (Stellaria media) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Goosefoot Family (Chenopodiaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Orach (Atriplex californica) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Lamb’s Quarter, White and Green (Chenopodium album and C. murale) . . . . 90
Glasswort or Pickleweed (Salicornia spp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Russian Thistle (Salsola tragus) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Stonecrop Family (Crassulaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Live-Forever (Dudleya spp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Heath Family (Ericaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Manzanita (Arctostaphylos spp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Legume Family (Fabaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Acacia (Acacia spp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Carob (Ceratonia siliqua) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Palo Verde (Parkinsonia microphylla and P. florida) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) and Screwbean (P. pubescens) . . . . . . . . . . 113
Oak Family (Fagaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Oak Tree (Quercus spp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Geranium Family (Geraniaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Filaree (Erodium spp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Gooseberry Family (Grossulariaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Currants and Gooseberries (Ribes spp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Walnut Family (Juglandaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Black Walnut (Juglans californica and J. hindsii) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Mint Family (Lamiaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Mint (Mentha spp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Chia (Salvia columbariae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Mallow Family (Malvaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Mallow (Malva neglecta) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

viii Contents

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 Miner’s Lettuce Family (Montiaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Miner’s Lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Oxalis Family (Oxalidaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Sour Grass / Wood Sorrel (Oxalis spp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Passionflower Family (Passifloraceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Passionflower (Passiflora caerulea and P. tarminiana) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Lopseed Family (Phrymaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Common Mimulus (Mimulus guttatus) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Plantain Family (Plantaginaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Veronica (aka Speedwell) (Veronica americana) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Buckwheat Family (Polygonaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
California Buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Curly Dock (Rumex crispus) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Sheep Sorrel (Rumex acetosella) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Wild Rhubarb (Rumex hymenosepalus) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Purslane Family (Portulacaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Purslane (Portulaca oleraceae) and Desert Portulaca (P. halimoides) . . . . . . . 158
Buckthorn Family (Rhamnaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
California Coffee Berry (Frangula californica and F. purshiana) . . . . . . . . 161
Rose Family (Rosaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Wild Cherries (Prunus spp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Wild Rose (Rosa spp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Blackberry (Rubus spp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Jojoba Family (Simmondsiaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Nightshade Family (Solanaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Western Nightshade, Black Nightshade (Solanum americanum
[aka S. nodiflorum], S. douglasii, S. nigrum, and S. xanti) . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Nasturtium Family (Tropaeolaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Nettle Family (Urticaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Grape Family (Vitaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Wild Grape (Vitis spp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

MONOCOTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Century Plant Family (Agavaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Yucca (Hesperoyucca whipplei) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Contents ix

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 Onion or Garlic Family (Alliaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Wild Onions et al. (Allium spp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Palm Family (Arecaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
California Fan Palm (Washingtonia filifera) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Spiderwort Family (Commelinaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Wandering Jew (Tradescantia fluminensis) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Tropical Spiderwort (Commelina benghalensis) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Rush Family (Juncaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Rush (Juncus textilis et al.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Grass Family (Poaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Cattail Family (Typhaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Cattail (Typha spp.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Other Edibles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Test Your Knowledge of Plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
The Study of Mycology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
The Dozen Easiest-to-Recognize, Most Widespread, Most Versatile Wild Foods
of California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Staff of Life: Best Wild-Food Bread Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Sweet Tooth: Best Wild-Food Sugars and Desserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Useful References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Recipe Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

x Contents

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 Acknowledgments

After I had already spent several years learning botany and ethnobotany in high
school and college, books and lectures, often very piecemeal and second-hand,
I had the very good fortune in approximately 1974 to meet Dr. Leonid Enari,
the senior biologist at the Los Angeles County Arboretum, who was teaching his
course on “Edible, Medicinal, and Poisonous Plants.” His knowledge was astro-
nomical, and after I took several of his courses, he always allowed me to come to
his office where he would identify the various plants I brought him and tell me
their stories. Never once did I bring him a plant that he didn’t know. In most
cases, he knew several stories about each plant. He eagerly worked with me on
my first book, and he assisted me in compiling lists of safe and primarily edible
plant families. His unique background in botany and chemistry made him ide-
ally suited as a primary source of information. He acted as my teacher, mentor,
and friend, and he always encouraged my study and teaching in this field. I felt
the great loss when he passed away in 2006 at age eighty-nine. Thus, it is to Dr.
Enari that I dedicate this book, Foraging California.
I also had many other mentors, teachers, and supporters along the way. These
include (but are not limited to) Dr. Luis Wheeler (University of Southern Cali-
fornia botanist), Richard Barmakian (nutritionist), Dorothy Poole (Gabrielino
“chaparral granny”), Richard E. White (founder of the nonprofit WTI, who
taught me how to teach, and how to think), John Watkins (a Mensan who “knew
everything”), Mr. Muir (my botany teacher at John Muir High School), Robert
Tally of the Los Angeles Mycological Association, William Breen (also of the LA
Mycological Association, who taught
me to cook with mushrooms), and
Pascal Baudar and Mia Wasilevich,
both wild-food cooking experts.
These individuals all imparted valu-
able information to me, and they
have all been my mentors to varying
degrees; I also thank them for their
influence. Euell Gibbons also had a
strong impact on my early studies of
wild food, mostly through his books;
I met him only once.
Of course, there have been many
others who taught me bits and pieces
along the way, and I feel gratitude for Christopher with Euell Gibbons in 1975

 xi

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 everyone whose love of the multifac-
eted art of ethnobotany has touched
me in some way. Some of these
friends and strong supporters have
included Peter Gail, Gary Gonzales,
Dude McLean, Alan Halcon, Paul
Campbell, Rick and Karen Adams,
Barbara Kolander, Jim Robertson,
and Timothy Snider. I also want
to extend a special thanks to my
beloved wife, Helen, for her sup-
port of this project, and for putting
up with me all this time!
Photographer Rick Adams
Yes, I took many of the photos
in this book, but I couldn’t do it
all myself. Rick Adams deserves special thanks for the many trips we took
together to get many of the photos for this book. Other folks who contributed
photos include my wife, Helen; Gary Gonzales; Barbara Kolander; Otto Gas-
ser; Vickie Shufer; Louis-M. Landry; and Jeff Martin.

xii Acknowledgments

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 Introduction

We owe a debt of gratitude to the generations of indigenous Native Californians

whose lives and livelihoods depended on plants for food and everything else.
Much of this knowledge has been passed down generation to generation, and
much has been rediscovered by researchers.
Many of the living old ways have been lost, but the knowledge of how to
utilize the plants of the land has not been entirely forgotten. Various generations
have realized the great value of knowing how to identify and use what nature has
provided, even though this information waxes and wanes in importance in the
general viewpoint.
When there is war or depression or famine, we desire to rekindle this link
to our past, and hope for our future. When times are good and money flows, we
forget our roots. Just fifty years ago, you were considered poor, to be pitied, if
you actually used wild foods.
With Euell Gibbons in the early 1970s, the tide began to turn again, and
today everyone wants to know at least a little about our national heritage of wild
foods. Everyone wants to be self-sufficient and part of the solution. And today
we have an abundance of books, videos, and classes to teach us about these skills.
Today, in addition to the native flora, we have an abundance of introduced
plants and common edible weeds, which were used for generations throughout
Europe and Asia. Sometimes these introduced flora are a blessing, sometimes not.

Scope of This Guide

Foraging California covers plants that can be used for food, and that are common
in California. We are not attempting to cover every single edible plant that could
possibly be used for food, or those that are very marginal as food. Our focus is
on those wild foods that are widespread, easily recognizable and identifiable, and
sufficient to create meals. Many of the wild edibles that are too localized, or only
provide a marginal source of food, are not included.
This is also not a book about medicinal properties, and though some medici-
nal aspects will be addressed in passing, we will provide some ideal references in
the rear of the book. Nor is this book focusing on exclusively native plants. If
you’re hungry in the woods, or your own backyard, you don’t care if the plant is
native or introduced, right?

Organization of Guide
The plants in this book are organized according to the system used by botanists;
we will be following The Jepson Manual: Vascular Plants of California (2012).

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 Many books on plants organize them by flower color or environmental
niche, both of which have their adherents and their pitfalls. However, this book
is categorizing the plants according to their families, which gives you a broader
perspective on many more plants than can be reasonably put into one book. As
you will see, many of the genera (and some families) are entirely safe to use as
food. This is how I was taught by my teacher and mentor, Dr. Leonid Enari,
because he believed that—though there is no shortcut to learning about the
identity and uses of plants—understanding the families will impart a far greater
insight into the scope of “wild foods.”
We’ll start with the “lower” plants, then the gymnosperms (the cone-bearing
plants), then the flowering plants in alphabetical order by their Latin family names.
The concept of a “plant family” is based upon similarity of the macroscopic
and microscopic features, usually the floral characteristics. Botanists observe
these common characteristics in nature, and call it a family. But as the years
roll by, precise definitions of what makes up a particular family are refined, and
botanists move plants from family to family for clarity. Within the family, the
plant’s name is composed of the genus name (the groups within a family) and its
individual name, the species name. Botanists, unfortunately for the average plant
student, continually refine the genus to which the plant belongs. So if you have
older books, they will reflect the understanding of that time of how the plants
are related and into which group they naturally belong. In this book, we have
used the most recent Latin names of the plants, and we list older (now obsolete)
names in most cases.
If you already know the plant’s Latin or common name, you can look it up
in the index.

Major Environment Types

In our selection of plants for Foraging California, we’ve attempted to include
common edible plants from the different environments of the state. Below, you
will see the broad categories of desert, chaparral, mountains, riparian, ocean, and
urban. But keep in mind that there is often a lot of overlap from one ecosystem
to another. Oaks, for example, can be found everywhere. However, seaweed and
glasswort will only be found in the ocean environment.
As a handy reference to the plants in this book, note the biological zone
where each plant is most likely to be encountered. Some plants are only found in
one zone, but others can be found in several of these zones.

2 Introduction

Foraging_CA_3pp.indd 2 4/4/14 11:28 AM

 Plants Listed By Environment Type

The state of California is a complex place. Biology texts will show the state with
lines delineating one biotic zone from another, and sometimes you can find clean
and distinct biotic zones. Studying these zones helps us get an idea of the biologi-
cal diversity of the state. But urban sprawl, farming, fires, grazing, and perhaps
other factors have continued to blur the clean distinctions from one zone to the
other. Transition is everywhere, and plants often choose to live outside the zone
where we expect them to be. Thus, the categories listed below are broad biologi-
cal zones that you will find in California, with lots of overlap. These categories
help you to understand the state, but their borders are not hard and fast.

Desert—The largest desert in California is the Mojave Desert, which occupies

a large portion of the southeastern part of the state. East of the Sierra Nevada,
there’s the Great Basin, and further south, there’s the Sonoran Desert. A des-
ert is a region of limited precipitation and great temperature extremes. Plants
here have adapted to little water and constant winds. Plants typical of the desert
regions include creosote bush, palo verde, mesquite, the native fan palm, and a
vast variety of cacti.
Cacti, 79
Chia, 130
Jojoba, 173
Indian cabbage, 65
Mesquite, 113
Mormon tea, 24
Onions, 192
Palm dates, 196
Palo verde, 110
Wild rhubarb, 156

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 OREGON IDAHO

1 5 REGIONS
1 Northwestern California
2 Chaparral & Mountain Zones
3 Sierra Nevada
4 Central Valley
5 Modoc Plateau
6 Eastern Sierra
2 7 Mojave Desert
3
8 Sonoran Desert
9 Traverse Ranges
Sacramento

San Francisco
Modesto
6
N E VA D A

4
Fresno

7
Bakersfield
PA C I F I C CALIFORNIA
OCEAN

Los Angeles 9

Desert
8
Chaparral
San Diego
Mountains
MEXICO

Foraging_CA_3pp.indd 4 4/4/14 11:28 AM

 (Ocean, riparian, and urban zones are pretty obvious so are not shown on this map.)
1. Northwestern California, which includes the Klamath ranges and Cascade ranges. This will generally
correspond to this book’s Mountain Zone.
2. This includes the coastal ranges and both the Chaparral and Mountain Zones in this book, with the
chaparral ranges occurring on the outer edges.
3. This is the Sierra Nevada, generally corresponding with the Mountain Zone in this book.
4. This is the Central Valley, the heart of farming. This will correspond to the Urban Zone and Chaparral
Zone (on the fringes of the Central Valley) of this book.
5. The Modoc Plateau. This will generally correspond with the Desert Zone of this book.
6. This section is in the eastern Sierra, with Great Basin influence, and generally will correspond to the
Desert Zone of this book.
7. The Mojave Desert. This corresponds to the Desert Zone of this book.
8. The Sonoran Desert. This corresponds to the Desert Zone of this book.
9. This includes the Traverse Ranges of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains. Also includes
the San Jacinto Mountains. These areas will roughly correspond with the Chaparral and Mountain
Zones in this book.

Chaparral—Chaparral is a shrubland plant community that can be found any-

where from the ocean up to about 5,000 feet elevation. It has a Mediterranean
climate (mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers) and wildfire. Sometimes called
the Upper Sonoran Zone, this is the plant community between the desert and
the mountainous regions, consisting of such plants as laurel sumac, buckwheat,
yucca, white sage, and other woody shrubs. Most of the plants we’ve listed here
are natives, but many others will be found in the chaparral, especially where
developments have invaded the native terrain.
Blackberries, 171
California Bay, 30
California buckwheat, 149
Wild cherry, 165
California coffee berry, 161
Elderberry, 34
Manzanita, 101
Nightshade, 175
Oak, 116
Passionflower, 142
Toyon, 163
Walnut, 125
Yucca, 188

Plants Listed By Environment Type 5

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 Ocean—The ocean zone is self-evident—all the plants that are unique to the
ocean and beach areas from Oregon south to Mexico. The ones we’ve listed here
are somewhat exclusive to the beaches when found in the wild. However, keep in
mind that the interface between the ocean and the urban, chaparral, or moun-
tain zones can be a very short distance. This means you can expect to find many
other plants on and near the beaches.
Glasswort, 93
New Zealand spinach, 38
Orach, 87
Sea rocket, 62
Seaweeds, 15

Mountain—The mountainous zones are higher elevations with typically colder

temperatures and higher winds. The plants we’ve included in this category are
mountainous plants, but they may also be found in other zones.
Bracken, 20
Currants and gooseberries, 122
Dudleya, 99
Miner’s lettuce, 136
Oak, 116
Pine, 27

Riparian—The riparian zone refers to the areas along rivers or streams and
around lakes. The plants in this zone require good amounts of water, so you
won’t generally find them far from a water source. Most that we’ve included here
are natives. Although the riparian regions are estimated to be about 1 to 2 per-
cent of the total landscape, all fauna relate to and largely depend upon that very
small percentage of land.
Cattails, 209
Mint, 128
Monkey flower, 145
Veronica, 147
Watercress, 70
Wild grape, 184

6 Plants Listed By Environment Type

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 Urban & Field—Often considered “weeds,” these are the plants of the urban
environment, the valleys and fields, and the edges of farms (such as throughout
the central valley). Nearly all of them have come here from somewhere else, and
they are nature’s “survivors.” They grow in lawns, backyards, cracks in the side-
walks, throughout all urban areas, and on the vast fringes of the urban sprawl.
Acacia, 104
Amaranth, 41
Carob, 107
Chicory, 47
Chickweed, 83
Curly dock, 151
Dandelion, 56
Fennel, 44
Filaree, 120
Hedge mustard, 76
Lamb’s quarter, 90
Mallow, 133
Mustard, 59
Nasturtium, 178
Nettle, 181
Purslane, 158
Radish, 73
Rose, 168
Russian thistle, 96
Sheep sorrel, 154
Shepherd’s purse, 68
Sour grass, 139
Sow thistle, 53
Miner’s lettuce, 136
Wandering Jew, 200

Plants Listed By Environment Type 7

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 Collecting And Harvesting
Wild Foods

Because more and more people want to learn how to “live off the land” and use
wild plants for food and medicine, please practice sustainable collecting and
harvesting methods.
Always make sure it is both legal and safe for you to harvest the wild foods.
Legality can usually be determined simply by asking a few questions or making
a phone call. Don’t be surprised if you are then asked what you intend to pick.
Because many of the plants listed in this book are often regarded as “nuisance
weeds,” most property owners will allow you to come in and remove the plants
that they do not want.
In some cases, when we’re dealing with public lands, the issue of legality may
be a bit more difficult to ascertain.
You also want to be safe, making sure there are not agricultural or commer-
cial toxins near and around the plants you intend to harvest. Again, it pays in the
long run to carefully observe the surrounding area and to ask a few questions.
Unless it is the root that you are using for food, you should never need to
uproot a plant, especially if it is only the leaves that you intend to eat. I have docu-
mented in my book Extreme Simplicity how I was able to extend the life of many
annual weeds by carefully pinching back the leaves that I wanted to eat, and then
allowing the plant to grow back before picking again. Even when I believe that
someone else will pull up the plant later, or plow the area, I still do not uproot the
plants on general principle. The root system is good for the soil and, if the plant’s
roots are left alone, it will continue to manufacture oxygen. Various insects and
birds might eat the bugs on the plant or its seeds. Let life continue.
When you are harvesting greens, snippers can be used, but usually nothing
is needed but your fingernails—maybe a sharp knife. Cut what you need, don’t
deplete an area, and move on.
Harvesting seeds is done when the plant is at the end of its annual cycle, but
there is still no reason to uproot the plant. When I harvest curly dock or lamb’s
quarter seed, I carefully try to get as much into my bag as possible. I know that
some seed is being scattered, and that’s a good thing for next season. I also know
that a few seeds are still on the stalk, and that’s a good thing for the birds in the
area. I nearly always harvest in an area of abundance. If there are very few speci-
mens there, my usual course of action is to simply leave them alone.
You will note when you read this text that I advise foragers to leave the wild
onions in the ground and to eat the greens. In cases of abundance, your thinning

Foraging_CA_3pp.indd 8 4/4/14 11:28 AM

 the roots will help to stimulate more growth, and that is a good thing, akin to
the passive agricultural practices of the Native Americans who exclusively once
lived here.
In general, foraging doesn’t require many tools. You will need bags—plastic,
cloth, paper—whatever is appropriate for the food item. In some cases you har-
vest with buckets or tubs. Usually no other tools are needed, though I generally
carry a Florian ratchet clipper for any cutting, and a knife or two. I rarely need a
trowel, though it comes in handy with some harvesting.
The more you forage, the more you’ll realize that your best tool is your
memory. You’ll learn to recognize where the edible flowers grow, where the berry
vines are, and the fields that will be full of chickweed next spring. And the more
you know, the less you’ll need to carry.

Collecting and Harvesting Wild Foods 9

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 How Much Wild Food Is
Out There, Anyway?

Plants Everywhere, but Not All Can Be Eaten

In his book Participating in Nature: Wilderness Survival and Primitive Living
Skills, Thomas Elpel has created a unique chart, based on years of observation
and analysis, to give a perspective on the sheer numbers of edible, medicinal, and
poisonous plants. The chart is reprinted with permission here. Elpel is also the
author of Botany in a Day. Simply put, this is the way botany should be taught in
the colleges. Elpel brings it alive in a way that is immediately applicable.
Almost every plant with known ethnobotanical uses can be used medici-
nally; even some otherwise toxic plants can be used medicinally if you know the
right doses and proper application. So, yes, medicine is everywhere. But nearly
two-thirds of these plants are neither poisonous nor used for food for various
reasons.
The extremely poisonous plants that will outright kill you are rare. And
because there are so few of these deadly plants, it is not all that difficult to learn
to identify them. In Southern California, for example, there is poison hemlock
and castor bean, which are readily recognizable. Others that could cause death
are various mushrooms, oleander, and tree tobacco, though we rarely hear about
that happening.
Though there are only a few that are deadly poisonous, there are many
more—perhaps five times as many plants as the very deadly ones—that would
make you very sick, but would not normally kill you.

Reprinted with permission of Tom Elpel

10

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 Still, all the poisonous and toxic plants combined are perhaps one-twentieth
(if that) of all the known ethnobotanicals.
Edible plants make up about one-fourth of the known edible, medicinal,
and poisonous plants.
Of the plants that we normally think of as “food plants,” the overwhelming
majority—maybe 70 percent or so—primarily provides us with greens. That is,
throughout most of the year, most of the food that you’ll obtain from the wild
consists of greens: food to make salads and stir-fries, and to add to soups and
vegetable dishes. These are plants that by themselves will not create a filling and
balanced meal, but they will add vitamins and minerals to your dried beans,
MREs (meals ready to eat), freeze-dried camping food, and other foods. In gen-
eral, greens are not high sources of protein, fats, or carbohyrdrates.
Berries and fruits make up another category of wild foods. Maybe 10 to 15
percent of the wild foods you find will provide you with berries or fruits, but tim-
ing is everything. Unlike greens, which you can usually find year-round, fruits
and berries are typically available only seasonally, so if you want some during
other parts of the year, you’ll need to dry them or make jams or preserves. This
includes blackberries, elderberries, toyon, mulberries, and many others. They
provide sugar and flavor, but like greens, you would not make a meal entirely
from fruits and berries.
Then, an even smaller category of wild foods, perhaps 5 to 7 percent, con-
sists of starchy roots, such as cattails. These are great for energy, though they
may not be available year-round. This is why these foods have traditionally been
dried, and even powdered, and stored for later use.
Another small category of wild foods consists of the seeds and nuts. This
includes grass seeds, pine nuts, mesquite, screwbean, carob, acorns, and many
others. It is in this small category, maybe 5 percent of wild foods, where you
obtain the carbohydrates, oils, and sometimes proteins that constitute the “staff
of life.” Though these are not available all year, some have a longer harvest time
than others. Some may have a harvest period of as short as two weeks. Many
grass seeds simply fall to the ground and are eaten by animals. Fortunately, most
of these can be harvested in season and stored for later use.

How Much Wild Food Is Out There, Anyway? 11

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 Are Wild Foods Nutritious?
It is a common misconception that “wild foods” are neither nutritious nor tasty.
Both these points are erroneous, as anyone who has actually taken the time to
identify and use wild foods can testify. I’ve also had many new students who had
been convinced about the nutritional value of wild foods but assumed that the
plants nevertheless tasted bad. Of course, a bad cook can make even the best
foods unpalatable. And if you pick wild foods and don’t clean them, don’t use
just the tender sections, and don’t prepare them carefully, then certainly you can
turn someone off to wild foods.
My friends Pascal Baudar and Mia Wasilevich continue to use wild foods in
their gourmet dishes and classes, and they have proven that wild foods are not
only nutritious but can be as flavorful as any foods in the finest restaurants.
For your edification, here is a chart extracted from Composition of Foods, US
Department of Agriculture, to give you an idea of the nutritional content of the
common wild foods.

Nutritional Composition of Wild Foods

The data below are per 100 grams, unless otherwise indicated. Blanks denote
no data available; dashes denote lack of data for a constituent believed to be
present in measurable amounts. Only a select number of plants for which we
had data are represented.

12

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 Plant Calories Protein Fat (g) Calcium Phosphorus Iron (mg) Sodium Potassium Vitamin A Thiamine Riboflavin Niacin Vit. C Part
(g) (mg) (mg) (mg) (mg) (IU) (mg) (mg) (mg) (mg)

Foraging_CA_3pp.indd 13
Amaranth 36 3.5 0.5 267 67 3.9 — 411 6,100 0.08 0.16 1.4 80 Leaf, raw
Carob 4.5 352 81 2.9 35 827 14 0.4 1.89 0.2 Pods
Cattail 8% 2% Rhizomes
Chia 20.2% 631 860 7.72 16 407 54 0.62 0.17 8.8 1.6 Seed
CHICORY TRIBE
Chicory 20 1.8 0.3 86 40 0.9 — 420 4,000 0.06 0.1 0.5 22 Leaf, raw
Dandelion 45 2.7 0.7 187 66 3.1 76 397 14,000 0.19 0.26 — 35 Leaf, raw
Sow thistle 20 2.4 0.3 93 35 3.1 — — 2,185 0.7 0.12 0.4 5 Leaf, raw
Chickweed
Dock 28 2.1 0.3 66 41 1.6 5 338 12,900 0.09 0.22 0.5 119 Leaf, raw
Fennel 28 2.8 0.4 100 51 2.7 — 397 3,500 — — — 31 Leaf, raw
Filaree — 2.5 — — — — — — 7,000 — — — — Leaf
300–500 2,000 to 300 to 700
Grass Leaf, raw
IU 2,800 IU mg
Lamb’s quarter 43 4.2 0.8 309 72 1.2 43 452 11,600 0.16 0.44 1.2 80 Leaf, raw
Mallow 37 4.4 0.6 249 69 12.7 — — 2,190 0.13 0.2 1.0 35 Leaf
Milkweed — 0.8 0.5 — — — — — — — — — — Leaf
Miner’s lettuce 10% RDA 22% RDA 33% RDA Leaf
MUSTARD FAMILY
Mustard 31 3 0.5 183 50 3 32 377 7,000 0.12 0.22 0.8 97 Leaf
Shepherd’s purse 33 4.2 0.5 208 86 4.8 — 394 1,554 0.08 0.17 0.4 36 Leaf
Watercress 19 2.2 0.3 120 60 0.2 41 330 3,191 0.12 0.2 43 Leaf
Nasturtium
Nettle 65 5.5 0.7 481 71 1.64 4 334 2,011 — 0.16 0.38 76 Leaf
New Zealand
19 2.2 0.3 58 46 2.6 159 795 4,300 0.04 0.17 0.6 30 Leaf, raw
spinach
65%
Oak (acorn flour) 6% 18% 43 103 1.21 0 712 51 0.1 0.1 2.3 0 Nut
carbohydrates

4/4/14 11:28 AM
Foraging_CA_3pp.indd 14
Plant Calories Protein Fat (g) Calcium Phosphorus Iron (mg) Sodium Potassium Vitamin A Thiamine Riboflavin Niacin Vit. C Part
(g) (mg) (mg) (mg) (mg) (IU) (mg) (mg) (mg) (mg)
ONION FAMILY
Chives 28 1.8 0.3 69 44 1.7 — 250 5,800 0.08 0.13 0.5 56 Leaf, raw
Garlic 137 6.2 0.2 29 202 1.5 19 529 — 0.25 0.08 0.5 15 Clove, raw
Young leaf,
Onion 36 1.5 0.2 51 39 1 5 231 2,000 0.05 0.05 0.4 32
raw
Passion fruit [per
31 151 3.8 66 831 1,650 71 Fruit
pound]
Pinyon 635 12 60.5 604 5.2 1.28 Nut
Prickly pear 42 0.5 0.1 20 28 0.3 2 166 60 0.01 0.03 0.4 22 Fruit, raw
Leaf &
Purslane 21 30 1.7 0.4 103 39 3.5 — — 2,500 0.03 0.1 0.5
stem, raw
Rose 162 1.6 169 61 1.06 4 429 4,345 0.16 1.3 426 Fruit, raw
SEAWEED
Dulse — — 3.2 296 267 — 2,085 8,060 — — — — — Leaf
Leaf
Irish moss — — 1.8 885 157 8.9 2,892 2,844 — — — — —

Kelp — — 1.1 1,093 240 — 3,007 5,273 — — — — — Leaf

4/4/14 11:28 AM
 Seaweeds

Seaweeds 15

Foraging_CA_3pp.indd 15 4/4/14 11:28 AM

 Christopher with a section of kelp. Rick Adams

Marine Green Algae

Chlorophyta (About 5,000 species, including sea lettuce)

Brown Algae
Phaeophyta (Approximately 1,000 species, including all kelps, rockweed, etc.)

Red Algae
Rhodophyta (The most abundant seaweed of the world, with over 4,000
species, including Irish moss, dulse, laver, etc.)

Use: Food (depending on species, some are eaten dried, cooked, raw, or pickled), nutri-
tion, utility
Range: Restricted to the ocean
Similarity to toxic species: See Cautions
Best time: Available year-round
Status: Relatively common
Tools needed: Bucket, gloves

16 Foraging California

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 Properties
Most people know seaweeds when they see them at the beach, floating in the
surf, lying on the beach. They grow in a large array of colors, sizes, and shapes.
The kelps are perhaps the most conspicuous along the California coast, with
their long stipes and characteristic fronds. They often lie in masses on the beach.
And the farther north one goes, the greater the diversity.
In general, the seaweeds have leaflike fronds, stipes that resemble the stems
of terrestrial plants, and holdfasts that resemble roots. Some seaweeds are very
delicate, and others are very tough and almost leathery. Many have hollow
sections—“floats”—that allow them to float more readily.
Others are like thin sheets of wet plastic, such as the sea lettuce. Their colors
generally indicate their category of green, brown, or red marine algae.

Uses
Seaweeds are not only tasty (when prepared properly), but they are also very nutritious.
When I was originally researching seaweeds, I spoke with botanists, marine
biologists, and even a seaweed specialist. Some believed that all seaweeds—all

Seaweed on the beach. Rick Adams

Seaweeds 17

Foraging_CA_3pp.indd 17 4/4/14 11:28 AM

 the thousands of varieties—are a completely nontoxic group of plants, and most
agreed that these are safe to consume. The more conservative viewpoint had to
do with the fact that there are so many seaweeds, and not all have been studied
enough to make such a blanket statement. Nevertheless, seaweeds are regarded as
highly nutritious and generally edible. For example, 100 g of kelp contains 1,093
mg of calcium, 240 mg of phosphorus, and 5,273 mg of potassium! And these
iodine-rich foods can be used in a variety of ways. Some—such as the sea lettuce,
which actually looks like lettuce—can be washed and added raw to salads. Oth-
ers are best dried and then used as a seasoning for other foods. Some seaweeds
can be diced and added to soups and stews. And most can be simply dried and
powdered and then used as a salt substitute or flavor enhancer.
If you live near the coast and have easy access to seaweeds, I encourage you
to research the many specific seaweeds that are used for food, and—via the many
books exclusively about seaweeds—learn the many ways to prepare them. And
experiment! Unless you are lost and haven’t the time to experiment or research,
there are many sources of information today with many specific recipes and
methods of preparation for seaweeds.
We’ve made some very delicious pickles by taking the floats from kelp—the
swollen hollow bubble at the base of each frond—and soaking them in jalapeño
juice or other pickling liquids. They take on the flavor of whatever they are sea-
soned with.

Cautions
Here are some of the commonsense precautions you should take if you’re going
to try some seaweeds: Never eat any seaweed that has been sitting on the beach,
rotting and attracting flies. Examine the seaweed; never eat seaweed that has
some sort of foreign growth on it. And perhaps the hardest part of all this is that
you should not consume seaweed from polluted waters; unfortunately, much
of the Southern California coastline south of Malibu should be considered pol-
luted. This means that you have to use some common sense when collecting
seaweed for food, and you should thoroughly wash any seaweed that you intend
to eat.

18 Foraging California

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 Ferns
There are 13 families of ferns.

Ferns 19

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 Bracken Family (Dennstaedtiacea)
Among the ferns, the Bracken family contains about 11 genera and about 170
species. The Bracken family’s only representative in California is the bracken or
brake fern.

Bracken leaf.

BRACKEN
Pteridium aquilinum

Use: Young uncurling shoots used for food

Range: Throughout the state, mostly in the shady areas of the mountains and canyons
Similarity to toxic species: See Cautions
Best time: Spring
Status: Somewhat common in the correct terrain
Tools needed: Clippers

Properties
Bracken can apparently be found worldwide. Ours can be found throughout
the state, in pastures, hillsides, wooded areas, and even in full sun. You’ll find
it most commonly on the north, shady side of hillsides or shady hillsides
where water seeps and little sun gets through the canopy of whatever larger
trees grow there.

20 Foraging California

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 The rhizomes are hairy and
sprawling underground, some-
times branching. The black peti-
ole near the base has dense brown
hairs. The plants grow 1'–4' tall,
and the overall appearance of each
frond is roughly triangular; each is
twice-pinnately divided.

Uses
The young shoots are the edible
portion, and they have the appear-
ance of the head of a fiddle, which
is where the common name “fid-
dlehead” comes from. The young
shoots will uncurl and grow into
the full fern fronds. These are
picked when young and can be
eaten raw or cooked. I like to toss
a few fiddleheads in salads when
they are in season; they impart a Bracken fiddlehead. Barbara Kolander
nutty flavor.
More commonly, fiddleheads are boiled or steamed and served with butter
or cheese. They are easy to recognize and have gained a resurgence of popularity
as more people are rediscovering wild foods. Bracken is also a good vegetable
to add to soups and stews and mixed dishes. Just carefully pinch off the tender,
unfolding top, and you can gently rub off the hair. Use as a nibble or cook it.
Do not eat the fully opened ferns.

Cautions
Researchers have identified a substance called ptaquiloside in bracken fern, a
known carcinogen. So is it safe to eat? It has been a food staple of Native Ameri-
cans for centuries, if not millennia, and the Japanese also enjoy bracken and
consider it one of the delicacies of spring. Although actual scientific data are
inconclusive, there is a higher rate of intestinal cancer among Native Americans
and Japanese, and this could be linked to the use of bracken fern. Livestock
have been known to be mildly poisoned by eating quantities of the raw bracken
ferns. Cooking is known to remove some of the toxins, though not necessarily
the ptaquiloside.
Despite this, there are many who are not so concerned about such incon-
clusive studies. For example, Steven Brill in his book Identifying and Harvesting

Ferns 21

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 Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild
(and Not So Wild) Places, states, “I
wouldn’t be afraid of eating reason-
able quantities of wild [bracken] fid-
dleheads during their short season.”
Green Deane, another forager from
Florida, says, “I am willing to risk
a few fiddleheads with butter once
or twice a spring, which is about as
often as I can collect enough in this
warm place.”
The final choice is up to you. For
perspective, we regularly hear things
far worse than the above about cof-
fee, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, A small fiddlehead. Rick Adams
and french fries, yet people seem to
have no problem purchasing and
eating these substances. That doesn’t make them good for you, but eating some in
moderation is not likely to be the sole cause of cancer or other illness.

22 Foraging California

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 Gymnosperms
This is a class of plants whose naked seeds are formed in cones or on stalks.

Gymnosperms 23

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 Ephedra Family (Ephedraceae)
The Ephedra family consists of only one genus, Ephedra, with about 50 species
worldwide. Seven of the Ephedra species are found in California; all but one
are native.

Ephedra stems and little cones. Rick Adams

MORMON TEA
Ephedra spp.

Use: Beverage
Range: The high and low deserts of Southern California
Similarity to toxic species: None, but be careful. Mormon tea looks like leafless sticks. Be
attentive. While we aren’t aware of a toxic look-alike, there very well could be a toxic plant
that has lost its leaves and therefore resembles Mormon tea.
Best time: Year-round
Status: Relatively widespread
Tools needed: Clippers

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 Ephedra cones. Rick Adams

Properties
Mormon tea grows in the desert, often in the driest soils where there are few
other plants growing. It grows in sand drifts, in sand flats, amid the creosote and
the mesquite. It’s a real survivor.
And when most folks look at this very unassuming plant that rises only 1'–2'
out of the ground, they think they’re looking at some sticks of a dead plant. But
the plant is all sticks! It’s a gymnosperm, which makes it akin to the pine trees
and conifers. The plant produces tiny little cones, which actually flower, but you
have to look close—and at the right time—to see them. You’ll see 1–5 of these
cones per node.
There are 7 species of Ephedra in California, and frankly, after you’ve seen
one Ephedra, you’ll recognize them all, even though there is some variety between
the nuances of color, the overall size, and the way the “sticks” grow. A Mormon
tea aficionado will easily see those differences, but to the average person passing
through, they are all the same.

Uses
Often when camping out in California’s deserts where the Mormon tea is ubiq-
uitous, we have cut a handful of the stems and brewed them in a kettle over the
fire. It’s best when the kettle is covered so you don’t boil away all the flavor. The
resultant tea has a slight pinkish color and a subtle flavor. It can be compared to
a mild green tea, though without stimulants. It makes a good evening beverage,
which I prefer unsweetened so I can taste its subtle flavor. For those who prefer
sweetened teas, just a half teaspoon of honey is sufficient.

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 Christopher examines an Ephedra patch. Rick Adams

The name of this plant came from early Mormon settlers who drank a tea
from this plant because they scrupulously avoided stimulating drinks like coffee
or tea. But it turns out that Mormon tea may make you feel slightly stimulated.
And for generations before that, the Native Americans of the desert also made
a drink from this unassuming plant. Our desert species contains pseudoephed-
rine, a much weaker form of ephedrine found in species of Ephedra found in
China and elsewhere. I always liked the aroma of the tea, which reminds me
of the desert. Plus, if you drink it from a glass, you can observe the tea’s subtle,
pink color.
At home, I just put a small handful of the twigs into a stainless steel pot, add
about 2 cups of water, cover and boil. I let it cook for about 5 minutes and turn
off the heat. I pour the water into my cup, sometimes drinking it to alleviate
some allergies or minor breathing problems. Though I enjoy the subtle flavor of
just the Mormon tea, sometimes I will sweeten it with honey, sometimes with
date sugar.

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 Pine Family (Pinaceae)
The Pine family is said to supply about half the world’s lumber needs. The family
consists of 10 genera and 193 species.

Pine needles and young cone. Rick Adams

PINE
Pinus spp.

Use: Needles for tea and spice; nuts for food

Range: Various species are found in the mountains, or desert regions; often planted in
urban areas.
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Nuts in the fall; needles can be collected anytime
Status: Common in certain localities
Tools needed: Clippers for needles

Properties
Pines are fairly widespread trees, most commonly found in the higher eleva-
tions, but also throughout the desert regions (such as the pinyon pine). Not
counting subspecies, there are 19 species of Pinus in California (94 species in
the Northern Hemisphere).

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 Pines are one of the easier
conifers to identify: All the nee- Forager note: Some of the very
dles are “bundled” at their base long needles of certain pines are
into groups of 1–5 with papery excellent for coiled baskets.
sheaths called fascicles. And you
will find the fascicle at the base
of the needle even when there is only one needle, as in one of the pinyons.
The pines in California can range from short bushes to large towering trees.
To identify a pine tree, look for the bundled needles and for the cones. The cones
are often whorled with a variety of scale types. As the cones mature, they open
up to reveal a pine nut under each scale. Each pine nut has a thin black shell and
the white, oily inside.

Uses
Though there are a few potential foods with the pines, it is mostly the seeds that
will provide you with a good food. The pinyon pines are arguably the best, and
some of the other species have cones that yield flat seeds, or seeds too small to
bother with.
The cones mature and open in the fall. As the scales open sufficiently, the
seeds drop to the ground, where they can be collected if you’re there at the right
time and beat the animals to them. The seeds may drop over a 2–4 week period.
One of the best methods to harvest them is to lay sheets under the trees to catch
the seed so they’re not lost in the grass. The seeds are then shelled, eaten as a
snack, added to soups, or mashed and added to biscuits or pancakes.
As some suggest, I have taken the not-fully-mature cones and put them into
the fire and carefully watched them so they don’t burn. The idea is to open the scales
and then get the seeds; however, I do not recommend this method. It’s too easy to
burn the cone, the seeds, and maybe yourself, for seeds that are not really mature.
The tender needles can also be collected and brewed into a tea. Put the
needles in a covered container, and boil at a low temperature for a few minutes.
The tea is rich in vitamin C and very aromatic and tasty—that is, if you enjoy
the flavor of a Christmas tree, which is what you’ll smell like after drinking it.
It’s very good.
Yes, we have all heard of eating the cambium layer of pine trees. I once read
an article entitled “Spaghetti That Grows on Trees,” and it showed a woman who
had peeled off the cambium layer of the bark (the inner layer) and had suppos-
edly cooked strips of it to make a wild spaghetti. She was actually smiling in the
picture, which was my clue that she hadn’t actually eaten any of this “spaghetti.”
I regard this as a “survival food,” meaning it is really not worth all the work
involved unless you’re actually near starving. You most likely would not break
into a smile if you were eating such a fibrous and resinous food.

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 Magnoliids
Formerly, this was considered a part of the category of dicots, which are now
called eudicots (see the Eudicots chapter).

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 Laurel Family (Lauraceae)
The Laurel family has 54 genera and 3,500 species worldwide. In California,
it is only represented by the camphor tree (Cinnamomum camphora) and the
California bay.

California bay tree wtih green fruit. Helen W. Nyerges

CALIFORNIA BAY
Umbellularia californica

Use: Leaves for tea and spice; nuts for food

Range: Almost exclusively along streams; sometimes planted in urban areas
Similarity to toxic species: The leaves resemble oleander; however, oleander lacks the strong
fragrance of the bay leaf.
Best time: Leaves can be collected anytime; nuts mature in October and November.
Status: Generally restricted to riparian areas
Tools needed: None

Properties
California bay is primarily a riparian tree, though it can be found as a shrub in
the chaparral and occasionally in the urban areas as a landscaping tree.

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 California bay leaves. Helen W. Nyerges

The leaves are very reminiscent of a lanceolate eucalyptus leaf, except bay
leaves are darker, and their aroma (especially when crushed) is quite distinctive.
The young wood has a darker hue, and the bark becomes smoother and lighter
as the plant matures.
The nuts are first green, and then they darken before they fall to the ground,
somewhat resembling an olive. Once the mushy flesh is removed, there is a thin
shell and then the meat inside.

Uses
Collect the nuts from the ground in the autumn. Remove the flesh and thin
shells and dry or roast to make them more palatable. You could also try boiling
the shelled nuts. Author Paul Campbell bakes the bay nuts until they are dark.
The flavor is a bit bitter, but reminiscent of chocolate!
The nuts could also be dried and ground into flour and used in various pas-
try products.
The leaves can be used fresh or dried to make a pleasant drink. Add a leaf
to your canteen of water, shake it, and enjoy. Or add a leaf to your cup, fill
with hot water, and then drink when it’s cool enough. It’s a delicious tea. The

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 tea is sometimes drunk to relieve
stomach pains from overeating Forager note: Though some people
or indigestion. have said that their headache was
The leaves of this plant have cured by inhaling the fumes from a
also long been used to repel bugs freshly crushed bay leaf, many ­others
from bags of rice or beans. This have said that inhaling the strong
is a good practice at home and fragrance causes a headache.
when traveling. Simply add a few
of the dried leaves to a container
of rice or other grain. The strong
aroma tends to deter the bugs.
Though not a direct food source, archery is one of the ways that indigenous
peoples hunted for meat. The long straight branches of the bay tree provide an
excellent material for making long bows.

Cautions
This is not the same leaf as the European bay more typically sold in the spice sec-
tions of stores. California bay is much stronger, and some people have a negative
reaction (e.g., headaches) to using the leaves for tea. Try just a little at first to
make sure you have no reaction.
There are people who have reported headaches after crushing a fresh leaf and
holding it close to their nostril to smell the fragrance. Be cautious even when
smelling the leaf.

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 Eudicots
This category was formerly the bulk of the plants referred to as dicots. The sprouts
begin with two cotyledons, and the flower parts generally in fours or fives. All
families in this category are arranged alphabetically by the family’s Latin name.

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 Muskroot Family (Adoxaceae)
This family has 5 genera and about 200 species worldwide. Only 2 of the genera
are represented in California.

Elder leaf and flowers

ELDERBERRY
Sambucus spp.

Use: Flowers for tea and food; berries for “raisins,” jam, jelly, juice
Range: Elder can be found throughout the state in chaparral, mountains, desert, urban
fringes, and generally in most environments.
Similarity to toxic species: See Cautions
Best time: Early spring for flowers; early summer for fruit
Status: Common
Tools needed: Clipper for flowers, clippers and good sturdy basket or bucket for berries

Forager note: If you don’t want your fruit to get all smashed and
crushed, collect in a basket or bucket (instead of a bag), and don’t
pack too many into the bucket.

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 Properties
There are 20 species of Sambu-
cus worldwide. According to the
latest classification, there are 4
types of elders that you’ll find
in California: Sambucus nigra
spp. caerulea (blue elderberry),
S. racemosa (has red or purplish-
black fruits), S. racemosa variety
melanocarpa (black elderberry),
and S. racemosa var. racemosa
(red elderberry).
Found at higher altitudes,
S. racemosa var. melanocarpa
(black elderberry) has purplish- Elder flower and fruit. Helen W. Nyerges
black fruits. S. nigra ssp. caerulea
(formerly S. mexicana; Mexican
elder or blue elderberry) is found at lower elevations, throughout the chaparral
and below. The fruit is nearly black when ripe, with a white glaucous coating
making it appear blue. The S. racemosa var. racemosa (red elderberry) has red
fruits, and prefers moist areas.
The different varieties of elder can be found in the dry chaparral regions of
California, along streams, and in the higher mountain regions. They are gener-
ally small trees, with oppositely arranged, pinnately divided leaves with a termi-
nal leaflet. Each leaflet has a fine serration along its edge.
The plant is often inconspicuous in the chaparral but is very obvious when
its many yellowish-white flower clusters blossom in the spring.
By early summer, the fruits develop in clusters that often droop from the
weight.

RECIPE
Elder Flower Vinegar

Fill a jar with elder flowers (remove as much of the green stems as you can), then pour
in apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar until you reach the top. Close the lid tightly and
shake a couple of times daily. Taste after a couple of weeks. Makes a wonderful vinegar
with floral flavors.
—recipe from Pascal Baudar

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 David Martinez examines the ripe Mexican elder fruit.

Uses
The dark purple berries, rich in vitamin A with fair amounts of potassium and
calcium, can be eaten raw (but see Caution below), or mashed and blended with
applesauce for a unique dessert, especially if you are using wild apples. The ber-
ries can also be used for making wines, jellies, jams, and pies. (The red berries are
not recommended for food, some having toxic qualities.)
Fellow forager and wild food experimenter Pascal Baudar likes to dry and
powder the fruit, and sprinkle it over ice cream!
The whole flower cluster can be gathered, dipped in batter, and fried, pro-
ducing a wholesome pancake. Try dipping the flower clusters in a batter of the
sweet yellow cattail pollen (see Cattail) and frying it like pancakes. It’s delicious!
Another way to use the flowers is to remove them from the clusters and the
little stems, and then mix with flour in a proportion of 50-50 for baking pastries,
breads, biscuits, and more.
The flowers also make a traditional Appalachian tea that was said to be useful
for colds, fevers, and headaches.

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 RECIPE
Elderberry Sauce

This simple sauce goes well with any game (such as duck), but feel free to try it with
chicken too!

1 pound elderberries (freeze the clusters first, crush them lightly with your hands, and
the berries will fall easily)
1 large sweet onion or 7–8 scallions
2
⁄3 cup red wine vinegar
3
⁄4 cup sugar or honey
1 teaspoon grated ginger
A couple of cloves
1
⁄2 teaspoon of salt, or to taste

Place the berries in a pot and squeeze them with your hand first to release the juice.
Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil for 10 minutes. Strain the liquid
through a sieve.
Return the liquid to the pot, bring to a simmer, and reduce until you have achieved
the right consistency (like a commercial steak sauce). You can prepare it in advance
and keep it in the fridge for many days.
—recipe from Pascal Baudar

The long straight stems of elder have a soft pith, and have historically been
hollowed-out and used for such things as pipe stems, blow guns, flutes, and
straws for stoking a fire.

Cautions
Be sure to cook the fruit before eating it, and avoid the red berries entirely. While
not everyone will get sick from eating the dark purple or black berries raw, they
can cause severe nausea in some people. Therefore, cook all fruit before using for
drinks or other dishes.
Do not consume the leaves, as this will result in sickness.

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 Fig Marigold Family (Aizoaceae)
This family has 130 genera and 2,500 species worldwide. Eleven genera are
found in California.

Young New Zealand spinach

NEW ZEALAND SPINACH

Tetragonia tetragonioides

Use: Leaves cooked or raw

Range: Along the beaches; also easily cultivated
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Though you could collect the greens year-round, the ideal time is spring and early
summer when the new growth is coming out.
Status: Generally found in scattered patches
Tools needed: None

Properties
Though there are 50 species worldwide of Tetragonia, this is the only species that
you’ll find in California. It is not a native, but comes from the Southern Hemisphere.
In the wild, you will find New Zealand spinach along the Pacific Coast in
the sand, mostly in sandy dunes. These beach plants often grow beyond the

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 After the rain, New Zealand spinach

high-tide line. The alternate leaves are fleshy and succulent and resemble com-
mon spinach or lamb’s quarter, though the plant is weak stemmed and sprawls
in the sand, rarely rising more than a few inches off the ground. The individual
leaves are rarely more than 2" long.
There are sessile flowers, but they are inconspicuous. The little nutlike seeds
fall on the ground around the plant. These can be collected for propagation.
Because the plant is easily cultivated, it can also be found in yards and
old gardens throughout the state. The plant survives fairly well even when left
alone, assuming the soil is at least of average richness, with some shade and
some moisture.

Uses
New Zealand spinach is one of Forager note: If you allow the
those highly versatile plants with New Zealand spinach to grow in
mild-tasting leaves that can be your garden, it will produce spinach
used in a broad selection of dishes. greens forever. To harvest it, just
Think of it as a perennial spinach pinch off the new growth.
with leaves more succulent than

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 New Zealand spinach on the beach. Rick Adams

regular spinach. The leaves are a bit stronger than regular spinach, though most
people will even enjoy it as a trail nibble.
The tender leaves are great in a simple salad or mixed with other greens. They
can be used in stir-fries, soup dishes, and cooked with eggs. If you try cooking
the leaves like spinach, try drinking the water. It’s a tasty broth and can be used
as the basis for a soup stock.
If you don’t live right on the coast, you can still get the seeds or live plants
(from a nursery) and grow this in your self-sufficiency garden. Unlike regular
spinach, the New Zealand spinach is a perennial that grows and spreads and
reseeds itself. If you’re someone who wants a food-producing garden that more
or less takes care of itself, this is the plant to have. Plant it once, take care of it,
and have food for decades.

RECIPE
The Moon Sets in the Malibu Lagoon

Finely chop 1 cup of New Zealand spinach leaves. Add 1 tablespoon tuna fish. Top with
an oil-and-vinegar dressing to taste.

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 Amaranth Family (Amaranthaceae)
The Amaranth family has 75 genera and 900 species worldwide, with 4 genera
in California.

One of the erect amaranths

AMARANTH
Amaranthus spp.

Use: Seeds for soup or pastry and bread products; leaf can be used raw or cooked
Range: Amaranth is widespread. Though it is most common in the disturbed soils of farms,
gardens, fields, and urban lots, you can usually find some amaranth in the deserts and in
open areas where there is some moisture, even if that moisture is seasonal.
Similarity to toxic species: Some ornamentals resemble amaranth. Some toxic plants super-
ficially resemble the amaranth plants. Individual jimsonweed leaves have been confused
for amaranth leaves. Generally, once the amaranth begins to flower and go to seed, this
confusion is diminished.
Best time: Spring is best for the leaves; late fall for the seeds.
Status: Common
Tools needed: You’ll need a tight-weave bag for collecting the seeds.

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 Properties
There are 13 species of Amaran-
thus in California; 7 are native.
Amaranth is an annual. The
ones with erect stalks can grow
to 3' and taller, depending on the
species. Some are more branched
and lower to the ground. When
young, the root of one of the com-
mon varieties, A. retroflexus, is red,
and the bottoms of the leaves are
purple. The leaves of A. retroflexus
are oval shaped, alternate, and
glossy. Other Amaranthus leaves
can be ovate to linear.
The plant produces flowers,
but they are not conspicuous.
They are formed in spikelike clus-
ters, and numerous shiny black
seeds develop when the plant
matures in late summer. The plant A. retroflexus. Note red root. Rick Adams
is common and widespread in
urban areas, fields, farms, back-
yards, and roadsides.

Uses
Amaranth is a versatile plant with edible parts available throughout its grow-
ing season.
The young leaves and tender stems of late winter and spring can be eaten
raw in salads, but because there is often a hint of bitterness, they are best mixed
with other greens. Young and tender stems are boiled in many parts of the world
and served with butter or cheese as a simple vegetable. Older leaves get bitter and
should be boiled into a spinach-like dish or added to dishes like soups, stews,
and stir-fries.
In Mexico, leaves are sometimes dried and made into a flour, which is added
to tamales and other dishes.

Forager note: Amaranths are a diverse group: Some have an erect

stalk, some are highly branched, and some are prostrate.

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 Amaranth begins to produce
seeds in late summer, and once the
seeds are black, they can be har-
vested. The entire plant generally is
very withered and dried-up by the
time you’re harvesting. The seeds are
added to soups, bread batter, and
pastry products. Ground-up seeds
sweetened with honey are used to
make a traditional Mexican atole.
The seed and leaf are very nutri-
tious, no doubt part of the reason
this plant was so revered in the old
days. Consider this: 100 g of the
seed contains about 358 calories, A. retroflexus leaves. Rick Adams
247 mg of calcium, 500 mg of
phosphorus, and 52.5 mg of potas-
sium. The seed offers a nearly complete balance of essential amino acids, includ-
ing lysine and methionine.
The leaf is also very nutritious, being high in calcium and potassium: 100
g, about 1⁄2 cup, of amaranth leaf has 267–448 mg of calcium, 411–617 mg of
potassium, 53–80 mg of vitamin C, 4,300 mcg (micrograms) of beta carotene,
and 1,300 mcg of niacin. This volume of leaf contains about 35 calories.

Historical note: The seed and leaf of this plant played a key part of the diet in preco-
lonial Mexico. The seeds were mixed with honey or blood and shaped into images of
their gods, and these images were then eaten as a communion. Sound familiar? After
the Spanish invaded Mexico, they made it illegal to grow the amaranth plant, with
the justification that it was a part of “pagan rituals.”

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 Carrot Family (Apiaceae)
The Carrot family has about 300 genera worldwide, with about 3,000 species. In
California, there are 39 genera of this family. Many are cultivated for food, spice,
and medicine, but some are highly toxic. Never eat anything that looks like car-
rot or parsley if you haven’t positively identified it.

Young fennel plant

FENNEL
Foeniculum vulgare

Use: Leaf and stalk raw or cooked; seed for tea or seasoning
Range: Widespread as an invasive species along the coast, and common locally in urban
lots and fields
Similarity to toxic species: Fennel has needlelike leaves and smells like licorice, so you really
shouldn’t confuse it with anything toxic. However, this family contains some poisonous and
toxic members, so be certain you’re picking fennel before eating it.
Best time: Spring is best for the young shoots; collect the seeds in summer or fall.
Status: Widespread and common in certain localities
Tools needed: None

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 Christopher with fennel and stalk. Rick Adams

Properties
Fennel is the only species of the Foeniculum genus.
Fennel is a perennial from Europe that is very common along the Pacific
Coast and in wet areas. It is very abundant in certain places and generally con-
sidered invasive.
The plant begins to produce its leaves in the spring. The finely dissected
leaves give the plant a ferny appearance. The base of each leaf clasps the stalk with
a flared base, similar to the base of a celery stalk. The unmistakable characteristic
is the strong licorice aroma of the crushed leaf.
In winter and early spring, the plants begin to appear. They first establish
a ferny, bushy 2'–3' broad base. By spring and early summer, the flower stalks
rise to a height of 6' (higher in ideal conditions). The entire plant has a slightly
bluish-green cast due to a thin waxy coating on the stalks and leaves.
The yellow flowers form in large, distinctive umbels.

Uses
Young fennel leaves and peeled stalks are great to eat as a trail snack when you’re
thirsty and hungry. When the plant first sprouts up in the spring, you can eat

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 the entire tender, succulent base of the plant, somewhat like you’d eat celery. As
it sends up its stalk, but before the plant has flowered, the stalk is still tender and
can be easily cut into segments. These tender segments are hollow and round in
the cross section and can be used like celery for dipping or cooked like asparagus
and served with cheese and butter.
Later, as the plant grows taller, you can eat the tender leaves and stems
chopped up in salads or added to soups and stews. It gets a bit fibrous as it
matures, but can be diced up and added to many dishes. It adds a sweet spiciness
to the dishes in which it is used. If you don’t care for licorice, you probably won’t
care for fennel.
When the seeds mature, they can be made into a licorice-flavored tea. Just
put 5 or 6 seeds into a cup and add hot water.
The seeds alone can be chewed as a breath freshener or used to season
other dishes.
Fennel is widely considered a pest in California because, in some areas, it
grows so thick that it will choke out native vegetation. However, this is one of
those ideal plants to grow in the lazy man’s garden. It seems to take care of itself,
does well in sun or shade, and continues to arise from its roots year after.

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 Sunflower Family (Asteraceae)
Worldwide, the Sunflower family has about 1,500 genera, and about 23,000 spe-
cies! This is the largest family in California. Jepson divides this very large family
into 14 groups. All plants addressed here from the Sunflower family are within
Group 8, described as having ligulate heads, 5-lobed ligules (5 teeth per petal),
and generally containing milky sap when broken. When I was studying botany
in the 1970s, my teachers described this group as the Chicory Tribe, a much
more descriptive title than the unimaginative “Group 8.” According to Dr. Leo-
nid Enari, the Chicory Tribe contains no poisonous members and is a worthy
group for further edibility research. I have eaten many of the other members of
this group not listed here, though generally they require extensive boiling and
water changing to render them edible and palatable.

Chicory plant in flower. Rick Adams

Chicory
Cichorium intybus

Use: Root for beverage and food; greens raw or cooked

Range: Widespread, more so in the northern part of the state; found especially in the dis-
turbed soils of farms, fields, gardens
Similarity to toxic species: None

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 Best time: Spring is ideal for collecting.
Status: Common locally
Tools needed: Tool for digging roots

Properties
There are 6 species worldwide in the Cichorium genus. Chicory is one of only 2
species of Cichorium in California; the other is endive, which is not common and
is typically found near gardens or farms where it goes wild.
The chicory plant grows upright 3'–5' tall typically with prominent sky-blue
flowers. Look carefully at the flower—the tip of each petal is divided into 5 teeth,
typical of the Chicory Tribe of the Sunflower family. Each leaf will produce a bit
of milky sap when cut. The older upper leaves on the stalk very characteristically
clasp the stem at the base. This is a perennial from Europe that is now widespread
in parts of California, mostly the north. It is found in fields, along roadsides, in
gardens, in farms, and in disturbed soils.

Uses
This is another of those incredibly nutritious plants with multiple uses. The
leaves, preferably the very young leaves, can be added to salads; if you don’t

Chicory flower. Vickie Shufer

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 mind a bit of bitter, the older
leaves can be added. The leaves
can be cooked like spinach and
added to a variety of dishes, such
as soups, stews, and egg dishes.
Chicory roots are also used
whole or sliced, either boiled and
buttered or added to stews and
soups. Roots in rich soil tend to
be less woody and fibrous.
Chicory roots have long
been used as a substitute for cof-
fee or as a coffee extender. Dig
and wash the roots, and then
dry them, grind them, and roast
them until they are brown. Now
use alone, just as you’d use regu-
lar coffee grounds, or add to cof-
fee as an extender.
Incidentally, you can make
this same coffee substitute or
extender with the roots of dan-
delion and sow thistle.
Mature chicory plant. Vickie Shufer
Note: The entire Chicory
Tribe of the Sunflower family
contains no poisonous members, though many are bitter. These are generally
tender-leafed plants with milky sap and with dandelion-like flowers, each petal
of which usually has 5 teeth at the tip.

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 Prickly lettuce (sow thistle to right)

prickly Lettuce
Lactuca serriola and others

Use: Young leaves raw or cooked

Range: Most commonly found in gardens, disturbed soils, along trails, edges of farms
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Early spring
Status: Widespread
Tools needed: None

Properties
Though there are about 100 species of Lactuca worldwide, we have only 7 spe-
cies in California, and only 2 are native (L. tatarica and L. biennis). L. serriola, a
European native, is probably the most abundant and widespread.

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 Young rosette of prickly lettuce, still OK in salads

Prickly lettuce is actually a very common annual plant that you can find just
about anywhere, hidden in plain view. Yes, you’ve seen it, but it likely blended
into the landscape. It’s mostly an urban “weed,” though occasionally you’ll find
it in the near wilderness surrounding urban areas. It’s originally from Europe.
Prickly lettuce rises with its erect stalk to generally no more than 3'. The young
leaves are lanceolate with generally rounded ends. They are tender; if you tear a leaf,
you’ll see white sap. The plant grows upright with a straight stem that develops
soft spines as it gets older. As the plant matures, you’ll note that there is a stiff line
of hairs on the bottom midrib of the leaf. The leaf attachment is either sessile or
clasping the stem. And the leaf shape can be quite variable, from a simple oblong
lanceolate leaf to one that is divided into pinnately lobed segments. Despite this,
after you’ve seen a few prickly lettuce plants, you should readily recognize it.
The flowers are small and dandelion-like, pale yellow, with about a dozen ray
flowers per head. As with dandelion, these mature into small seeds attached to a
little cottony tuft.

Uses
Prickly lettuce sounds like something you’d really like in a salad, but, in fact, you
need to find the very youngest leaves for salad, or they get too tough and bitter.

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 Forager note: One of the common names for this plant is compass
plant. When the plant is mature, the edges of the leaves tend to point
to the sun as it moves across the sky. This is probably a mechanism to
stop water loss. While this is by no means as accurate as using a com-
pass, it could help you determine directions with a bit of figuring.

Very young leaves (before the plant has sent up its flower stalk) are good added
to your salads and sandwiches.
The leaves can also be collected and mixed into stir-fries, or added to soups
and any sort of stew in which you can add wild greens.
But let’s not be fooled by the name “lettuce.” Yes, it’s botanically a relative
of the cultivar you buy in the supermarket, but the leaves are significantly bitter
as they age. And the rib on the underside of each older leaf develops these stiff
spines that make any similarity to lettuce very distant. This means you’ll be using
this plant raw only when it’s very young; and when it’s flowering and mature, you
probably won’t be using it at all.
Still, it’s food, it’s edible, and it grows everywhere. You should get to know
this plant and its relatives, and learn to recognize it early in the growing season.
I’ve used it when very young in sandwiches, salads, soups, stews, and egg
dishes. I’ve even used the small root when I was experimenting with coffee sub-
stitutes. Because this is related to dandelion and sow thistle, I figured it would
work well as a coffee substitute, and it does, but there’s very little root to this
plant.

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 Sow thistle in flower

SOW THISTLE
Sonchus oleraceus and others

Use: Mostly the leaves, raw or cooked; root can be cooked and eaten; flower buds pickled
Range: Most common in urban areas, gardens, and farms, but also found in most
environments
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Spring is best, though the older leaves of late summer are still useful.
Status: Common
Tools needed: Trowel for digging

Properties
There are 55 known species of Sonchus worldwide. Four of these species are
found in California, and all are originally from Europe. Though the common
sow thistle (S. oleraceus) is most often used for food, the other 3 look very similar
and can be used likewise. However, when you see S. asper, the prickly sow thistle,

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 you may conclude that it’s too
much work to use for a dish
of cooked greens because it is
covered with soft spines.
When most people see a
flowering common sow thistle
for the first time, they think it’s
a dandelion. Well, it is related
to the dandelion, and, yes, the
flowers are very similar. But
here is a simple distinction: All
dandelion leaves arise directly
from the taproot, forming a
basal rosette. Sow thistle sends
up a much taller stalk, up to
5' or so in ideal conditions but
usually about 3'. The leaves are
formed along this more-or-less
erect and branching stalk. The
leaves are paler and more ten-
Sow thistle in flower
der than the dandelion leaves,
and sow thistle leaves are not
as jagged on the edges as dandelion. And though the individual dandelion and
sow thistle flowers are very similar, dandelion only forms one flower per stalk,
whereas sow thistle will form many flowers per stalk.

Uses
Though sow thistle may not be quite as nutritious as dandelion, it’s definitely
tastier, and the leaves are more tender. You can take the leaves of sow thistle and
include them in salads; and even when the plant is old, there is only a hint of
bitterness. The flavor and texture are very much like lettuce that you might grow
in your garden.
The leaves and tender stems are
also ideally added to soups and stews,
or simply cooked by themselves and Forager note: Sow thistle
served like spinach greens. They are is one of our most common wild
tasty on their own, or you can try dif- foods. It is so widespread that
ferent seasonings (peppers, butter, it can be found in nearly every
cheese) that you enjoy. environment, even in the cracks
The root can be eaten or made into
of the urban sidewalks.
a coffee substitute, as is commonly

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 RECIPE
Spring Awakening

For a dish that resembles asparagus, take just the tender sow thistle stems in the
springtime (the leaves can be removed and added to other dishes). Boil or steam them
until tender—it doesn’t take long—and then lay the stems on your plate like aspara-
gus. Add some cheese or butter, and it will make a delicious dish. But this is a dish that
you’ll only enjoy in the spring—timing is everything.

done with two of its relatives, dandelion and chicory. To eat the roots, gather the
young ones and boil until tender. Season as you wish and serve. The roots could
also be washed and added to soups and stews.
For a coffee substitute, gather and wash the roots, and then dry thoroughly.
Grind them into a coarse meal, roast to a light shade of brown, and then percolate
into a caffeine-free beverage. Is it good? It’s all a matter of personal preference.

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 Dandelion rosette and seeding flowerheads

DANDELION
Taraxacum officinale

Use: Leaves raw or cooked; root cooked or processed into a beverage

Range: Prefers lawns, fields, and disturbed soils
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Spring for the greens; anytime for the roots
Status: Common
Tools needed: Trowel for the roots

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 Dandelion rosette

Properties
The Taraxacum genus has 60 species worldwide. In California, there are 4 spe-
cies of Taraxacum; 2 are native, and 2 are from Europe. The common dandelion
(T. officinale) is from Europe. California dandelion (T. californicum) and horned
dandelion (T. ceratophorum) are our native dandelions.
Even people who say they don’t know how to identify any plants can prob-
ably identify a dandelion in a field. The characteristic yellow composite flower
sits atop the narrow stem, which arises directly from the taproot. There is one
yellow flower per flower stalk. These mature into the round puffy seed heads that
children like to blow on and make a wish.
These grow in fields, in lawns, in vacant lots, and along trails. They tend to
prefer disturbed soils, though I have seen them in the wilderness.
The leaves are dark green, toothed on the margins, and each arises from the
root. The name “dandelion” actually comes from the French dent de leon, mean-
ing “tooth of the lion,” for the jagged edges of the leaves.

Uses
My first exposure to dandelion was at about age 7 when my father would pay me
a nickel to dig them out of our front-yard lawn and throw them into the trash.

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 Boy, things have changed! These days, I would not consider having a front lawn,
and I definitely would not dig out the dandelions and toss them in the trash.
Dandelion is another versatile wild food. The yellow flowers make the plant
conspicuous in field and lawns, though it’s really the leaves and root that are
most used by the forager.
Young leaves are the best, and because they are bitter, they are usually
blanched before eating. They can be used in any cooked dish where you’d add
greens, such as soups, stews, and omelettes.
If you want raw dandelion greens, you’ll want to pick them as early as pos-
sible in the season, or they become bitter. Bitter is not bad, and it can be mel-
lowed out by adding other greens. Also, oil-rich dressing makes a dandelion salad
more palatable.
It’s understandable that dandelions have gotten more popular—they are,
after all, the richest source of beta carotene, even more so than carrots. How-
ever, not all the greens sold as dandelions in farmers’ markets and supermarkets
are the genuine leaf. Frequently we will see various endive relatives sold and
called “dandelion.”
The roots are also edible. The younger roots, and plants growing in rich
soil, are more tender and more desirable. But I have eaten old roots and tough
roots and have found a way to make them more palatable: Generally, I scrub the
roots to get rid of all the soil, and then boil them until tender. You can boil them
whole, or slice them, and when tender, use in stews and soups.
For a coffee-substitute beverage, wash and dry the roots. Though there are
a few ways you can do this, I generally do a coarse grind and then roast them in
the oven until they are light brown. Then I do a fine grind and percolate them
into a beverage. You can drink it black, or you can add your honey and cream.
Oh yes, and then there’s dandelion wine. . . .

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 Mustard Family (Brassicaceae)
The Mustard family is another large family, comprising more than 330 genera
worldwide and about 3,780 species. In California, the Mustard family is repre-
sented by 64 genera.
The floral characteristics that define the Mustard family are 4 free petals, 4
sepals (generally white or yellow, but other colors as well), 6 stamens (4 long,
2 short), 1 pistil, a superior ovary, and fruits generally a capsule or silique with
two valves. Many are cultivated for foods and some for ornamentals. The Jepson
Manual divides this family into 8 groups. Dr. Leonid Enari stated that he was
unaware of any toxic member of this group, though some are more palatable
than others. As a result, I have experimented with many of the Mustard family
species in various parts of North America.

Young Brassica

Mustard
Brassica spp.

Use: Leaves raw or cooked; seeds for spice; flowers for garnish
Range: Fields, urban areas, and chaparral hillsides
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Spring for greens and flowers
Status: Widespread
Tools needed: None

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 Properties
There are 35 species of Brassica world-
wide. Seven of those genera, all non-
natives, can be found in California.
Though you should learn to rec-
ognize the common mustards even
when the plant is not in flower, it
is the flower that will initially draw
you to the plant. The bright yel-
low flower has the typical mustard
family flora arrangement: 4 petals
(shaped in an X or cross), 4 sepals (1
under each petal), 4 stamens, and 1
pistil. These are formed in a raceme
with the buds toward the tops, then Mustard flowers. Helen W. Nyerges
the mature flowers, and then, lower
on the stalk, the seedpods form.
The needle-thin seedpods are about 1" long.
The initial basal leaves are lyrately pinnately divided, meaning that they have
the appearance of a guitar with a large, round lateral lobe and smaller side lobes.
Not exactly like a guitar, but that gives you a good mental picture. As the plant
matures, the leaves that form on the upper stalks are smaller and linear and look
nothing like the young basal leaves.

Uses
Mustard is one of the first wild foods that I began to eat, partly because it is so
common, and partly because it is so easy to identify. I recall seeing a line drawing
of it in Bradford Angier’s Free for the Eating book, which didn’t look anything
like the green plant with yellow flowers that I was seeing all over Southern Cali-
fornia. Angier used a picture of the mature plant gone to seed, and I was seeing
the young spring plant. They were both right, but it demonstrated the need to
always learn plants by seeing them in the field.
I began with the young mustard greens, chewing the raw leaves and enjoy-
ing the spicy flavor, despite the fine hairs covering the leaves (not all Brassicas
are hairy). I then moved on to
chopping them up and add-
ing to salads, which was good. Forager note: This is a hardy plant.
I then began to boil the leaves I have managed to find some mustard
and serve to my family, with greens even during droughts when no
butter. Everyone enjoyed it, other greens are available.
even my father.

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 Mustard leaves and stems

Eventually, I found that I could add mustard greens to just about any dish:
soups, mixed salads, omelettes, stir-fries, potatoes, you name it! The fact that I
could collect these greens year-round in California was also a big plus.
The flower buds and flowers have also been a good trail treat, and make a
good colorful garnish to salads and soups. I give them to children and tell them
that they taste like broccoli, and most of the children say they enjoy the flowers.
The tender tops of the stems with the flower buds can also be snapped off
the upper parts of the plant, steamed, and served with some sauce or cheese. The
flavor is just like the Chinese broccoli that you buy at the farmers’ markets.
Lastly, you can come back to this annual plant in late fall, when the leaves
are dried up and the tops are just tan-colored stems with small seedpods. Collect
the pods in a bag (a pillowcase is ideal), and break them all up. The seeds go to
the bottom of the bag, and you can discard the pod shell. The seeds are then used
as a seasoning for various dishes calling for mustard, or you can try making your
own mustard from the brown seeds.

RECIPE
Pascal’s Mustard

Fellow forager Pascal Baudar takes the pungent flowers of regular black mustard and
grinds them while fresh, adding white wine and vinegar to taste. He thus produces a
mustard condiment from the flowers, not the seed as is the usual custom.

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 Sea rocket in flower on the beach

Sea Rocket
Cakile edentula and C. maritima

Use: Greens, sprouts, and flowers; ideally cooked, but can be used raw sparingly
Range: Restricted to the sandy beaches along the entire California coast
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Spring, but can be picked year-round
Status: Somewhat common
Tools needed: None

Properties
There are 7 species of Cakile worldwide, found on the beach shores of North
America, Africa, and Europe. On California’s west coast, we have 2 species of
Cakile, both introduced.
In California, sea rocket is widespread along the coast, growing in the sand
in the upper areas of the beach, usually just beyond high tide in the dunes.
When you see how well these plants have naturalized, it is hard to believe that
they are not natives. C. maritima is the one that you see most commonly on the
California beaches, and it is native to Europe. C. edentula is also found in and
is native to the East Coast of the United States. The leaves are very much like a

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 small mustard leaf, but plump, as
if they were swollen. Each leaf has
a bluish-green appearance, with
the leaves pinnately divided into
linear segments. Typically, each
leaf tends to fold inward along the
central vein of the leaf.
The seedpods also look swol-
len, and you can see why the plant
is called “rocket” by looking at the
pod’s space-rocket appearance.
Of course, the lavendar to
light-purple flower has the typi-
cal mustard flower arrangement of
4 petals, 4 sepals, 6 stamens, and
1 pistil.

Uses
The leaves are strongly flavored
like horseradish, and generally
you would not want to include the
mature leaves in a salad. But boil-
ing tones them down quite a bit
so they are then tastier and more
palatable. The boiled leaves can be Sea rocket pods and flowers. Rick Adams
added for flavor to soup broths or
to dishes of mixed greens. In gen-
eral, you’d probably not want to serve them alone as a cooked green unless you
changed the water once and then served them with some onions and probably
a savory sauce.
Still, they can turn an otherwise bland meal into quite a treat. They will help
to flavor clam chowder as well as other soups and stews. They will really liven up
stale old MREs.

RECIPE
We have finely diced the sea rocket leaves into nearly a paste and mixed in a very small
amount of oil and vinegar, creating a passable “wasabi.”

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 Once, while camping on the
coast north of San Francisco, we
were hiking in the sand above the
high-tide line. It was very foggy in
the winter time, and most of the
sea rocket was dried and gone to
seed. Under one very large old
bushy sea rocket plant, we noticed
hundreds of the little sprouts in the
sand. We carefully harvested many
of these. Each was tender and
not at all harshly flavored, as the
more mature plant tends to be. We
added some to salad for our mostly
foraged meal that evening, and the
rest we added to our homemade
clam chowder.
Think of sea rocket more as a
flavoring agent and garnish, not as a
Individual sea rocket leaf. Rick Adams
principal food.

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 Indian cabbage in the field. Otto Gasser, San Emigdio Mountains Region of California

Indian cabbage
Calanthus inflatus

Use: Greens and top buds, cooked

Range: Indian cabbage is restricted to the Mojave Desert and its fringes.
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Spring, after a wet winter
Status: Appears in the open areas single or in groups; some years it will not appear if there
are insufficient rains.
Tools needed: None

Properties
There are 17 species of Calanthus in the Southwest and Mexico. In California,
we find 16 species, all native.
Indian cabbage, also called desert candle, is a distinctive plant when you
encounter it in the open sandy areas of the desert and in the dry hillsides. Most
often you will find it in the Mojave Desert in the spring after a winter of average
to above-average rain. In years of drought, you will not see this plant.

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 The most notable feature is the
erect and inflated stem, which rises
up about 1.5' (or so). The flower
tips are dark purple, white at the
base. This is the only species of
Calanthus where the stigma is pur-
plish. The overall effect when you
look at the flowering plant is of a
candle, burning at the top. (OK,
so you need to have some imagi-
nation!) The leaves form in a basal
rosette, and they somewhat have
the texture of cabbage (though not
the shape). The bases of the upper
leaves are strongly lobed and clasp-
ing the stem.

Uses
The desert Indians were known to
have used the leaves and tender
stems for food. I have nibbled the
young leaves and, though they were
certainly edible, they were not ideal
for salads unless they were collected
very young in the year.
The flavor is improved by cook-
Indian cabbage flower. Otto Gasser, San Emigdio
ing. I have added the younger leaves Mountains Region of California
to cooked soups and stews and
found them delicious, though some
of my camping partners said the leaves were just “tolerable.” The leaves should
be rinsed of sand, diced, and then cooked with egg dishes, stir-fries, and other
vegetable dishes.
Both the leaves and the tip of the flower stalk can be used.

Forager note: My first encounters with this annual plant were in

the winter when the plant had died and left a hollow stalk. When the
wind came through and blew across the hollow tubes, it created an eerie
music of the desert.

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 A patch of flowering Indian cabbages. Otto Gasser, San Emigdio Mountains Region
of California

Though this may seem like a marginal food, you should keep in mind that
food is not always very common or widespread in the desert. It’s good to know as
many foods from the desert as possible. And with this one, timing is everything.
You will find the plant in the greatest abundance after a wet winter and spring.
Then, once the heat of summer is upon us, the plants quickly dry up and disap-
pear. In some seasons, you may not see any of this plant at all.

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 Shepherd’s purse, in seed, arising from a field of chickweed

Shepherd’s Purse
Capsella bursa-pastoris

Use: Leaves used raw or cooked; medicine

Range: Prefers lawns, fields, disturbed soils, lower chaparral zone
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Spring is best for greens; the seed can be collected in late spring to early summer.
Status: Somewhat common
Tools needed: None

Properties
There are 4 species of Capsella worldwide, and only this species is found in
California.
Shepherd’s purse is most easily identified by its flat, heart-shaped seedpods.
They are unmistakeable! The stalks rise about 1' or so tall. The little clusters of
white flowers, sometimes tinged with a bit of purple, are formed in racemes
along the stalk. These then mature into the heart-shaped pods. Trouble is, by the

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 time you see all the seedpods it’s usually too
late to use the young leaves for food, but at
least now you know how to recognize shep-
herd’s purse.
The young leaves are often hidden in the
grass and are somewhat inconspicuous. The
basal leaves are toothed, with a large terminal
lobe, typical of Mustard family leaves. The
upper leaves are without a stalk and are more
arrowhead shaped. If you look closely, the
young leaves will be covered with little hairs.

Uses
The flavor of shepherd’s purse leaves are mild
and could be used in just about any recipe,
such as salad, sandwiches, soup, eggs, etc.
However, they seem best when used in salads.
Dr. Enari used to poll his students on
which plant tasted the best of the many wild
plants he let them try. Consistently in his
polls, shepherd’s purse was rated the best. It Heart-shaped seed pods of shepherd’s
is actually somewhat bland and peppery, but purse
not too peppery, and the texture is mild. Even
finicky eaters will like these leaves.
It’s also very nutritious. About a half cup of the leaves (100 g) contains 208
mg of calcium, 86 mg of phosphorus, 40 mg of sodium, 394 mg of potassium,
36 mg of vitamin C, and 1,554 international units (IUs) of vitamin A.
Additionally, some Native Americans ground the seed into a meal and
used it in drinks and as a flour for
various dishes.
Dr. Enari told his students that
this was the best plant to stop nose-
bleeds. Boil the plant, put a cotton
ball into the water, and then apply it
to the nose. It turns out that many
people have used this plant medici-
nally, especially to stop internal or
external bleeding.

Young shepherd’s purse

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 Watercress

Watercress
Nasturtium officinale

Use: Leaves raw or cooked in salads, stir-fries, soup, etc.; can be dried for use as a seasoning
Range: Restricted to the edges of lakes and streams
Similarity to toxic species: None! However, in one case of death by poison hemlock, 2 camp-
ers in the Santa Cruz area cooked and ate poison hemlock. Both became sick quickly, and
one managed to walk out and get help; the other camper was found dead when rescuers
returned. The survivor said that they thought the plant they ate was watercress. Though
watercress and poison hemlock can grow in the same wet areas, they are very different-
looking plants. Never eat any plant until you have made positive identification.
Best time: Although the plant can be collected at any time, it’s best in summer before the
plant flowers.
Status: Somewhat common along streams
Tools needed: None

Properties
There are 5 species of Nasturtium worldwide. Two of these species are found in
California, and both are considered natives.

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 Once you learn to recognize watercress, and see how the pinnately divided
leaves are formed, you will find it quite easy to recognize, whether it is very
young or older and flowering.
First, it’s nearly always growing directly in the edges of streams where the water
is slower. Occasionally you’ll find it in sandy areas, but it is always an area that is at
least seasonally underwater. You’ll typically find it growing in thick mats.
The leaves are pinnately divided into round leaflets. The stems are hollow,
and there are white hairs on the underwater part of the stem.
The plant is in the Mustard family, so when it gets older and flowers, the
white flowers will be divided into the typical Mustard family formula: 4 petals, 4
sepals, 6 stamens, and 1 pistil.
Though watercress can today be found worldwide, it is regarded by botanists
as a native plant in California. It was known to be a part of the diet of early
Native Americans.

Uses
Watercress was one of the very first wild plants that I learned how to identify and
began to use. It is not only common throughout waterways in California but
throughout the world.
I have always enjoyed making a salad of mixed greens, including watercress.
But I don’t usually make a salad with only watercress because it’s a bit too spicy
for my taste. A few raw watercress leaves are also tasty in sandwiches.
For soup, just chop the entire plant (tender stems and leaves) fine, and add
it to a water- or milk-based soup. Or you can add chopped watercress leaves to a
miso base. Watercress makes a delicious soup.

Watercress in flower. Helen W. Nyerges

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 You can cook the greens like
spinach, serving it with a simple
seasoning such as butter or cheese.
Or, try mixing the greens into an
egg omelette.
If you’re living off MREs or
freeze-dried camping food, you
can add some diced watercress to
liven up your meals.
Also, for those of you who’d
like making your own spices, you
can dry and powder watercress
and use it to season various dishes.
Use it alone or blend the pow-
dered watercress with powdered
seaweed or other flavorful herbs.
You’ll notice that some of the
commercial salt-alternative spices
use dried watercress leaves.
Another self-reliant idea is to
dry wild foods into the basis of a Christopher collecting watercress. Rick Adams
soup stock, and then reconstitute
them later into a soup or stew
broth. Dried and powdered watercress makes an ideal ingredient in such a mix.

Cautions
If you have doubts about the purity of the water where you get your watercress,
you should not eat it raw, but boil it first and then use it in a cooked dish.
Always wash the watercress before using. It grows right in the water, and you
want to remove any dirt or other undesirables that may be clinging to the plant.

RECIPE
Saturday Night Special

Gently sauté half an onion bulb in a skillet with butter; you could substitute a handful
of wild or garden onion greens. Quickly add at least 1 cup chopped watercress leaves
and stems, and cook gently until all is tender. Add a dash of soy sauce and serve.

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 Young radish leaf. Note red in stem.

Radish, Wild
Raphanus sativus and R. raphanistrum

Use: All tender portions of this plant—leaf, stems, pods, flowers—can be used raw, pickled,
or cooked. Roots generally are not used.
Range: Fields, wet areas, farmlands, vacant lots, disturbed soils
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Spring into summer is best.
Status: Common
Tools needed: Clippers

Properties
There are 3 species of Raphanus. Two are found in California, and both are
natives of the Mediterranean area.
Each young leaf of wild radish is lyrately pinnately divided, meaning that
there is one large end lobe and smaller side lobes or segments to the leaf: It
resembles a guitar! When the young leaves of wild radish are newly emerging,
it would be easy to confuse the leaves with those of mustard (Brassica spp.).

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 However, wild radish leaf lacks the
fine hairs that you find on mus-
tard. If you examine a wild rad-
ish leaf closely, it will be covered
somewhat sparsely with bristles,
but the leaf is smoother than mus-
tard, and you will see a tinge of red
in the midrib of the radish leaf.
As the plant flowers, instead
of the usual yellow mustard flow-
ers, the flowers will be lavendar or
white, or very rarely a pale yellow.
There is the typical Mustard family
flower formula of 4 petals, 4 sepals,
6 stamens (4 long and 2 short), and
1 pistil. The flowers are followed
by fleshy seedpods that resemble
pointed jalapeño peppers.
The root of wild radish is a
white taproot, not at all like the
radish you might grow in your Radish flower and bud
garden or buy in the store. It
is largely woody and inedible,
though there is a soft outer layer that can be peeled off. The taste of this outer
root layer is so obviously “radish” that most anyone can identify this plant by
that aroma and flavor.
Overall, wild radish can get up to 4', even taller in ideal conditions.

Radish pods. Rick Adams

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 Uses
There are many edible sections of the wild radish.
The leaves can be collected at any time in their growing cycle, cut into small
pieces, and added to salads. They are hot and spicy, so add to other greens. The
leaves can also be added to soups, egg dishes, and stews.
The flowers are quite tasty and sweet when you first pick and nibble them,
but your mouth will get very hot. Eat them sparingly. You can pick the flowers
and add to salads and other dishes as a tasty garnish. The tender flower tips—
somewhat resembling Chinese broccoli—can be snapped free, steamed or boiled,
and served with butter, cheese, or a spicy sauce.
The green seedpods, which somewhat resemble jalapeño or serrano chiles,
can be nibbled when they are still tender inside and haven’t gotten woody. You
can add the chopped tender pods to soups and salads, or try pickling them.

RECIPE
Pickled Radish Pods

Pickled radish pods were very popular in the Victorian era. It’s a neat way to preserve
them, and they’re wonderful in salads, sandwiches, or side dishes. It’s also very easy
to make.
For this recipe, we use 1⁄2-pint jars. Simply fill up the jar with as many (clean) radish
pods as you can, and in each jar place the following:
2 garlic cloves
1
⁄2 teaspoon Italian or French spice mix (you can also use dill or other spices of your liking)
1 medium-spicy dehydrated chile (just because I like some heat)
1
⁄3 California bay leaf (or 1⁄2 regular bay leaf )
1
⁄2 teaspoon sea salt

In a small saucepan, make a pickling solution composed of 3 parts raw apple cider
vinegar and 2 parts white wine. Bring the solution to a boil and pour it into the jars
over the radish pods and spices. Close the lids and place the jars in the fridge. Wait 2–3
weeks before consuming.
If you know how to can and want to preserve them outside the fridge (shelf sta-
ble), use the water-bath method and boil for 15 minutes.
—recipe from Pascal Baudar

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 Hedge mustard with glasses for size comparison

Hedge Mustard
Sisymbrium irio (also called London rocket) and S. officinale

Use: Leaves, raw or cooked

Range: Prefers disturbed soils of fields, roadsides, along trails, farms; can also be found in
the desert regions where there is adequate water
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Spring
Status: Common
Tools needed: None

Forager note: My brother, Richard, and I took a few trips, typi-

cally in winter, through the Southwest (California, Texas, New Mexico,
Arizona). We always tried to collect wild foods to supplement our meals.
We usually didn’t find much, but we always found hedge mustard and
ate the spicy leaves with most of our meals.

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 Properties
Though there are 41 species of
Sisymbrium worldwide, we have
only 6 in California, and all are
European natives.
If you already know the mus-
tards (Brassica spp.), you will very
likely think “mustard” when you
see a hedge mustard. The flowers
of Sisymbrium tend to be smaller
than the Brassica flowers, and the
leaflets of the leaves tend to be
more pointy, versus the rounder
leaves of Brassica. Of course, to
botanists the distinction is mostly
in the details of the flowers, but
with sufficient observation, you’ll
be able to recognize the hedge
mustards by leaf alone.

Uses Hedge mustard leaf, flower, and seed capsules

I think of Sisymbrium as the wild
wasabis. Chew on a bit of the leaf
and you’ll get that hot horseradishy effect that opens your nostrils. I have friends
who actually turn these leaves into a wild wasabi, which is great on sandwiches,
crackers, and as a dip. But generally, I regard the hedge mustards as a source of

RECIPE
Screaming at the Moon

A hedge mustard soup recipe

2 cups chopped hedge mustard leaves
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
3 cups water
1
⁄4 cup miso powder

Simmer the leaves and garlic with the water in a covered pot. When tender, add the
miso and cook another 5 minutes. Serves 2–3.

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 very spicy greens that go well with
salads, soups, egg dishes, sand-
wiches, stir-fries—just about any
dish where you can add greens.
These are spicy greens, in general
a bit spicier than the greens of the
common mustards (Brassicas).
I have had broths made from
the finely diced hedge mustard
leaves, into which a lot of rice had
been added. This dish was hot and
good! I have had “wild kimchee”
consisting of wild greens that had
been marinating in raw apple cider
vinegar. A lot of the hedge mustard
leaves were used in one of these
kimchees, and it was delicious.
You could also dry the hedge
mustard leaves and either recon-
stitute them later, or just powder
them and use it as a seasoning. Two leaves of S. irio
The flowers are good, too, but
they aren’t quite as good as the
Brassica mustard flowers. Hedge mustard flowers seem to have too much of that
bitter and astringent bite, so I use them sparingly in soups, salads, or other dishes.

Obviously, this hose hasn’t been used much! Sisymbrium grows through it.

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 Cactus Family (Cactaceae)
There are 125 genera in the Cactus family, and about 1,800 species worldwide,
mostly in the American deserts. Eleven genera are found in California.
According to Dr. Leonid Enari, the entire Cactus family is a very safe fam-
ily for consumption. However, he would quickly add that some are much too
woody for food. A very few are extremely bitter—even after boiling—and you’d
not even consider using them for food.
If you choose to experiment, just remember that palatability is the key. Don’t
eat any that are too woody or any that are extremely bitter. Any that have a white
sap when cut are not cacti, but look-alike members of the Euphorbia family.

Prickly pear pad with cochineal beetle covering it

Prickly Pear
Opuntia spp.

Use: Young pads for food, raw or cooked; fruits for desserts and juices; seeds for flour
Range: Typically found in the desert regions, but also commonly found in chaparral, dry
fields, along the coast, and commonly cultivated
Similarity to toxic species: Occasionally people have experienced sickness after eating cer-
tain varieties. In some cases, this is due to a negative reaction to the mucilaginous quality;
there may be other chemical reasons as well. So despite this being a very commonly used
food for millennia, we suggest you start with very little and monitor your reactions.

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 Best time: Spring is best time to collect the new pads, though the older ones can also be
used. September through October is best time for harvesting the fruits.
Status: Common
Tools needed: Metal tongs, sturdy bucket, possibly gloves

Properties
There are 12 species of Opuntia in California, not counting varieties; all but 2 are
native. We are mostly concerned with the prickly pears—the oval-shaped flat-
padded cacti—because these are the easiest to harvest, prepare, and eat.
The prickly pear cacti are by no means the only variety of cactus commonly
observed in California, but they are probably one of the most common cacti in,
and on the fringes of, the urban areas. The prickly pear cacti are readily recog-
nized by their flat oval pads, called nopales in Spanish, with their spines evenly
spaced over their surface. The cacti flower by summer, and the fruits mature by
August and September in a variety of colors, ranging from green (less common)
to yellow, orange, red, and purple. Each of these fruits has a different flavor and
was traditionally used in different recipes.
Nearly all species of Opuntia have a long history of being used for food. The
key to using this plant is to find a way to harvest and clean it without getting
the spines—and the finer glochids at the base of each spine—in your fingers.
The pads are generally easier to harvest, though I still recommend using metal
tongs. The very young, still glossy-green pads can be scraped with a sharp knife
to remove the spines and glochids, then rinsed before using in a recipe. There
is a variety with recessed spines that I simply leave alone. The fruits tend to
have more spines, and I collect them with metal tongs. Still using the tongs, I
turn each fruit over in a flame—about 10 seconds—to burn off the spines and
glochids. Then I cut them in half, remove the fruit inside, and eat, preserve, or
process it in some way.

Uses
There are several ways to get a meal from the prickly pear cactus: young pad, old
pad, fruit, or seed.

Forager note: If you collect cacti, you will—sooner or later—get

spines and glochids in your skin. Spines are easy to see and relatively
easy to remove, but glochids are smaller, hairlike, and more difficult to
remove from the skin. Try smearing white glue on the part of your hand
that has glochids. Let the glue dry, then peel it off. This will usually
remove most glochids.

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 Young prickly pear pad

Whether you pick your pads from the wild or grow cactus in your backyard,
the new growth of spring offers one of the more readily available foods with the
least amount of work. Remember, the cacti all have some spines and the tiny
little glochids, so you’ll need to be careful whether you have the very young or
the very old pads. And some varieties are less spiny than others; these are the
ones I choose.
When you get the very young pads of spring, they are still bright green and
the tough outer layer hasn’t yet developed. Carefully pick, and then you can
quickly burn off the young spines, or thoroughly scrape each side to remove
all spines and glochids. Then you can slice or dice, and sauté them to remove
much of the liquid and sliminess of the cacti. Cook off the liquid produced by
the cooking cacti, and then add eggs, potatoes, or even tofu for a delicious stew.
Older pads are also edible, but their flavor and texture are different. If you sim-
ply cut a large prickly pear pad in half, you’ll see that the fiber is all toward the
surface. You can carefully slice off the outer fiber layer and use the insides. The
flavor and texture resemble squash, and you can use these older cactus pads in
soups, stews, or the more traditional manner of cooking with eggs.

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 Fruits are delicious, too, and are the closest thing, aside from the abundance
of tiny seeds, to watermelon that you’ll find in the wild. Prickly pear fruits may
ripen green, yellow, orange, purple, red—there are many varieties with subtle
flavor differences. I like the yellow the best, but I will harvest whatever I can get.
If I am out on a walk and just see a few ripe fruits, I will carefully pick the fruit,
scrape off the stickers with my pocketknife, slice the fruit in half, and lift out the
inner edible portion. However, if there is a large patch that I can harvest, I go
with a plastic tub and metal salad tongs. I carefully fill the tub with the ripe fruit.
Then, at home, using the metal tongs, I quickly pass each fruit through a flame
to burn off the glochids and spines, and then rinse and wash them. I cut open
each fruit and either eat it as is, or I deseed them and store them to use later in
such foods as drinks, jams, pie filling, etc. An excellent drink is made by mixing
50 percent of this cactus fruit puree with 50 percent spring water.
In the old days, even the seeds from the prickly pear fruits were saved, dried,
and ground into flour. I’ve tried it a few times. They have a unique flavor, but
it’s a lot of work.
Eating the prickly pear pads (raw, cooked, or in juice) has long been consid-
ered one way to combat diabetes. For those who don’t want to grow, clean, and
cook their own nopales, you can now purchase the powder that you consume in
various ways to combat diabetes. But there are so many simple and tasty ways to
cook and prepare the prickly pear cactus pads that I can’t see why anyone would
buy the powdered cactus in a pill bottle! But consider this: If you have diabe-
tes and you change your habits and diet to try to cure yourself, but there is no
change in your diabetic condition, the worst that has happened is that you have
been eating cactus. Thousands of people have died from some of the very drugs
that have been introduced in recent decades that were intended to cure diabetes!
Sometimes it’s really worthwhile to look to the past for a more fulfilling future.

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 Pink Family (Caryophyllaceae)
The Pink family consists of 83 to 89 genera (depending on which authority) and
about 3,000 species worldwide. Twenty-nine genera are found in California.

Young chickweed in flower

Chickweed
Stellaria media

Use: The leaves are best raw in salads but can also be cooked in various dishes, or dried and
powdered to make into pasta.
Range: Scattered widely where the conditions are ideal: moist and shady areas in the urban
setting, mountain canyons, and along rivers
Similarity to toxic species: Also growing with chickweed is scarlet pimpernel, which looks a
lot like chickweed except that it has orange flowers and lacks the line of hairs on the stem.
You may also find young common spurge (Euphorbia peplus) in chickweed patches, which
superficially resembles the chickweed, but spurge doesn’t have the line of white hairs, its

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 stalk is more erect, and the leaves are
alternate, not opposite like chickweed.
Break the stem of spurge and you will
see a white sap; it shouldn’t be eaten.
Best time: Spring; chickweed rarely
lasts beyond midsummer.
Status: Common
Tools needed: None

Properties
There are 190 species of Stel-
laria worldwide, with 13 of those
found in California, 9 of which are
native; the other 4 are introduced
from Europe. Common chick-
weed is one of the 4 introduced
species of Stellaria that is now very
common in California. In fact, it
can now be found worldwide. Young chickweed. Note flower buds.
Chickweed is common in
urban yards, in shady fields, and
in mountain canyons. It is a short-lived annual that shrivels up by summer when
the soil is dry.
Chickweed is a low-growing, sprawling annual that first arises after the
winter rains. The thin stem will grow up to 1' long, and, upon close inspection,
you’ll see a line of fine white hairs along one side of the stem. The oval-shaped
leaves, arranged in pairs along the stem, come to a sharp tip. The flowers are
white and 5-petaled, though it may appear to have 10 petals because each
flower has a deep cleft.

Uses
Chickweed is probably best used as a salad plant. In a thick patch of chickweed,
one can cut off a handful of the stems just above the root. Then you just rinse the
leaves, dice, and add salad dressing.
The plant can also be cooked in soups and stews. For those who are more
adventurous, the entire aboveground chickweed plant can be dried, powdered,
and mixed 50-50 with wheat flour, and then run through a pasta machine. The
result is a green pasta with the flavor of chickweed.

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 RECIPE
Mia’s Chickweed Soup

Although chickweed is found in common city sidewalks, it’s best to gather it in the
wild, away from pesticides. As homage to its humble origins, I call this my Sidewalk
Soup. It’s simple and low-fat (you can omit the pancetta or bacon, and it’s still amazing)
and has a surprising depth of flavor reminiscent of spring peas and pea shoots. This is
my version of “wild split pea soup.”
4–5 tablespoons diced pancetta (or you can use bacon)
1 medium onion, diced
1 stalk celery
1 carrot
1 teaspoon olive oil, or as needed
4–5 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 small California laurel bay leaf
1 small California white sage leaf
2 teaspoons French or Italian herbs (I like oregano, thyme, parsley)
1 small potato, cubed
6 cups packed washed and chopped chickweed
1 teaspoon raw apple cider vinegar (to keep mixture green)
Olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste

In a heated stockpot, sauté the pancetta or bacon until crisp then add onion, celery,
and carrots and sauté until translucent. You may need to add a bit of olive oil to the
bottom of the pan; start with 1 teaspoon. Add the garlic and spices and continue to
sauté until just fragrant. Add the cubed potato; it will serve to thicken the soup once
pureed. Add the chickweed (save a handful for garnish) and add enough water to
cover the chickweed with an inch of water. Cover and bring to a boil. Add the vinegar,
then reduce to a light simmer for about 20–30 minutes.
Once slightly cooled, transfer to food processor and puree the mixture. Serve with
tender, crisp chickweed as garnish. Delish!
—recipe from Mia Wasilevich

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 Young chickweed

Because chickweed grows close to the ground with its fine stems, it is com-
mon to find other plants growing in chickweed patches, so you need to make
certain you are only collecting chickweed. We’ve seen poison hemlock growing
within chickweed patches.

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 Goosefoot Family (Chenopodiaceae)
The Goosefoot family consists of 100 genera and about 1,500 species. It is found
worldwide, especially in the deserts, and in saline or alkaline soils. Some species
are cultivated for food. There are 19 genera in California. According to Dr. Leonid
Enari, this is one of those very promising plant families for food. His research indi-
cated that most of the leaves could be used for food, either raw or cooked if too
bitter and unpalatable. Dr. Enari also stated that the majority of the seeds could be
harvested, winnowed, ground, and used for a flour or flour extender.

Orach plant. Rick Adams

Orach
Atriplex californica

Use: Leaves can be used raw, if palatable, or cooked; dried for seasoning
Range: Restricted to the California beaches; can be cultivated
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Spring
Status: Somewhat common
Tools needed: None

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 Young orach plant on the beach. Rick Adams

Properties
The Atriplex genus has about 250 species worldwide, all generally known as salt-
bush or orach. There are 43 species of Atriplex in California, not including vari-
eties. Most are native.
When most folks see orach for the first time, they think it is a lamb’s quar-
ter plant with pointy leaves. Orach
really does resemble lamb’s quarter,
except that it is pretty restricted to
the coastal regions. Look closely at
each leaf. The color is very much
like lamb’s quarter, except that the
leaf has 2 bottom barbs that make it
look very much like an arrowhead.
Also, look closely at the young
leaves, and you will note that the
very edge of the leaf has the red tint
that you often see in the stems of
lamb’s quarter.
The plant is found along the
beaches and in the back bays. It
grows about 2' tall and has incon-
spicuous flowers. Orach leaf. Rick Adams

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 Uses
Orach is used more or less as you’d use lamb’s quarter, except it’s a bit saltier and
sometimes more bitter. This means that sometimes you wouldn’t use orach in
salads, unless very sparingly for that salty flavor. On the other hand, I have eaten
raw orach leaves that were mild and tasty and wonderful in salads. The soil, time
of year, and age of the plant all seem to play a role in the palatability of orach.
The young orach leaves can also be boiled like spinach and eaten alone.
Changing the water and cooking again usually improves the flavor. More people
will probably enjoy the leaves when added to mixed greens, vegetable stew, or
soup, or added sparingly to rice or egg dishes.
Try drying and powdering the orach leaves and then using it as a salt substi-
tute. Try it sparingly at first, because it could be very strong.

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 Green lamb’s quarter, C. murale

Lamb’s Quarter, White and Green

Chenopodium album and C. murale

Use: Leaves used raw or cooked; seeds added to soups or bread batter; leaves dried for
seasoning
Range: Prefers disturbed soils of farms, gardens, hillsides, fields, along trails, etc.
Similarity to toxic species: Western black nightshade leaves can be confused with lamb’s
quarter leaves when very young. Be sure to look for the white mealy (and “sparkly”) under-
side of lamb’s quarter and for the streak of red in the axils.
Best time: Spring for the leaves; late summer for the seeds
Status: Common and widespread
Tools needed: None

Forager note: Everyone should get to know lamb’s quarter. Not only
is it widespread in California, but it can also be found throughout the
world. I once spent a week in the mountains eating only lamb’s quarter
(salad, soup, fried, boiled). It is a plant that I can find even during a
drought when nothing else is available.

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 Properties
Chenopodium has about 100 spe-
cies worldwide, and 24 in Cali-
fornia, not including varieties; 17
are native.
Lamb’s quarter is a plant that
everyone has seen but probably
not recognized. It’s an annual
plant that sprouts up in the
spring and summer in fields, gar-
dens, and disturbed soils, and
generally grows about 3'–4' tall.
(I did record one at 12', but that’s
the exception.) I’ve even seen it
growing in the cracks in the side-
walks and alleys of downtown
Los Angeles.
The leaf shape is roughly tri-
angular, somewhat resembling a
goose or duck’s foot, hence the
family name. The color of the White lamb’s quarter, C.album, after a rain
stem and leaves are light green,
and the axils of the leaves (and
sometimes the stem) are streaked with red. The bottom of each leaf is covered
with a mealy substance, causing raindrops to bead up on the leaf.
As the plant matures in the season, inconspicuous green flowers will appear,
and seeds will form as the plant dries and withers.

Uses
Lamb’s quarter is a versatile plant that can be used in many recipes. The young
tender leaves can be cut into small pieces and used in a salad. The leaves and
tender stems can be cooked like spinach and seasoned for a tasty dish, and the
cooking water makes a delicious broth. The leaves can also be added to soups,
egg dishes, quiche, and even stir-fries with other vegetables.
In California, lamb’s quarter will go to seed by late summer, and seeds from
the dead plant are harvestable for several months. The seed is an excellent source
of calcium, phosphorus, and potassium, according to the USDA. Collect the
seeds by hand and place in a large salad bowl, then rub them between your hands
to remove the chaff. Next, winnow them by letting handfuls drop into the salad
bowl as you gently blow off the chaff. The seeds are then added to soup and rice
dishes and bread batter.

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 White lamb’s quarter, C. album, growing in cement

Cautions
Older leaves may cause slight irritation to the throat if eaten raw without dressing.
Though the common Chenopodium species are fairly easy to recognize, there
is one called soaproot (C. californicum) whose leaves are very unpalatable, even
when cooked, and whose root is a great source of soap. Though you could make
wonderful soap by shaving the root and mixing it with water, you’d not want to
eat this. Let your taste buds be your guide, in this case.

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 Young glasswort growing in sand

Glasswort or Pickleweed
Salicornia spp.

Use: Use the tender stems raw, cooked, or pickled

Range: Found along the Pacific Coast above high tide, along the rivers that feed into the
ocean, and in the back-bay areas
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Spring
Status: Common locally
Tools needed: Clippers

Properties
There are 50 species of Salicornia worldwide. Five species are found in Califor-
nia, and all are native.
Glasswort is typically found in the back bays and sand flats above the high
tide areas of the Pacific Ocean. I have seen acres of nearly all glasswort in such

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 Young glasswort in sand

places. But it will also grow somewhat solitary and in some of the fields and wild
areas not too far from the beaches.
The plant stems—about 1⁄4" thick—sort of have the appearance of swollen
fingers, but not so thick, with distinct joints. The stalks are a pale green color—
almost translucent—and then turn red in the fall. The entire plant rises no more
than a few inches high. There are no apparent leaves. There are flowers and seeds,
but these are usually very inconspicuous. The overall appearance of the plant is
of small swollen stalks.

Uses
Glasswort makes a great beachside nibble—a little here, a little there. It’s also
good added to salads, but not too much. Just gently pinch the tender tips and
add it sparingly to salads because in volume it may be a bit too strong and over-
power your salad. Plus, you need to gather it young enough before it begins to
get woody and largely inedible.
Cooked, glasswort’s flavor is just right when added to soups, chowder, and
even omelettes. I suggest you taste a little first and experiment before adding a lot
to your dishes. In some cases, you might find that the flavor is greatly improved

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 Maturing glasswort. Rick Adams

by boiling the tender stems, pouring off the water, and then adding the glasswort
to your various cooked dishes.
I have enjoyed very simple pickled glasswort, too. Just collect the tender
young sections of the stems, before they get woody on the inside. Pack them
loosely in a jar, cover with raw apple cider vinegar, and put in your refrigerator.
In about a month, they will make a great garnish and side for various dishes.
You could also make your glasswort pickles a bit milder by boiling them briefly,
rinsing them of the water, and then putting them into a glass jar with vinegar.

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 Russian thistle

Russian Thistle
Salsola tragus (formerly S. kali)

Use: The very young new growth can be cooked and eaten.
Range: Though seemingly a stereotypical plant of the desert, Russian thistle is somewhat
widespread in valleys, fields, disturbed soils, and the fringes of the urban sprawl.
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Spring
Status: Can be common locally and seasonally
Tools needed: None

Forager note: This plant is native to Central Asia and eastern Rus-
sia. The United States purchased flaxseed from Russia in 1874, and the
Russian thistle seed was in the flax. Russian thistle thus made its first
appearance in North America in Scotland, South Dakota.

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 Properties
There are about 100 species of
Salsola worldwide. In California,
there are 7 species, and all of them
are introduced.
Everyone seems to know
Russian thistle (aka tumbleweed)
from the Westerns: large, dry,
round plants that blow across the
plains in the wind. And while
that is somewhat accurate, there
is nothing edible when the plants
mature into those large, dry balls.
It is the very young new and
tender growth that can be used.
The color of the stalk and leaves
is pale green, almost a shade a
blue, and the leaves are spiny and
shaped like needles, maybe 1"–2"
in length. These leaves are covered
with fine hairs, and you can usu- Russian thistle close-up shows the papery flower and
ally observe some red in the axils the stems.
and on the stalks.
Interestingly, though a very inconspicuous plant, it produces an equally
inconspicuous flower that is actually very beautiful if you take the time to
observe it. The flowers are small and measure approximately 1⁄8"–1⁄4" across, and
they consist of sepals that appear fragile and paper-like; there are no petals. These
flowers are formed individually in the upper axils of the plant.
As the plant matures and gets older, it turns into the dry, round ball up to 3'
in diameter, and when its small root is broken free by the wind, it rolls over the
countryside and spreads as many as 200,000 winged seeds per plant. No wonder
it’s everywhere!

Uses
Our main source of food here are the young, tender leaves. Collect them indi-
vidually so you know they are still tender. I usually simply boil and serve with
butter. They can also be served plain or with cheese.
Once boiled, taste the juice. It’s actually a pretty good broth. You can drink
it plain or use it as a soup base.

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 RECIPE
Tumbled Rice

Cook 1 cup of rice (use some good rice, like wild rice or long-grained brown rice)
according to the package instructions. Separately cook about 2 cups of tender Russian
thistle leaves, and about 1 cup of hedge mustard leaves. When all is cooked, blend
them together while still hot. Give it a bit of garlic powder to taste, and top with shred-
ded Jack cheese before serving.

If I am mixing Russian thistle with other vegetables or greens, I will chop it

up a bit first. If the leaves are tender enough, they could be boiled, then mixed
into a casserole or even a meat-loaf-type dish.
Sometimes, if you get the very young shoots of the Russian thistle, you can
quickly dip them into boiling water to reduce their fibrous surfaces. They can
then be used in raw dishes without experiencing any irritation to the throat.

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 Stonecrop Family (Crassulaceae)
This family contains about 33 genera and about 1,400 species worldwide, with
7 genera found in California.

Dudleya grows in the cracks in rocks. Rick Adams

Live-Forever
Dudleya spp.

Use: Leaves as a nibble, in salads, cooked

Range: In the rocks in chaparral and mountain areas
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Spring, but can be used year-round
Status: Not common
Tools needed: None

Properties
The Dudleya genus contains about 46 members, 26 (not counting subspecies) of
these are in California, all of which are native. Some are common, but there are
some that are not common, at least 3 are rare, and 1 is an endangered species. So
do your homework before eating any of these. One is called D. edulis. How do
you think it got that name? Because it’s edible! This little succulent plant is typi-
cally found growing right out of the cracks in rock hillsides and cliffs. This seems
like a harsh environment, but that’s where the Dudleya prefers to call home.

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 The plant’s pointed succulent leaves are formed in a rosette. The plants have
the appearance of a rose flower, if you can imagine each petal being a succulent
pale-blue leaf. The flower stalk arises a few inches. Each flower has 5 petals, typi-
cally pale orange to red.

Uses
Though I’d nibbled on the succulent and sometimes astringent leaves of Dudleya
many times, the first time I’d taken the plant seriously was when a friend took
me on a “short hike” to do some exploring. I didn’t bring along water because I
was told it would be “only a mile.” Well, the hike was more than a mile, and it
was entirely downhill with at least 1,000' elevation decline over rocky boulders. I
knew I would not be going back the way I came. I took the long way back to my
car, about 8 miles. There was no water; there was no cactus. I found and began to
pick the Dudleya leaves. I chewed one and it was fleshy and succulent, not astrin-
gent. I kept many in my pocket. Though they did not quench my thirst, they did
give my body needed moisture, and I got back feeling OK, without dehydration.
The leaves and the tender flowering stems were eaten by the Cahuilla of
Southern California in the springtime and were regarded as a delicacy.
I’ve occasionally added a few of the leaves to salad. The palatability of these
leaves depends on the soil and the amount of rainfall during the previous winter.
Sometimes the leaves are a bit too astringent to eat raw in salads, and they are
improved when cooking. Once cooked, the leaves are usually very mild, even
bland, and will take on the flavor of whatever spices you use.

Dudleya

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 Heath Family (Ericaceae)
The Heath family contains about 100 genera and 3,000 species worldwide. In
California, there are 26 genera of this family, and Arctostaphylos is the largest genus.

The manzanita tree. Rick Adams

Manzanita
Arctostaphylos spp.

Use: Berries for beverage, food additive; leaves for medicine

Range: Different species found in the mountains, chaparral, and even the desert
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: About September for berries
Status: Relatively widespread
Tools needed: None

Properties
In California, there are at least 62 species (not counting subspecies) of Arcto-
staphylos that we refer to as some sort of manzanita. All are native. They typically
have characteristic dark red or maroon-colored bark, often with a shredded look.
They have the appearance of small trees or bushes. At least one is vining.
The leaves are alternate, evergreen, generally round- to ovate-shaped, a bit
leathery, and stiff. The flowers are like little white lanterns or urns that hang from
the plant, and the flower parts are usually in fives. The flowers mature into the
round reddish fruits; they actually vary slightly in color from an orange-yellow

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 Immature manzanita berry. Note the leaf shape. Rick Adams

to a darker maroon color. Some have a very sticky surface, and some are very dry
on the surface.
They can be found in a broad array of environments: rocky slopes, upper
chaparral, throughout parts of the desert, in woodlands, etc.

Uses
Though the manzanita berries are only available seasonally, generally peaking
around September, sometimes they are found in abundance and can also be
dried for later use.
There are some species whose berries are sticky on the surface, and others
that are not. I prefer those that are not sticky because less dirt sticks to them, and
less cleaning is needed.
There are several ways to enjoy the manzanita berries. The ripened berries
can simply be brewed in warm water to make a pleasant lemonade-ish drink.
While there’s sugar content, it’s sour, too, and you can enjoy this drink hot or
cold—while sitting around the campfire, or with a few fruits in your canteen for
a trail drink.
Traditionally, the mature and dried berries would be gently ground on a rock
or in something like a molcajete (traditional Mexican stone grinding bowl). The
flour, strained from the seeds, can then be used in many ways: added to other
bread products (like acorn flour) as an emulsifier or smoothener, added to vari-
ous batters, or just added to water for a drink.

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 The seeds can be boiled for a strong vinegar-flavored liquid. You can use
this as a substitute vinegar for your salad dressings, or dilute it with water and
sweeten it for a good wild lemonade.
Kinnikinnick was an old time smoking mix made from one of the desert
manzanitas. I’ve used many of the leaves this way, just drying and then crum-
bling them fine. They smoke well, have a decent aroma, and there’s no harmful
side effect as with tobacco.
Another old-time native use from Northern California is to make an infu-
sion from the leaves and drink it to cure poison oak rash. Though I have never
had to try this, I have heard some firsthand reports that this worked quickly
and effectively.

Mature manzanita berry

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 Legume Family (Fabaceae)
This is a big family worldwide, with about 730 genera and 19,400 species. In
California, this large group is represented by 50 genera.

Acacia pods. Rick Adams

Acacia
Acacia spp.

Use: Seeds for food; leaves for medicinal tea

Range: Planted commonly in the urban areas; escaped in local fields, parks, chaparral
Similarity to toxic species: Because there are several toxic members of the Pea family, be
sure you’ve properly identified acacia pods and seeds.
Best time: Seeds mature in early summer.
Status: Common locally
Tools needed: None

Properties
The Acacia genus includes about 960 species worldwide, with 7 species in Cali-
fornia. These are generally called acacia or wattle, and most are originally from
Australia. The native catclaw plant had formerly been classified an Acacia, but
has been recently reclassified by botanists as a Senegalia greggii.

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 Hanging acacia pods

Various acacia shrubs and trees are typically planted as park, street, and yard
trees, and many have gone wild.
The tree’s leaves are bipinnately divided, giving the tree an overall ferny look.
The bright yellow flowers appear to form balls or globes and make the tree very
conspicuous when in flower. In the summer, the flat pods can be seen hanging
from the trees. Small black seeds fall to the ground as the pods mature.

Uses
Not widely known is that the seeds from the pods were once good food back
home in Australia. The Aboriginal people considered the larger seeds, which they
called mulga, a great source of food. Mulga seeds are at least as large as a green
pea, maybe a bit larger. The mature seeds would be dried and ground into a flour
that could be used a variety of ways; one traditional way was to add water and
form a large pancake, which was cooked right on the coals of a campfire. Such a
pancake is known as “damper,” and so mulga damper was a regular staple back
in old Australia.
Unfortunately, we don’t have the larger mulga seeds in California. Among
others, we have the black wattle acacia, also sometimes called silver wattle

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 Acacia tree. Rick Adams

(A. dealbata), which is somewhat common as a gone-wild park tree in parts of

California. We have collected these smaller seeds off the ground and by picking
the mature pods from the tree. Once a sufficient volume of the seeds were col-
lected, we ground them in a molcajete until we had flour. We blended the flour
with additional wheat flour and acorn flour, added water, and formed biscuits.
We cooked these by the fire until done, and everyone found them quite delicious.
The leaves are used as a somewhat flavorless tea when a mild astringent is
needed, for example, for a sore throat, or the tea can be used as an external wash
for sunburns, insect bites, scrapes, abrasions, and other skin irritations.

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 Mature carob pods in a molcajete

Carob
Ceratonia siliqua

Use: Ripened pods for food, excluding the seed

Range: Mostly an urban street tree
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Pods ripen in late summer into fall
Status: Somewhat common
Tools needed: Bags

Properties
Carob is from the Middle East, but tens of thousands have been planted in
Southern California as a street and park tree. They get large, nearly as large as a
coast live oak, with a large trunk as it matures.
This is an evergreen tree with pinnately divided leaves, each leaflet more or
less round. In the flowering stage, the tree is very aromatic, and sometimes (once
you know the smell) you can detect carob trees while driving down a street.

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 The pods begin in the spring
as thick green pods, approximately
6"–8" long (there are plenty of
smaller and larger ones). When
the pods mature in summer they
are brown and leathery. Mature
pods drop from the trees slowly,
so some will be on the tree much
of the year.

Uses
Mature carob pods are delicious
just picked off the tree or ground
and eaten. When you pick a fruit,
break it open and make sure it is
entirely ripe with no green inside.
The ones that aren’t entirely ripe
will be a bit astringent. Clean
them and discard any that have
been eaten by animals or are
already very wormy inside. Carob leaf
The ripe carob pod is prob-
ably the closest thing to the ulti-
mate survival food that you’re likely to ever find. Rich in natural sugar, palatable,
high in the B vitamins for protein, rich in calcium—good for you and tastes
good too!
The pods can be eaten raw with no particular preparation besides cleaning,
and they will last for years, so you can just fill your pack with carob pods and eat
them when you’re hungry.
But what if you want some carob milk shakes or carob candy? Well, then
you should just go to the store and buy some! It’s quite an ordeal to make a carob
milk shake with the carob pods, unless you have a way to grind the pods into a
very fine meal. Most home processors just won’t do it. First, you need to crack
open the pods and remove the very hard seeds. Then you grind the pods, usually
several times, until you get the finest meal. The best I was ever able to do at home
was to get a brownish milk with all the carob meal settling to the bottom of the
glass without dissolving. As for carob candy, most that you buy is just another
junk food to which a bit of carob has been added. However, you can remove
and discard the seeds, grind the pods into a flour, and add that sweet flour to
cake, bread, cookies, muffins, and even pie fillings. I have seen whole cookbooks
describing how to process the mature carob pod into dozens of products.

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 Christopher picks carob pods from the tree. Rick Adams

But at the end of the day, I just like to eat the pods as they are, with seeds
removed. They are tasty, nourishing, nutritious, and make a very easy snack.

Caution
Be sure to bite carefully and to spit out the very hard seeds.

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 Palo verde tree

Palo Verde
Parkinsonia microphylla and P. florida

Use: Seeds are eaten green, or dried and ground into flour
Range: Southeastern part of the state; sometimes cultivated
Similarity to toxic species: Some pods or pea-like capsules from this family can be toxic.
Always make sure you have accurately identified any member of this family that you intend
to eat.
Best time: Green pods in early summer; mature pods in late summer to fall
Status: Scattered within its range
Tools needed: None

Properties
There are 11 or 12 species of Parkinsonia worldwide. Three species are found in
California, and the 2 listed above are native.

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 Palo verde tree leaf and flower

These plants range from a large shrub to a smallish tree; it is deciduous, with
bark that is somewhat green, which is where the name comes from. The alter-
nately arranged bipinnately divided leaves are long and graceful, giving the plant
a very feathery appearance. There are thorns in the leaf axils. The conspicuous
flowers are divided into 5 yellow petals with 10 distinct stamens. It’s a good bee
attractor. The multiseeded pods hang from the trees. One easy way to tell the dif-
ference between these 2 species is that the pod of P. florida (blue palo verde) is of
an even thickness and sometimes slightly narrowed between the seeds; however,
the pods of P. microphylla (yellow
palo verde) are distinctly narrow
between the seeds. The tree is not Forager note: Because these
particularly common but is used trees are both beautiful and
more and more for landscaping as drought tolerant, we are seeing
it’s drought tolerant and beauti- more of them in the urban and
ful when it flowers. In the wild, it’s suburban areas in drought-tolerant
found in the southeastern deserts of landscapes. This provides an
California, into Arizona, and down
opportunity for the urban forager.
into Baja.

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 Uses
The seeds are the prize of this tree.
The Cahuilla and Yuma people
(among others) ate the whole
pods while still green. Once the
seed pods were dry and mature,
the seeds were removed and the
thin shell discarded. The very hard
seeds were then typically ground
into a flour and used as a meal.
Generally, the flour from palo
verde would be made into a por-
ridge, or something like cakes or
biscuits. The whole seeds have also
been simply parched almost until
burned, and then eaten. Some
of the tribes sprouted the seeds
before eating them.
The little seeds are hard when
they mature, and you don’t just
chew on a dry, hard seed. They Palo verde pods and seeds in molcajete, ready to turn
need to be ground on a rock or into flour
molcajete into a flour. This con-
trasts with mesquite, where the entire pod and seed is used, and carob, where the
seeds are discarded and the pod is eaten.
Interestingly, this is often referred to as a survival food. When I hear the term
“survival food,” I think of something that you’d never eat unless you were desper-
ate and starving—things like bark and lichens. Perhaps it is thought of this way
because the plant is not all that common, and because other tastier seeds were
usually available to some of the desert people.

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 Bark, leaves, and flowers of the mesquite. Note the thorns. Rick Adams

Mesquite
Prosopis glandulosa and screwbean (P. pubescens), both natives

Use: Pods used for food

Range: Lower deserts
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Pods begin to form in spring and mature in summer.
Status: Widespread within its zone
Tools needed: None

Mesquite thorns. Rick Adams

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 RECIPE
Traditional Southern California Mesquite Bean Cake

These rich, molasses-like cakes were used as travel food by Indians, pieces broken off
and eaten or reconstituted in water to make drink, hot or cold.
I am not a doctor or biologist, but I have read that mesquite digests slowly and
helps maintain stable blood sugar, important for diabetics. It’s also high in protein and
fiber. Note: Everything in these recipes must be taken at your own risk. As always, do
your research or consult your physician.
Mix ground, whole-bean, dried mesquite flour (I get mine from the Seri Indians)
into boiling water, reduce heat, and stir into a thick mush (or atole). Simmer and stir
a few minutes longer to tenderize (especially if the flour is coarsely ground) and then
blend in additional flour until the mixture thickens and stiffens enough to hold shape.
Form into cakes 2"–4" in diameter and about 1⁄2" thick on cookie sheet or tinfoil and
dry in sun or on rocks near fire. As an alternative, I generally place them in a preheated
oven at 300°F for 2 hours, until the cakes have dried a bit, then I reduce heat to 150°F or
less for 3–4 hours. Once removed from the oven, I leave them out for even more time to
dry more thoroughly. One cup flour makes a large cake for about 4.
—recipe from Paul Campbell, author of Survival Skills of Native California

Properties
There are 44 species of Prosopis worldwide, with 3 found in California.
Mesquite is very common throughout the low desert; screwbean, a close
relative, is not so common. You’ve driven past mesquite if you’ve traveled around
Palm Springs. If the plant isn’t in flower or fruit, it’s somewhat inconspicuous,
and you may not have known it was mesquite. The leaf is even-pinnately divided
into smaller round or linear segments, giving the plant a ferny look. There are
little spines on the stems, generally 2 per node.
The mesquite fruits that appear in the summer are pale yellow, dry, and
maybe 6" long. They look like slightly withered green beans, except they are yel-
low when mature.
When not in flower or fruit, mesquite and screwbean are very hard to dis-
cern. But when in fruit, the screwbean is just as the name implies: a bean that
looks like you twisted it. It’s somewhat shorter than the mesquite fruit, and round
in the cross section. It’s one big spiral screwed-up bean! (No offense intended.)

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 Mesquite pods. Rick Adams

Uses
The yellow pods of mesquite are the main prize of this desert shrub or tree. They
are harvested when ripe, which is typically sometime in the summer. There are
a number of ways in which the pods have been used for food over the centuries.
Perhaps one of the simplest is to just pick the mature pods, chew it, and spit out
the seeds. (The screwbean is used similarly.)
Traditionally, the whole pods would be ground into a flour that could be
used alone or mixed with other flours to make breads and cakes.

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 Oak Family (Fagaceae)
The Oak family includes 7 genera and about 900 species worldwide. There are 3
genera in California, and Quercus is the most widespread. There are 25 species of
Quercus in California, not including subspecies. California’s only common non-
native is holly oak (Q. ilex), from the Mediterranean. Once processed, the nuts
of all varieties of acorns can be eaten.
Also included here is tanbark oak, or tan oak (Notholithocarpus densiflorus).
This tree was once called Quercus densiflora, but it has been re-classified into a
different genus because of a few key differences. To the average person looking
at this tree, it’s very much an oak whose acorn caps appear “shaggy.” Otherwise,
it is used just like any other acorn. Notholithocarpus is one of the three genera of
the Oak family in California, and the tanbark oak is the only species (with two
varieties) of this genus. (The third genus of this family found in California is the
chinquapin.)

Acorns in a molcajete. Rick Adams

Oak Tree
Quercus spp.

Use: Acorns used for food once leached; miscellaneous craft and dye uses
Range: Some oaks can be found in nearly every environment of California.
Similarity to toxic species: The tannic acid in acorns is considered toxic, but it’s so bitter that
you’d never eat enough to get sick or cause a problem.

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 Forager note: Acorns should be regarded as one of the quintes-
sential Native American foods. There is much lore surrounding the
various oaks. In the old days, indigenous California families protected
and “owned” the groves of oaks that were the good producers. Acorn
flour, regarded as sacred, was sometimes used in ceremonies in much the
same way that corn pollen or corn flour was used in ceremonies by the
Southwestern tribes in Arizona and New Mexico.

Best time: Acorns mature from mid-September to as late as early February.

Status: Common
Tools needed: A bag

Properties
Some oak trees are deciduous and some are evergreen, and the leaf shapes vary
from simple to pinnately lobed. Some are bushes, but most are massive. To know
your local oaks, you should go to an arboretum or a plant society walk. Oak trees
are very common. They are ubiquitous, and they epitomize the native landscape
of California.
The fruit of all oak trees is the acorn, which every child can recognize. Some
acorns are fat, some long and thin, and the caps can vary significantly. Still, the
nut set in a scaly cap is universally recognized as the acorn. You should have no
trouble recognizing acorns wherever you live.

Uses
The nut from the oak tree is the acorn, and the acorn is a wonderful source of a
starchy food. Though I have 3 sepa-
rate cookbooks devoted entirely to
using acorns in the modern kitchen,
I generally only use acorns for cook-
ies, pancakes, and bread.
In the old days, acorns were
an important source of food for
Native Americans. Acorns were
typically collected and dried, and
then stored. For use, the acorns
were shelled; guess what—they’re a
bit easier to shell when dried. They
were ground and then placed on a
sloping rock with a lip at the lower Coast live oak acorns. Rick Adams

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 end or some other variation of a colander. Cold or hot water poured over the
acorn meal would wash out the tannic acid. The meal was most often used as a
thickener in soups and stews, making a type of gravy.
Acorns were such an important food that every tribe had their own way of
processing them, so there was a lot of variety in how this would have been done.
There was a lot of lore surrounding the types of acorns; the acorn meal some-
times had a religious significance and would have been used in various ceremo-
nies, in much the way that corn or corn pollen is often used.
The availability of acorns to California tribes was as important in their social
development as was agriculture to other cultures. Acorns were a more or less
guaranteed food source, and thus provided a stable foundation upon which the
other aspects of the society could grow. And you didn’t just go collect acorns
wherever you wanted. Families controlled the various oak groves, and thus con-
trolled the access to the acorns, which represented political power.
Today, on the trail or in the kitchen, the neatest and quickest way to process
the acorns is to first shell them, then boil them and change the water repeatedly
until they are no longer bitter. At that point, after drying, I prefer to process
them through a hand-crank meat grinder to produce a coarse meal. Ground
finer, which you can do in a coffee grinder, the meal is perfect for any product
calling for flour. I typically mix the acorn flour 50-50 with wheat or other flours.
This is partly for flavor, and partly because acorn flour doesn’t hold together as
well as wheat flour, for example.
The more traditional method of processing first involves shelling the acorns,
and then grinding them while still raw. I typically do this on a large flat-rock
metate. Then, the meal is put into some sort of primitive colander and water (hot
or cold) poured through it. There were many possible ways to create a colander
in the old days; today, I just put a cotton cloth inside a large colander and pour
warm water over the acorns. The water takes a while to trickle out, and it may
require 2 or 3 pourings of water before the acorn meal is no longer bitter and
can be eaten.

RECIPE
Tongva Memories

Use processed acorn flour (with tannic acid removed), mixed half-and-half with wheat
flour, and an appropriate amount of water. The dough is then formed into small loaves
and cooked on a soapstone slab.

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 I have had modern acorn products of chips, pound cake, and pasta. They are
delicious. If I had to describe the acorn flavor, I would say that products made
with acorn flavor have a subtle graham cracker flavor.
How good are acorns for you? Here are some details from a chart that was
published in Temalpakh: Cahuilla Indian Knowledge and Usage of Plants by Low-
ell John Bean and Katherine S. Saubel. Their source was Martin A. Baumhoff,
Ecological Determinants of Aboriginal California Populations (Berkeley: University
of California Press, 1936, p.162) as modified by Carl Brandt Wolf, California
Wild Tree Crops (Claremont, CA: Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, 1945,
table 1) and William S. Spencer, Handbook of Biological Data, W. B. Saunders
Co., New York, 1956, table 156).
Chemical Composition of Hulled Acorns (in percent)
Species Water Protein Fats Fiber Carbohydrates Ash Total proteins, fats,
carbohydrates
Q. lobata 9.0 4.9 5.5 9.5 69.0 2.1 79
Q. garryana 9.0 3.9 4.5 12.0 68.9 1.8 77
Q. douglasii 9.0 5.5 8.1 9.8 65.5 2.1 79
Q. chrysolepsis 9.0 4.1 8.7 12.7 63.5 2.0 76
Q. agrifolia 9.0 6.3 16.8 11.6 54.6 1.8 78
Q. kelloggii 9.0 4.6 18.0 11.4 55.5 1.6 78
Barley 10.1 8.7 1.9 5.7 71.0 2.6 82
Wheat 12.5 12.3 1.8 2.3 69.4 1.7 84

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 Geranium Family (Geraniaceae)
Worldwide, there are 6 genera and about 750 species in this family. In Califor-
nia, this family is represented by the California (1 species), Erodium, Geranium,
and Pelargonium. The latter 2 are widely planted as garden ornamentals and are
mostly introduced.

Filaree leaf. Rick Adams

Filaree
Erodium spp.

Use: The leaves are used, raw, cooked, or juiced.

Range: Filaree prefers lawns, fields, cultivated and dis-
turbed soils, and the fringes of the urban wilderness.
Similarity to toxic species: Because filaree superfi-
cially resembles a fern, and perhaps a member of
the Parsley or Carrot family (when not in flower),
make sure you are thoroughly familiar with filaree
before eating any.
Best time: Spring
Status: Somewhat common
Tools needed: None Filaree flower. Rick Adams

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 Properties
There are 74 species of Erodium
worldwide. Six of these species
can be found in California, and
only 1 is a native.
Filaree is a very common
urban weed, found in gardens,
grasslands, and fields, and there
are varieties that are found in the
desert as well. This annual plant
is a low-growing rosette of pin-
nately compound leaves, which
are covered with short hairs. The
stalk is fleshy. Sometimes people
will think they are looking at a
fern when they see filaree. The
small 5-petaled spring flowers are
purple, followed by the very char-
acteristic needlelike fruits.

Uses Filaree with seed capsules.

Filaree leaves and stalks can be
picked when young and enjoyed
in salads. The leaves are a little fibrous but sweet. I pick the entire leaf, including
the long stem, for salads or other dishes. They are best chopped up before adding
to salads or cooked dishes such as soups or stews.
You might also enjoy simply picking the tender stems and chewing on only
the stems. They are sweet and tasty, somewhat reminiscent of celery. In fact,
sometimes in a dry year I find that the stem part is the only part that I will eat.
An older leafy section is drier and more fibrous and lends itself to being added to
a stew or other cooked dish.
In wet seasons, the spring growth of filaree is more succulent and tasty. In
dry years, the season will be short, and the leaves and stems of filaree will be
less desirable.

RECIPE
If you have a wheatgrass juicer, you can process some of the filaree leaves and then
enjoy the sweet green juice.

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 Gooseberry Family (Grossulariaceae)
This family includes only the Ribes genus. There are 120 species worldwide, and 31
species in California, not including varieties. These are found in all environments.

Currant leaf

Currants and Gooseberries

Ribes spp.

Use: The fruits are eaten raw, dried, or cooked/processed into juice, jam, and jelly.
Range: Species are found in the mountains, in the chaparral, in flat plains, along rivers, etc.
Similarity to toxic species: When seeing currants for the first time, some folks think they’re
looking at poison oak—they’ve heard the saying “leaflets 3, let it be.” But the currant has 3
lobes per leaf, not 3 distinct leaflets as does poison oak.
Best time: The fruits are available in mid-spring.
Status: Common locally
Tools needed: None

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 Currants in fruit. Note the leaf shape and the dried flower adhering to fruit.

Properties
Currants and gooseberries are both the same genus, and so we’ll treat them together.
Both are low shrubs with mostly long vining shoots that arise from the base. The
gooseberries have thorns on the stalks and fruits; the currants do not.
The leaves look like little 3- to 5-fingered mittens. The fruits of both currants
and gooseberries hang from the stalks, with the withered flower usually adhering
to the end of the fruit.
You will find currants or gooseberries throughout the diverse ecosystems of
California.

Uses
Though the straight shoots of the currants make excellent arrow shafts, currants
and gooseberries are mostly regarded as a great fruit, either eaten as a snack,
dried, or cooked into various recipes.
Gooseberries are a bit more work to eat because they’re covered with tiny
spines. I have mashed them all together and then strained the pulp through a
sieve or fine colander, using it as a jelly for pancakes. Boy Scout leader Richard
Toyon, a 14th generation Californian, descended from the Parra clan of the
Acjachemem nation, has reported that he found succulent gooseberries in the

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 Currant in fruit. Helen W. Nyerges

higher elevations of the Angeles National Forest, which his Boy Scouts mashed
and used for pancake topping.
Currants require no preparation, and so they can be picked off the stalks
and eaten fresh. But make sure they are ripe; they’ll be a bit tart otherwise.
In the old days, the currant was a valuable fruit; it was dried, powdered,
and added to dried meats as a sugar preservative. Today, you can just dry the
fruits into simple trail snacks, or you can collect a lot and make jams, jellies,
or even delicious drinks.
And though the currant leaf is not usually regarded as an important food
source, some can be eaten in salads or cooked dishes for a bit of vitamin C.
They are a bit tough as they get older, however.

Cautions
Be sure you’ve identified currant or gooseberry and that you can tell the differ-
ence between these and poison oak.

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 Walnut Family (Juglandaceae)
The Walnut family contains 9 genera and about 60 species worldwide. In Cali-
fornia, it is represented by the Carya genus (pecan), and the Juglans genus. There
is only one member of Carya, which is C. illinoinensis, the introduced pecan tree,
now gone wild and often found in and near riparian areas. It is sometimes confused
for the black walnut. Juglans is represented by two trees, the Northern California
black walnut (J. hindsii) and the Southern California black walnut (J. californica).

Immature black walnuts are green on the tree.

Black Walnut
Juglans californica and J. hindsii

Use: The nutmeat is eaten. The green walnuts are used as fish stunner and the black hulls
used for a dye.
Range: Common in lower elevation canyons and valleys
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Nuts mature in mid- to late summer.
Status: Common
Tools needed: Gloves suggested

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 Properties
In California, there are 2 native species of Juglans, as well as the introduced
English walnut.
The black walnut is widespread in California’s canyons, valleys, and hill-
sides. There are 2 species that might be encountered: J. californica, the Southern
California black walnut, and J. hindsii, the Northern California black walnut.
Additionally, you may encounter the English walnut (J. regia), either planted in
yards or surviving around old farms and cabins.
This is a full-bodied native deciduous tree with pinnately divided leaves.
There are typically 11–19 leaflets per leaf.
You know what the English walnut that you buy in the store looks like; this
one is similar but there are some important differences. First, all the black walnuts
are smaller. They have a soft green outer layer, which turns black as it matures
and has long been used as a dye. The shell of the English walnut is thin and easy
to crack, but approximately one-half of our black walnut is shell, and it requires
a rock or a hammer to crack. The meat in the black walnut is oily and delicious,
though there’s not as much meat as you’ll find in the cultivated English walnut.

A mature black walnut on the tree.

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 Uses
Yes, these are walnuts! But unlike the more commonly cultivated English walnut,
these black walnuts are more like the hickory nuts of eastern states.
Note that the black walnuts are covered in a fleshy material that dries when
the walnuts are mature and fall. Still, this outer black covering is an excellent dye
or pigment material for arts and crafts, but you want to consider wearing gloves
when collecting. I once used this to paint children’s faces at a day camp, and
because the dye takes about 2 weeks to wash off, I heard from several unhappy
parents.
Once you crack open the walnut, you can pick out the edible meat and eat
it as is, or add it to bread products, cookies, cakes, even stews and meat dishes.
It is a very tasty, oil-rich food, and quite a delicacy, but it just takes a lot of work
to get to it.
Also, the immature green walnuts were one of the substances used in the old
days to capture fish. The local indigenous people would crush the green walnuts,
and toss them into pools of water, or the edges of slow-moving streams, and the
fish would float to the top. The fish would be scooped out with nets, and then
everyone would have dinner!

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 Mint Family (Lamiaceae)
The Mint family has about 230 genera and about 7,200 species worldwide. In
California, we have examples from 25 genera of the Mint family, many of which
are used for food and medicine.

Wild mint. Jeff Martin

Mint
Mentha spp.

Use: As a beverage and medicine

Range: Along rivers and wet areas; often cultivated
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Mint can be collected at anytime.
Status: Common locally, in the wild in and near streams
Tools needed: None

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 Properties
Of our 12 wild mints in California, only 1 is a native. In the wild, mints are
typically found along streams. They are sprawling, vining plants with squarish
stems and opposite, finely wrinkled leaves. Crush the leaf for the unmistakable
clue to identification. If you have a good sense of smell, you’ll detect the obvious
minty aroma.
Peppermint, pennyroyal, spearmint, and M. suaveolens (sometimes called
apple mint) are found in California but usually cultivated in gardens. They
sometimes escape cultivation and are found in marsh areas, moist areas, ditches,
around lakes, and meadows.
The white, pink, or violet flowers are clustered in tight groups along the
stalk, often appearing like balls on the stems.
The flowers, though 5 petaled, consist of an upper 2-lobed section and a
lower 3-lobed section.

Uses
Not primarily a food, the wild mints are excellent sources for an infused tea. Put
your fresh leaves into your cup or pot, boil your water, and then pour the water
over the leaves. Cover the cup and let it steep a bit. I enjoy the infusion plain, but
you might prefer to add honey, lemon, or some other flavor.
We’ve had some campouts where we had very little food and relied on fish-
ing and foraged food. Even in off-seasons in the mountains, we were able to
find wild mint and make a refreshing tea. The aroma is invigorating and helps
to open the sinuses. To me, the flavor and taste of mint tea seems even more
enjoyable when camping. Also, you can just crush some fresh leaves and add
them to your canteen while hiking. It makes a great cold trail beverage and
requires no sweeteners.
Sometimes, we add the fresh leaves to trout while it is cooking. It adds a
great flavor.
If used sparingly, you can dice up the fresh leaves and add them to salads
for a refreshing minty flavor. Of course, they can be diced and added to various
dessert dishes, like ice cream, sherbet, etc. Or you can try adding a few sprigs of
mint to your soups and stews to liven up the flavor. And if you really want to
try something special for your doomsday parties, add a little fresh mint to your
favorite pouch of MREs.

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 Chia plant. Helen W. Nyerges

Chia
Salvia columbariae

Use: Primarily the seeds are used in drinks and other foods.
Range: Prefers the desert flats but can be found in other environments
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Seeds mature around early July.
Status: Somewhat common locally in a good season
Tools needed: A tight-weave bag

Properties
Though there are about 900 species of Salvia in the world, only 19 (not counting
varieties) are found in California. Of these, 17 species are native and generally
go by some variation of the name “sage.” The leaves of most Salvias are prized for

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 Chia leaf. Rick Adams

spice and medicine, and the seeds of

all are edible. The Salvias are also a
valuable plant for bees.
Chia prefers desert flats, and
that’s where you’ll find it in the
greatest abundance. However, you
can also find it in many other zones,
such as in the chaparral, typically
where the soil has been disturbed,
and even in higher elevations in
the mountains up to about 4,000'.
Not only that, it’s relatively easy to
cultivate down in the coastal desert
plains and in backyards.
The plant is an obvious mint,
with its square stem and opposite
leaves that are finely divided and
creased. The flower also is a typical Young flowering chia plant. Rick Adams

mint, with pale- to deep-blue flow-

ers that are formed in whorls (appearing like balls) along the stalk.
The tiny gray to tan seeds mature around July when the seed balls mature
and turn tan.

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 Uses
The golden chia seeds are legendary in Indian lore and history, first recorded by
Dr. J. T. Rothrock who was both a botanist and surgeon for the Wheeler US
Geological Survey in 1875. He wrote that “one tablespoon of these seeds was
sufficient to sustain for 24 hours an Indian on a forced march.” (He was refer-
ring to the runners and traders who could get by on just the chia seeds if they
had nothing else.)
In fact, the seeds are an easily digestible form of protein, and—though not
everyone agrees with me—I think they taste good, too! I add them to coffee, fruit
drinks, and water. I mix them into yogurt, cottage cheese, and sour cream. I toss
the seeds in salads, soups, and omelettes. I have even ground them and added
them to bread batter and pancake batter. Chia seeds also can be combined with
chopped dates and figs and pounded into a high-protein “nutrition bar.”
I was heavily influenced by Harrison Doyle’s book on chia called Golden
Chia: Ancient Indian Energy Food, learning that the common chia sold in health-
food stores is usually not the Salvia columbariae seeds used by the desert Indians,
but rather S. hispanica. So even though the health-food store seeds are good,
you’d have to find a wild source of the golden seeds, or grow them yourself.

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 Mallow Family (Malvaceae)
The Mallow family includes 266 genera and about 4,025 species worldwide.
There are 18 genera represented in California, including Hibiscus. According to
Dr. Leonid Enari, the Mallow family is safe for wild food experimentation. He
cautions, however, that some species may be too fibrous to eat.

Mallow leaves

Mallow
Malva neglecta

Use: Leaves raw, cooked, or dried (for tea); “cheeses” eaten raw or cooked; seeds cooked and
eaten like rice
Range: Urban areas such as fields, disturbed soils, gardens
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Spring
Status: Common and widespread
Tools needed: None

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 Forager note: I remember when I was still in high school trying to
learn about mallow. I’d read about it in one of Euell Gibbons’s books, and
he implied that it grew in California, but I was pretty certain I’d never
seen it. Then one day my friend Drew Devereux told me that he’d discov-
ered some in Pasadena, and we bicycled across town to a vacant lot next
to the 210 Freeway. The entire lot was covered in these green mounds
that were about 2’ high and maybe 3’ across; some rose even taller. As we
approached, I realized that I’d seen the plant practically everywhere.

Properties
There are 30–40 species of Malva worldwide. In California, there are 7, but only
1 is a native.
The plants resemble geraniums with their rounded leaves. Each leaf ’s margin
is finely toothed, and there is a cleft to the middle of the leaf to which the long
stem is attached. If you look closely, you’ll see a red spot where the stem meets
the leaf.
The flowers are small but attractive, composed of 5 petals, generally colored
white to blue, though some could be lilac or pink. These flowers are followed by
the round flat fruits, which gave rise to its other name, “cheeseweed.”
These are indeed widespread,
mostly in the urban terrain and
on the fringes. In the desert and
other areas of California, there are
other related genera of the Mallow
family like the bush mallow (Mal-
acothamnus sp.) and the checker
mallow (Sidalcea sp.).

Uses
When you take a raw leaf and
chew on it, you will find it a bit
mucilaginous. For this reason, it
is used to soothe a sore throat. In
Mexico, you can find the dried leaf
under the Spanish name malva at
herb stores, sold as a medicine.
Though the entire plant is
edible, the stalks and leaf stems
tend to be a bit fibrous, so I just Mallow with round seed clusters

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 use the leaf and discard the stem.
These are good added to salads,
though they are a bit tough as the
only salad ingredient.
The mallow leaf is also good in
any cooked dishes—soups, stews,
or chopped up fine for omelettes
and stir-fries.
I have even seen some
attempts to substitute the larger
mallow leaves for grape leaves
in dolma, which is cooked rice
wrapped in a grape leaf. I thought
it worked out pretty well.
As this plant flowers and
matures, the flat and round seed
clusters appear. When still green,
these make a good nibble. These
green “cheeses” (as they are com-
monly called) can be added raw to
salads, cooked in soups, or even Mallow seeds
pickled into capers. Once the
plant is fully mature and the leaves
are drying up, you can collect the now-mature cheeses. The round clusters will
break up into individual seeds, which you can winnow and then cook like rice.
Though the cooked seeds are a bit bland, they are reminiscent of rice. Because
mallow is so very common, it would not be hard to prepare a dish of the mal-
low seed. To really improve the flavor, try mixing the mallow seeds with quinoa,
buckwheat groats, or couscous.
The root of the related marsh mallow (Althaea officinalis) was once the source
for making the marshmallow, which is now just another junk food. Originally,
the roots were boiled until the water was gelatinous. The water would be whipped
to thicken it and then sweetened. You’d then have a spoonful to treat a cough or
sore throat. Yes, you can use the common mallow’s roots to try this, though it
doesn’t get quite as thick as the original.

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 Miner’s Lettuce Family (Montiaceae)
The Miner’s Lettuce family includes 22 genera with about 230 species world-
wide. There are 6 genera represented in California. Dr. Leonid Enari regarded
this as a completely safe family for wild food experimentation. He taught that
all members could be eaten, usually raw but sometimes needing to be steamed
or cooked for improved palatability. Dr. Enari also taught that the seeds of most
could be harvested and eaten.

Miner’s lettuce amid the grass. Rick Adams

Miner’s Lettuce
Claytonia perfoliata

Use: Entire aboveground plant can be eaten raw, boiled, steamed, sautéed, or added to
soup, eggs, etc.
Range: Mostly found in moist canyons below 3,000'
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Spring
Status: Common seasonally
Tools needed: None

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 Properties
There are 27 species of Claytonia worldwide. There are 14 species found in Cali-
fornia (not including subspecies); all are native.
Miner’s lettuce was one of the very first wild foods that I learned to identify.
I’d seen the characteristic leaf—a round cuplike leaf with the flower stalk grow-
ing out of the middle—in Bradford Angier’s book Free for the Eating. It was just
one drawing, but I was certain I’d be able to recognize it. One day I got a phone
call from a fellow budding forager, and he told me that he’d spotted the plant
about 1,000' up an incline in the local mountains. I bicycled to the site that day
and climbed up the hillside, and sure enough, I found it!
That night I tried my first miner’s lettuce in salad and boiled some like spin-
ach. It was good, but perhaps the experience was a bit anticlimactic because I
was so wrapped up in the lore and history of the plant. I didn’t realize there’d be
nothing really incredible about the plant—just a tasty though somewhat bland
leaf that could be used in many ways.
Miner’s lettuce leaves are formed in a rosette, with each leaf arising from the
root. The young leaves are linear, and the older ones are somewhat triangular to
quadrangular in shape, with some appearing water spotted. The key character-
istic is the flowering stalk with its pink or white 5-petaled flowers, which arise
from a cup-shaped leaf. Clusters of these unique leaves, all arising from a com-
mon root, like a head of leaf lettuce, make this a very easy plant to recognize.

Uses
It seems that everyone in California knows miner’s lettuce. This is probably
because the plant is so distinctive—when it’s in flower, you really can’t confuse
it for something else. Plus, it tastes good, it often grows very abundantly, and it’s

Miner’s lettuce in flower. Rick Adams

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 Miner’s lettuce. Note how the flower stalk grows through the round leaf. Rick Adams

easy to work with. Think of the plant as a somewhat succulent lettuce that is also
good cooked, and you’ll get some idea how versatile this plant can be.
Flavor- and texture-wise, this is perhaps one of my favorite wild foods. My
brother, Richard, always regarded it as his favorite. We have used it in many
recipes—just think of all the diverse ways in which we use common spinach!
To give some examples of the many ways in which we can eat miner’s let-
tuce, consider a weekend survival trip I once led for a dozen young men. Our
only food was what we fished or foraged, and there was very little growing in the
area besides miner’s lettuce. We had miner’s lettuce salad, miner’s lettuce soup,
fried miner’s lettuce, boiled miner’s lettuce, miner’s lettuce cooked with fish, and
miner’s lettuce broth! If we were in a kitchen with all sorts of condiments, we’d
have had miner’s lettuce omelettes, soufflés, stir-fries, and green drinks.
In other words, in any recipe—raw, cooked, or juiced—that calls for greens,
you can use miner’s lettuce.

RECIPE
Richard’s Salad
4 cups rinsed miner’s lettuce leaves

Dressing of equal parts olive oil (cold-pressed) and raw apple cider vinegar, to which
he added a dash of garlic powder and paprika, to taste
—recipe from my brother, Richard, who made miner’s lettuce salads whenever possible in the spring

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 Oxalis Family (Oxalidaceae)
Though the Oxalis family contains 5 genera and 880 species worldwide, in Cali-
fornia it is represented only by the Oxalis genus. There are 10 species of Oxalis
in California.

Typical Oxalis leaf: three heart-shaped segments joined at the apex

Sour Grass / Wood Sorrel

Oxalis spp.

Use: Everything can be used. Aboveground leaves and stems can be used raw, cooked, or
pickled. The tiny tubers can also be cooked and eaten.
Range: Some are very common in the urban setting, and others are found in mountains,
meadows, and fields.
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Generally spring
Status: Common in urban areas
Tools needed: None

Properties
Sour grass is widespread, and most gardeners hate it because it is such a successful
plant. It spreads and spreads, and if it grows in your yard, there’s probably much

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 more than you’re likely to use for
food. This is one of the plants
commonly referred to as a sham-
rock, or four-leaf clover. However,
Oxalis is not a clover and is not
related to clover.
The leaves arise from thin
stems, and each leaf appears to be
3 hearts connected at the apex of
the hearts (though you will occa-
sionally find 4 leaflets). Many
leaves appear to be water spot-
ted. The flower stalks are typically
taller than the leaves. For example,
on the common O. pes-caprae,
regarded as a noxious pest by urban
gardeners, the flower stalk with its
yellow flowers is significantly taller
and slightly thicker. The flower
stalk of O. pes-caprae can rise up to
1', especially in urban gardens. Wood sorrel in flower (O. pes-caprae)
The flower colors vary from
species to species, from white, to
pink, to yellow.
If you dig around under the plant, you’ll see some of the tiny tubers of the
plant, typically no bigger than a pea.

Forager’s note: Though the little tubers underneath the California

Oxalis plants are very small, there is a variety called oca (O. tuberosa)
that has long been cultivated in its native Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador.
These tubers measure just a few inches, and are very acidic when fresh.
They are dried in the sun for a few days to improve the flavor. When
they are dried for a few weeks, the flavor is said to resemble figs. So,
at the very least, when you see the little tubers under the California
species, you can try them as a nibble or experiment with cooking or
drying them.

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 Uses
Yes, this makes a good trail nibble, but you really can’t eat a lot—it’s just too sour
because of the plant’s oxalic acid. But everyone likes this plant. Children rarely
refuse sour grass. It’s a great snack, and it livens up other foods.
Use the leaves sparingly in salads for a vinegar flavor. I prefer the flower
stalks, but everything aboveground can be used.
Everything aboveground can also be cooked into soups or stews, but,
again, add it sparingly. If it’s a bit too strong, boil the plant, rinse the water,
and then use.
I’ve had some fermented sour grass that was made just as you’d make sauer-
kraut with cabbage. Though it was very stringy, it was still tasty.

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 Passionflower Family (Passifloraceae)
The Passionflower family consists of 17 genera and 750 species worldwide. In
California, this family is represented only by the Passiflora genus.

The unique passion flower. Rick Adams

Passionflower
Passiflora caerulea and P. tarminiana

Use: Fruits eaten raw or processed into jams, etc.; leaves and flowers for a medicinal tea
Range: Urban areas, around riparian areas, often invasive; doesn’t survive freezing
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Fruit is available in early to midsummer; leaves can be gathered year-round.
Status: Common and invasive in certain areas
Tools needed: None

Properties
Though there are 540 reported species of Passiflora worldwide, there are only 2
wild species in California. Many varieties are grown in gardens.
Both of our wild California passionflowers are native to South America.
They are a good source of food and medicine, and also reportedly have served as
a mnemonic tool to teach about the Passion of the Christ.

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 The vining plant can be seen
trailing over bushes and trees, and
then the fruits will be seen hang-
ing from these bushes. The leaves
are palmately divided like a hand,
and the tendrils help the plant
grab onto other vegetation.
Some people are shocked
when they see passionflower for
the first time, thinking it is some
plastic invention. It has what
looks like 10 petals, but actually
it has 5 sepals and 5 identical pet-
als. There is a colorful purple ring
called the corolla. The 5 stamens
are outstretched evenly, and right
in the middle is a 3-part pistil. It’s
all very colorful, and it’s hard to
believe that such a flower exists in
all of nature.
Ripe fruit of the passionflower hanging from the vine

RECIPE
Lemon and Wild Passion Fruit Marmalade

The recipe is very simple and truly delicious.

2 cups passion fruit (Passiflora caerulea) with skin and seeds

3 cups sugar

2 whole large lemons, diced (skin and pulp)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Place all the ingredients into a pot, bring to a boil, and stir from time to time. Supervise
until the solution reaches the exact temperature of 220°F.
Pour into jars, close the lids, and place in the fridge.
If you know how to can, use the water-bath method for 15 minutes.
—recipe from Pascal Baudar

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 The egg-size fruits begin green and ripen by summer into an orange fruit
with red seedy insides, which is the main edible portion.

Uses
Passionflower fruit matures in early summer, with the orange egg-shaped fruits
hanging from the plant’s vines in the willows and oaks and whatever trees the
vine is growing on. Split open the ripe fruit and eat the red seeds. It’s a little
mucilaginous and sweet, but not overly sweet. It makes a good trail snack. I
enjoy them while hiking, as well as chilled and eaten out of hand.
I’ve had fruit leather made from the red seeds, crushed and laid flat on a
cookie pan until it dried. It had a good texture, and the flavor was improved by
drying. This is a great way to make food for storage and for trips.
The fruit also makes a good jam or jelly, usually with a bit of honey added.
You can brew the red seeds into a tasty drink, though again it’s improved with a
dash of honey.
The leaves are often infused into a tea, though they have a very mild fla-
vor, so mint or other aromatic herbs can be added. The herb contains a very
weak sedative, and if you have trouble getting to sleep, this is just the tea for a
bedtime drink.

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 Lopseed Family (Phrymaceae)
The Lopseed family contains 15 genera worldwide, with 230 species. In Califor-
nia, Mimulus is the only genus representing this family. (Mimulus had formerly
been classified in the Figwort family.)

Monkey flower in bloom. Helen W. Nyerges

Common Mimulus
Mimulus guttatus

Use: Everything tender above the waterline

Range: Common mimulus is always found in slow-moving waters or ponds.
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Spring
Status: Common in some areas, not particularly widespread
Tools needed: None

Properties
Members of the Mimulus genus are generally referred to as monkey flowers.
There are about 100 species worldwide, and 62 species in California, all of which
are natives.

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 This is a common yellow wild-
flower that grows along the shal-
low banks of streams, in much the
same environment as watercress. It’s
usually very conspicuous when in
flower and fairly easy to recognize.
The bright yellow flowers are
typically on a raceme, with 5 or
so flowers per stalk. The flower is
composed of an upper lip with 2
lobes, and a lower lip with 3 lobes,
which also may have many red to
brown spots, or just one large spot.
The opening to the tubular flower
is hairy.
The plant may be an annual
or perennial, with the stems either
erect or sprawling in the water. It’s a
Another blooming monkey flower
highly variable plant.
The leaves are opposite, round
to oval in shape, usually with irregular teeth.

Uses
Because the common monkey flower grows in slow-moving waters, make sure
that the water is clean if you plan to use it in salads.
I’ve used the leaves and tender stems in salads many times, and I just pinch
off the tender above-water sections. The texture is good, and the flavor is mild,
so it makes a good addition to salads, either alone or mixed with a variety of
other wild greens for a balanced flavor. Add some tomatoes and avocado, too. Of
course, I nearly always add salad dressing to make it tasty.
The greens also lend themselves well to various cooked dishes. You can
simply boil them like spinach, or you can try stir-frying them with other
greens and vegetables.
Of course, common monkey flower is mild and can always go into any soup
or stew pot.

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 Plantain Family (Plantaginaceae)
The Plantain family has 110 genera and approximately 2,000 species worldwide.
There are 26 genera in California.

Veronica in a bed of watercress

Veronica (aka Speedwell)

Veronica americana

Use: The entire plant (tender stems and leaves) above the root
Range: Grows in slow-moving waters in the same environment as watercress
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Spring and summer
Status: Somewhat common
Tools needed: None

Properties
The Veronica genus has about 250 species worldwide, 11 of which are found in
California; of those, 7 are native, and 4 are introduced.
Veronica americana is a native and is frequently confused with watercress
because they both grow in water. And I admit to the superficial resemblance,
but there really are some obvious differences. The veronica has a simple leaf

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 about 1"–2" long, whereas the
watercress has pinnately divided
leaves very much like many of the
members of the Mustard family.
The watercress has a typical mustard
flower formula with the 4 petals
arranged like a cross, and its color
is white. But the veronica flower is
lavender and asymmetrical with 4
petals, the upper one being wider
than the others.
Veronica flower. Rick Adams
Uses
If I have no concerns about the water’s safety from which I’ve picked the veron-
ica, I add it to salads. It is not strongly flavored, and you can use the entire plant.
Just pinch it off at water level (no need to uproot the plant), rinse it, and then
dice it into your salad. No need to pick off just the leaves—eat the entire above-
water plant.
Because it’s so bland, you can mix it with stronger-flavored greens in your
salad. It goes well with watercress, as well as any of the mustards.
Veronica goes well with soup dishes and stir-fries. It never gets strongly bit-
ter, like watercress, and it never really gets fibrous. It’s a mild plant that’s fairly
widespread in waterways.
If you live near a waterway where veronica grows, you’ll find that it’s a good
plant to use in a variety of dishes where you might otherwise include spinach. Try
some gently sautéed with green onions, add some eggs, and make an omelette.
Or try a cream soup into which you’ve gently cooked some of the veronica greens.

Young veronica in stream bed. Rick Adams

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 Buckwheat Family (Polygonaceae)
The Buckwheat family has 48 genera and about 1,200 species worldwide; 27
of these genera are found in California. Of the 250 known species of Eriogo-
num found worldwide, 119 are found in California, not counting the many
varieties.

Buckwheat with mature flowers

California Buckwheat
Eriogonum fasciculatum

Use: Seed heads are used for flour (for pancakes, etc., or porridge)
Range: Chaparral zone mostly, fringes of the desert
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Harvest the seeds from approximately August through Februrary
Status: Widespread within its niche
Tools needed: Bucket or bag

Properties
In the California chaparral region and in parts of the desert, you will find this
buckwheat growing prolifically. The plant forms low bushes with its rosemary-
like leaves, though the edges of the California buckwheat are rolled over on the

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 Forager note: While “living off the land” with John Linthurst and
my brother, Richard, we tried making pure wild buckwheat pancakes by
just grinding the wild buckwheat seeds on rocks, adding some water,
and trying to fry it. The problem was that the buckwheat does not hold
together well, so we just had a lot of chunks of cooked buckwheat in
the frying pan. Because we had no other food, we ate it anyway and
enjoyed it, laughing about our “pancakes.”

edges. While the leaf is nearly identical in size to rosemary’s needlelike leaf, there
is none of the sweet fragrance of rosemary. In the spring, the plant sends up
flower stalks with flowers formed in what appears to be a ball. The flowers balls
are white in the spring; by summer the seeds ripen, and the balls turn a shade of
chocolate brown.
Of California’s 119 species of Eriogonum, only this species of buckwheat is
the most abundant in seed, is the most common overall, and contains seeds that
are easily harvested.

Uses
Buckwheat is an amazing grain. It is abundant in the fall and requires no leach-
ing to produce meal from it. The seed heads are easily harvested in the fall when
they are ripe. Just use your hand to pick them off and place in a bucket or bag.
Where the plant grows thickly, it is
not difficult to collect 5 gallons of the
seed heads in under an hour.
I used to try winnowing out the
seeds from the wings surrounding them.
This proved to be a lot of work to rub
them between the hands to free the seed,
and then to gently blow off the chaff.
While researching how the California
Native Americans processed the buck-
wheat, I learned that winnowing was not
the norm, so then my processing became
a lot easier. I just collect the seed heads,
rub them between my hands to produce
a coarse meal, pick out the stems, and
then mix this 50-50 with conventional
flours. I use this mix to produce bread,
biscuits, pancakes, and cookies. Buckwheat with the new white flowers of spring

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 Immature dock seed stalk

Curly Dock
Rumex crispus

Use: Young dock leaves used raw or cooked; seeds harvested and added to various flours;
stems used like rhubarb
Range: Prefers wet areas, but can be found in most environments
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: The leaves are best gathered when young in the spring. Seeds mature in late
August and may be available for months.
Status: Common and widespread
Tools needed: None

Properties
Rumex has between 190 and 200 species worldwide; 23 are found in California,
15 of which are native—but not curly dock.
Curly dock is a widespread, invasive perennial plant in most of California. It
is originally from Europe, and though it has many good uses, it is often despised
and poisoned because it not only survives well but often takes over entire areas.
The root looks like an orange carrot, and the spring leaves arise directly
from the root. The young leaves are long and linear, and curved on their

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 margins. The leaves can be over
1' long and pointed.
As the season progresses,
the flower stalk arises, and it can
reach about 4', even taller in ideal
conditions. Three seeds, each sur-
rounded by a papery sheath, form
each unit. They are green at first
and then mature to a beautiful
chocolate brown.

Uses
You can make various dishes from
both the leaves and the mature
seeds of curly dock. Let’s start
with the leaves.
Pick only the very youngest
leaves for salad, the smaller ones
before the plant has begun to
send up its seed stalk. These will
be not too tough, and the flavor Mature dock seed stalk
will be sour, somewhat like the
French sorrel. You can just rinse
them, dice them, and add them to salads. I’ve had only these for salad, with
dressing and avocado, and it was good, but only because the leaves were young.
Older leaves are best boiled like spinach, or—ideally with the midrib
removed—sautéed with potatoes and onions. You can also add some to soup
and stews. The leaves change color and darken a bit upon cooking, and the
cooking softens up the tougher older leaves, but you really want to cook the
tougher, bitter, and astringent older leaves. All these qualities are reduced
somewhat by cooking.
I have seen the brown seed spikes sold in floral supply shops as fall deco-
ration, and they are very attractive. Those little seeds can be stripped off the
stalks and then rubbed between your hands to remove the wing from the
seed. You don’t have to be too picky here as it can all be used. I blow off
the wings, and then mix the seed half-and-half with flour for pancakes and
sometimes bread. You could also toss some seed into soup to increase the
protein content.
I’ve seen some folks who go to the trouble of winnowing and then further
grinding the seeds in a mill to get a fine flour. I never bother, but some folks
prefer the finer flour, which is a bit more versatile than the seeds. For example,

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 Christopher with a perfect example of dock leaves. Rick Adams

a fine flour can be mixed 50-50 with wheat, blended, and put through a pasta
machine to make a curly dock seed pasta, which tastes really good.
The stems are tart and sour, but often make a good nibble. Young stems can
be processed and used like rhubarb for pies.

RECIPE
Curly Dock “Nori” (Vegetable Chips)

Dehydration is a neat way to make some interesting and flavorful ingredients for wild
food dishes. This one is easy to do. You will just need a silicone sheet. 
100 g (about 3.5 oz) chopped curly dock
1 garlic clove
1
⁄2 cup water
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1
⁄4 teaspoon salt

Blend everything and, using a spatula, spread it on a silicone sheet.

Dehydrate at 160°F until fully dry.
—recipe from Pascal Baudar

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 Sheep sorrel. Gary Gonzalez

Sheep Sorrel
Rumex acetosella

Use: The raw leaves are good in salads and can also be added to various cooked dishes.
Range: Found in the higher elevations, often around water, and frequently near disturbed
soils and in urban areas
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Spring to early summer
Status: Can be abundant locally
Tools needed: None

Properties
Sheep sorrel is not native to California, but is to Europe and Asia.
Sheep sorrel is common and widespread, and the plant is recognized by its
characteristic leaves, which are generally basal, lance to oblong shaped, with a
hastate or sagittate tapered base; in other words, it looks like an elongated arrow-
head. When the seed stalk matures, it is brown, reminiscent of the curly dock
seed stalk, but much smaller.

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 Uses
Where the plant is common, you
can pinch off many of the small
leaves to add to salad or even to use
as the main salad ingredient. I’ve
enjoyed sheep sorrel salads with
just avocado and dressing added.
The leaves are mildly sour, making
a very tangy salad.
The flavor is somewhat simi-
lar to the leaves of Oxalis, though
not as strong. They can be effec-
tively added raw to other foods like
tostadas (in place of lettuce) or in
sandwiches.
They add a bit of a tang when
added to soups and stews, and can
be very effective at livening up some
MREs.

Sheep sorrel. louis-M. landry

RECIPE
Shiyo’s Garden Salad

Rinse a bowlful of young sheep sorrel leaves. Add at least 1 ripe avocado and 1 ripe
tomato, both diced. Add some oil-and-vinegar dressing; my preference is Dr. Bronner’s.
Eat it outside where the wind can blow your hair.

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 Wild rhubarb

Wild Rhubarb
Rumex hymenosepalus

Use: The youngest leaves and stems are used in salads, older leaves can be cooked, and
stems used like rhubarb.
Range: Most common in the Mojave Desert, but found in low valleys and chaparral regions
as well
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Spring
Status: Not widespread; appears singly or in patches
Tools needed: None

Properties
This plant is also known as canaigre. Though this plant seems to largely be
restricted to the low and high deserts, it does grow outside this zone on occasion.
If you know curly dock (Rumex crispus), which is actually found worldwide, you
will automatically assume you’re looking at curly dock when you see the wild
rhubarb. But the wild rhubarb doesn’t just spread its seed and grow everywhere,
as does the dock; you will typically find patches of the wild rhubarb, here and
there. Sometimes you’ll encounter isolated patches.

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 The leaves look similar to the
wavy leaf of curly dock, but they
are not as linear as the dock. Wild
rhubarb leaves are wavy on the mar-
gins, but they are more of a dull
green color, and the width might
be half the overall length of the leaf
(where, a curly dock leaf may be 5
or 6 times as long as it is wide).
The stems are stout and succu-
lent, and the mature flower spikes
resemble the flower spikes of curly
dock, though they are not as tall as
the curly dock spike.

Uses
In general, you can think of the uses
of wild rhubarb as the same as curly
dock’s, but the wild rhubarb gener-
ally contains more oxalic acid. This
means it’s more sour and more bit-
ter and thus requires more cooking
to make it palatable. Wild rhubarb beginning to flower
You might disregard this alto-
gether, thinking it’s too much work,
but in some parts of the desert, this is one of the few common plants that you
can use to make a meal.
Gently boil the stems and the leaves (separately or together) and change the
water. When they are no longer too bitter and are palatable, you can use them
in soups, stews, sautéed dishes, or simply served with butter, cheese, or other
seasonings.
I’ve had “rhubarb” pie made with just the stems of this plant and liked it
more than garden rhubarb. But just like garden rhubarb, cooks usually add way
too much sugar to make rhubarb pie. Health-oriented cooks can tweak the rec-
ipe just so and use honey to create an excellent healthful pie. By the way, it makes
a green pie, not a red pie like garden rhubarb.
The seeds could also be collected when mature, ground, and added to soup
or pancake batter, as you could also do with the seeds of curly dock. Try it spar-
ingly at first, as the seeds are a bit stronger in flavor than curly dock seeds.

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 Purslane Family (Portulacaceae)
The Purslane family has recently been redefined by botanists as having only 1
genus, with about 100 species worldwide, and only 2 members of that genus are
found in California. This family (which once had many more members—now
classified in the Miner’s Lettuce Family) was considered by Dr. Leonid Enari to
be entirely safe for consumption.

Young purslane

Purslane
Portulaca oleraceae

Desert Portulaca
P. halimoides

Use: Entire aboveground plant can be used raw, cooked, pickled, etc.
Range: Prefers disturbed soils of gardens and rose beds; also found in the sandy areas
around rivers
Similarity to toxic species: Somewhat resembles prostrate spurge; however, spurge
lacks the succulence of purslane. Also, when you break the stem of spurge, a white
milky sap appears.
Best time: Spring into summer

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 Status: Relatively common
Tools needed: None

Properties
Purslane starts appearing a bit later
than most of the spring greens,
typically by June or July. It is a very
common annual in rose beds and
gardens, though I do see it in the
wild occasionally, typically in the
sandy bottoms around streams.
The stems are succulent, red
colored, and round in the cross
section. The stems sprawl outward
from the roots, rosette-like, with
Young purslane
the stems lying on the ground. The
leaves are paddle shaped. The little
yellow flower is 5 petaled.
If you know purslane, you’ll probably recognize the similarity to desert por-
tulaca in the sandy washes and open flats. The leaves are succulent, like purslane,
but more elongated. The flower petals are red. You’ll only see this one in the
spring following wet winters. Also, desert portulaca is nowhere near as common
as purslane.

Note red stem and paddle-shaped leaves of purslane.

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 Uses
When you chew on a fresh stem or leaf of purslane, you’ll find it mildly sour and
a bit crunchy. It’s really a great snack, though I like it a lot in salads. Just rinse
to get all the dirt off, dice, add some dressing, and serve. Yes, add tomatoes and
avocado if you have any.
Add it to sandwiches, tostadas, even on the edges of your chile rellenos and
huevos rancheros. I’ve also eaten it fried, boiled, baked (in egg dishes), and prob-
ably other ways, too. It’s versatile, tasty, crisp. It really goes with anything, and
it’s very nutritious.
If you take the thick stems, clean off the leaves, and cut them into sections
of about 4", you can make purslane pickles. There are many ways to make pick-
les; my way is to simply fill the jar with the purslane stems, add raw apple cider
vinegar, and let it sit for a few weeks. (I refrigerate it.)
According to researchers, purslane is one of the richest plant sources of
omega-3 fatty acids. That means that not only is it good but it’s good for you!

RECIPE
Purslane Salsa
2 cups chopped tomatoes
21⁄2 cups chopped foraged purslane
3
⁄4 cup chopped onions
3 garlic cloves
1 cup raw apple cider vinegar
1
⁄4 cup sugar
1 large California bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste
1
⁄2 cup chopped cilantro and some herbs from the garden (such as thyme)

Place all ingredients, except cilantro and other herbs, into a pot, bring to a boil, then
simmer to the desired consistency (light or chunky). Add cilantro and other herbs.
Pour into jars, close the lids, and place in the fridge. It should be good for at least
a month.
—recipe from Pascal Baudar

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 Buckthorn Family (Rhamnaceae)
There are 50–52 genera of the Buckthorn family worldwide, with about 950 species.

Coffee berry with immature fruits

California Coffee Berry

Frangula californica and F. purshiana

Use: Seeds used for a beverage; bark for laxative

Range: Chaparral and coastal ranges
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Fruits mature in August and September.
Status: Scattered widely
Tools needed: None

Properties
There are 50 species of the Frangula genus, with 3 species found in California.
F. californica and its 6 subspecies are most common in Southern California; F.
purshiana and its 3 subspecies are found more commonly in the northern part
of California. These are small shrubs to large trees, depending on location and
species. F. californica is typically no more than 8' tall, whereas F. purshiana is
significantly taller, very treelike. The leaves are alternately arranged, 1"–2" in

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 length, typically bright green, nar-
rowly oblong with tiny teeth on the
margins. The fruits are green and
turn red, then nearly black as they
mature. They are little globes up to
1
⁄2" diameter, with 2 and sometimes
3 seeds. The seeds closely resemble
the seeds of commercial coffee.

Uses
You could pick a few of the nearly
black ripe fruits around August and
eat them as trail nibble, but don’t
eat too many. The plant is a known
laxative, and the ripe fruit can have Coffee berry with red fruit. Helen W. Nyerges
that effect.
I have had some jam prepared
from the ripe flesh of the coffee berry fruits. It was uniquely flavored; it didn’t
appeal to me, but some folks really love it.
Most of the time, it is the seeds of this plant that foragers collect. Harvest the
fruit when mature. You could quickly squeeze the seeds out of each fruit—that’s
the long way. You could also just mush them all up between your hands to get
all the fruit separated from the seed, wash it well, and the lay it in the sun to
dry. When dry, you can further rub the seeds between the hands to get rid of all
remaining flesh.
The seeds are then dried,
ground, roasted, and percolated
to make a caffeine-free coffee-
tasting beverage. It really smells
like coffee, and more or less tastes
like coffee. Serve it plain, or with
honey and cream, as with regu-
lar coffee. You could also use it
as a coffee extender, mixing half-
and-half with coffee.

Caution
Try this beverage sparingly at
first; a small percentage of peo-
ple will vomit after trying it. Coffee berry with green fruit. Rick Adams

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 Rose Family (Rosaceae)
The Rose family contains 110 genera and 3,000 species worldwide. Species from
45 of the genera are found in California.

Green fruit of the toyon. Rick Adams

Toyon
Heteromeles arbutifolia

Use: Berries cooked, dried, or made into flour

Range: Chaparral hillsides; sometimes cultivated
Similarity to toxic species: Somewhat resembles European holly fruits
Best time: Fruits mature from about October through January.
Status: Common
Tools needed: None

Properties
The toyon is the only species of the
Heteromeles genus. (Heteromeles is
Greek for “different apple.”)
Toyon can grow to a medium-
sized tree and is probably most
conspicuous in the winter when it’s
covered with its clusters of orange-
red fruits, which are pomes.
The tree is found in the chap-
arral zones and often planted on Toyon in flower. Rick Adams

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 the fringes of the urban areas. The
leaves are leathery and ovate, with
toothed margins. The tree is ever-
green and can be a large bush or a
small to medium-sized tree.
In the summer, the flowers
form in terminal clusters. Each
flower is white, 5 petaled, and about
1
⁄4" wide. The clusters of orange-red
fruit ripen from about November
into January.

Uses
I have one Native American friend
who likes to pick the fresh toyon ber- Collected fruit of the toyon before the stems are
ries from the tree and eat them raw. removed, being prepared for drying. Rick Adams
He says he likes them, and I believe
him; everyone has a different sense
of taste. In general, I find them a bit too dry and astringent for a raw snack.
I prefer to collect a gallon or so of the fruit and roll them gently between my
hands to remove all the stems. Then I put the berries into a dishpan with warm
water and clean the fruit. Next, I dry them—in the sun or in the oven with just
the pilot light on. The dry fruits then make a good nibble, or they can be used
in a variety of ways: One is to grind the dry fruit into flour, and add that flour to
bread and pancake mixes. It adds a mild sweetness to the mix. You can add the
dried toyon berries to wild-nut mixes, or soak them in water a bit before adding
them to bread or pancake batter. Or, finally if you add the fresh berries to water,
boil them gently, rinse the water, and add fresh water again, they can be eaten as
is, sweetened, or added to other dishes
A cider can also be made from these fruits. Clean and boil the fruits, and
sweeten to taste.

RECIPE
Chumash Winter

Boil 2 cups fresh toyon berries in water for a minute or so, and pour off the water. Add
a little fresh water, and cook gently. Add 2 tablespoons honey and stir. Add some flour,
stir, and cook until you have a thick dessert, with almost an oatmeal-like consistency.

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 Wild cherry leaf

Wild Cherries
Prunus spp.

Use: The flesh of the fruit in jams and jellies; process the meat of the large seed into a flour
Range: Chaparral, coastal ranges, riparian, urban fringes
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Fruits mature around August.
Status: Common
Tools needed: None

Properties
There are about 400 species of
Prunus worldwide, whose common
names generally include cherry,
almond, apricot, and plum. In
California there are 11 species of
Prunus (but we’re only concerned
with the cherries here). There are 4
wild cherries in California. The first
2 listed below are evergreen trees or Ripe wild cherry

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 Ripe wild cherry fruits

bushes in California; the leaves are stiff and shiny, with teeth on the margins
(depending on species). The second 2 are deciduous.

• Holly leaf cherry (Prunus ilicifolia sub-species ilicifolia)

• Catalina Island cherry (Prunus ilicifolia sub-species lyonii)
• Bitter cherry (P. emarginata)
• Western chokecherry (P. virginiana var. demissa)

One way to identify the plant is to crush these leaves, wait a few seconds,
and then smell them. They will have a distinct aroma of bitter almond extract,
your clue that the leaf contains cyanide (hydrocyanic acid).
The fruits are very much like cultivated cherries, except the color is darker
red, almost maroon, sometimes even darker. The flesh layer can be very thin in
dry years and thicker in the seasons following a good rain. Like domestic cher-
ries, under the flesh, there is a thin shell and the meaty inside of the seed.

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 Fruit of the holly-leafed cherry. Rick Adams

Uses
The fruit of our wild cherries makes a great trail nibble. I usually see them when
they ripen in August and the trail is hot and dry, and the fruit make a refreshing
treat. But don’t eat too many of the raw fruit, or diarrhea might result.
The wild cherry has a hint of bitterness. The fruit can be cooked off the seeds
and the pulp made into jellies, jams, and preserves. You can also make a fruit
leather by laying the pulp on a cookie sheet and drying it.
In the old days, the native people enjoyed the flesh of the cherry, but they
considered the seed to be the more valuable part of the fruit. The seeds were
shelled and the inside meat was cooked and leached to reduce the cyanide. The
cooked seeds, once ground into mush or meal, were then used to make a sweet
bread product or added (like acorns) to stews as a gravy or thickening agent.

Caution
If you crush the leaf, it will impart a sweet aroma like bitter almond extract used
in cooking. That’s the telltale aroma of the cyanide, so don’t use the leaf for tea.

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 Wild rose shoots

Wild Rose
Rosa spp.

Use: Fruits eaten raw, cooked, made into jam or tea; wood useful for arrow shafts
Range: Typically riparian but found in many areas; cultivated roses are common in urban
areas.
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Fruits mature in summer.
Status: Common
Tools needed: Clippers, possibly gloves

Properties
There are about 100 species of Rosa worldwide, which hybridize freely. There are
12 species in California, not including subspecies. Nine of these 12 are natives,
including the common Rosa californica.
Wild roses are more common than most people think. They are typically found
in wet areas, though this is not a fast rule. The wild rose flowers are 5 petaled, not

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 the multiple-petaled flowers that
you find on the hybridized roses.
After the flowers mature and fade,
the fruit, called the hip, develops; it
is usually bright orange and smaller
than a grape.
The leaves are oddly divided
into 3, 5, or 7 leaflets, and the stalks
are covered in thorns. If you’ve ever
had rose bushes in your yard, you
have a pretty good of what the wild
rose looks like.
The wild rose often grows in
dense thickets. If it gets cut down,
or after a burn, there will be many
straight shoots in the new growth. Rose flower and hip

Uses
For food, we have the flower and the fruits. The flowers have long been
used to make rose water and can also be used to make a mild-flavored infu-
sion. The petals make a flavorful, colorful, and nutritious garnish to soups
and salads.

Ripe fruit (“hip”) of the rose

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 Wild rose flower. Rick Adams

The rose hips are one of the richest sources of vitamin C. The fruits can
be eaten fresh, but you first should split them open and scrape out the fibrous
insides. They are typically a bit fibrous, with a hint of bitterness. More com-
monly, the fruits can be infused into a tea or made into jellies.
Some of the old-school archers (such as Alton “Longbow” Safford) consider
the rose shaft one of the finest woods to use for making arrows, assuming you cut
the new straight shoots. To remove the thorns, you need to then ream the shaft
through a rock with a hole in it.

Caution
Before you eat the petals or fruit, make sure the plants have not been sprayed
with any pesticides.

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 Blackberry vine. Helen W.Nyerges

Blackberry
Rubus spp.

Use: Berries used for juices, jams, dessert; dried leaves used for medicine
Range: Riparian and many other areas where sufficient water is supplied
Similarity to toxic species: Somewhat resembles poison oak, though poison oak lacks thorns
Best time: Fruits mature in the summer
Status: Common
Tools needed: None, but clippers can help

Properties
There are about 400–750 species of Rubus worldwide. There are 11 in California
(not including varieties), and 7 are native. The natives include thimbleberry (R.
parviflorus). Some are known as raspberries.
Even nonbotanists can usually identify the vine and fruit of the very com-
mon blackberry. In the northern part of the state and into Oregon, wild black-
berries are so common that many just go uneaten.
The leaves are palmately divided (like a hand) into 3, 5, or 7 segments.
The vines are twining on the ground or over low hedges and are charac-
terized by their thorns, which make it difficult to wade too deep into any

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 of the old hedge-like stands of
wild blackberries.
The white, 5-petaled flow-
ers are followed by the aggregate
fruits, which are a collection of
sweet drupelets, with the fruit
separating from the flower stalk
to form a somewhat hollow,
thimble-like shape. Most people
instantly recognize the shape of
the blackberry because they’ve
seen it in the supermarket or in
the backyard garden. Blackberry vine in flower

Uses
A blackberry is easily recognized, and everyone who sees the ripe ones ven-
tures to eat them. I’ve picked them deep in the chaparral and mountains
and along roadsides. The key is to avoid the thorns and to make sure they
are not immature and tart. If the fruit is black, soft, and easily picked, it’s
ripe! You can eat it right away, or pick a bunch and mash them for a topping
for pancakes, biscuits, or cake.
Even better, add them to vanilla
ice cream. (Yes, we know that
chocolate ice cream is better for
you, but the flavor of blackber-
ries clashes a bit with chocolate.)
You could also make a conserve,
a jam, a jelly, a pie filling, or a
juice. It’s very versatile. And
though I rarely have ripe black-
berries around long enough to
dry them, they can be dried in
any food dryer and will keep for
quite a while. The dried fruits can
then be eaten as is or reconsti-
tuted for juices or desserts.
An infusion of the leaves has
long been used among Native
Americans for diarrhea and child-
birth pains. Fruiting blackberry

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 Jojoba Family (Simmondsiaceae)
There is one genus to the Jojoba family, and only one species to this genus,
which is Simmondsia chinensis. That means botanists have found this plant to
be quite unique!

Jojoba seed. Rick Adams

Jojoba
Simmondsia chinensis

Use: Nuts used for food

Range: Low desert
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Nuts ripen in midsummer
Status: Somewhat common in its zone
Tools needed: None

Properties
Jojoba (pronounced “hoe-hoe-buh”) is an evergreen shrub found throughout the
Southwest and into Mexico, especially in arid areas and washes. There is smooth
bark and opposite leaves that are leathery, ovate, and dull green. The nutlike fruit
is obtusely 3 sided.

Uses
When my friend Nathaniel used to work in the Anza-Borrego area, we’d visit during
the summer and pick the fruits off the jojoba bush and eat them. We ate lots of them,
and we liked them. We ate them raw, we ate them dried, we ate them roasted.

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 Jojoba branch with leaves

The jojoba seeds taste a bit better when dried and lightly roasted. We’ve
made many snacks from bowls of these seeds. Yet I hear constantly that you can’t
eat the seeds “because they make car wax from the seeds.” Well, maybe car wax
is made from the seeds, but they’re certainly edible.
Like so many conventional or wild foods, everything should always be con-
sumed in moderation until you know how your body reacts to it. Jojoba is no
different in this regard. Try a little, see how you like them, and see how your
body reacts.
The Cahuilla of the low desert ground the seeds into a powder and made a
beverage that was said to be similar to coffee. The Yavapai parched the seeds and
ground them into a powder, which had a peanut-butter consistency, and then ate
it. Others mashed them into
small cakes, which were then
boiled and eaten. Though
the Indians did eat the fruit,
they were not regarded as
being highly nutritious
because much of the fruit is
an indigestible wax.
The oily seeds were also
ground into a paste or poul-
tice and applied to sores by
the Papago.

Flowering jojoba. Rick Adams

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 Nightshade Family (Solanaceae)
There are 75 genera of the Nightshade family and 3,000 species worldwide.
Eleven genera are found in California. Many are toxic, but many are good foods.

Nightshade flower and green fruit

Western Nightshade, Black Nightshade

Solanum americanum (aka S. nodiflorum), S. douglasii, S. nigrum, and S. xanti

Use: When ripe, fruits are used raw or cooked.

Range: Disturbed soils, urban areas, chaparral areas
Similarity to toxic species: Actually, according to many, this is a toxic species, meaning, don’t
eat the green raw fruits and don’t eat the leaves raw. Sickness is likely in either case. There
is also a slight resemblance to jimsonweed, which is another plant in the same family and
which is also toxic.
Best time: Summer
Status: Somewhat common
Tools needed: None

Properties
There are approximately 1,500 species of Solanum in the world, with 18 found
in California.

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 Solanum americanum, S. doug-
lasii, and S. xanti are natives; S.
nigrum is not. S. americanum and S.
nigrum are very similar and some-
times difficult to distinguish.
The very young plant much
resembles lamb’s quarter, except
that the nightshade doesn’t have an
erect stem; rather, it’s more widely
branched. Also, though the individ-
ual leaves of both nightshade and
lamb’s quarter are quite similar, the
nightshade lacks the mealy coating
of lamb’s quarter as well as the often
noticeable red in the axil of the leaf, Nightshade fruit mostly ripe. Helen W. Nyerges
which is common in lamb’s quarter.
The 5-petaled white to laven-
der flower is a very typical nightshade family flower, resembling the flowers of
garden tomatoes. The fruits begin as tiny BB-sized green fruits, and by August
they ripen into little purplish-black “tomatoes.” We’ve eaten all of the four listed
Solanum species with no problems.

Uses
The fruit of this plant seem to peak around August, when the plant can be pro-
lifically in fruit, if the season’s rain and heat have been just right. Regardless, I
have found ripe fruit of the western nightshade during every month.
Don’t eat these fruits while they are still green, as it could result in a stom-
achache and minor sickness. That is, you shouldn’t eat the green fruits unless
they are boiled, fried, or otherwise cooked.
I will try a few of the dark purple ripe fruits when I see them while hiking. I
like the fresh tartness. It’s very much like eating a tomato, but a bit spicier. They
are great added to salads—just like adding tomatoes! But just like tomatoes,
there are many other ways to enjoy the western nightshade fruit. We’ve smashed
them and added to pizza dough. They taste like tomatoes, but turn nearly black
when cooked. They are good added to soup, too. And because they are so small,
you don’t need to cut or slice; just toss them into your soup or stew.
Also, just like sun-dried tomatoes have a unique flavor, you can let the west-
ern nightshade berries dry in the sun (or in your food dryer), and then eat them
as is, or reconstitute them later into various recipes. Though it isn’t absolutely
necessary, I find that they dry quicker if you gently smash them first—such as on
the cookie sheet where you’ll be drying them.

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 Green and ripe fruit of nightshade. Note how the flowers nod downward.

Cautions
While there may be other ripe nightshade fruits that could be eaten, we don’t
advise you eat any but those listed above. Also, do not eat the green berries; only
eat the fully ripe, dark-purple berries. Otherwise, sickness could result. Green
berries should only be consumed if boiled, fried, or otherwise cooked. Anyone
with any tomato sensitivity or sensitivity to other members of this family (e.g.,
eggplant, chiles, peppers) should not consume these fruits.

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 Nasturtium Family (Tropaeolaceae)
This family has one genus and about 90 species worldwide. They are native from
Mexico to South America. Its only representative in California is nasturtium.

Nasturtium in flower

Nasturtium
Tropaeolum majus

Use: All tender parts can be eaten raw, pickled, or cooked; this includes stems, leaves, flow-
ers, tender seeds.
Range: Originally found along the coast and near the coast; now widely cultivated through-
out the urban areas
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Spring
Status: Somewhat common, abundant locally in season

Forager note: Though nasturtium is an annual, it is a great choice to

grow in a “survival garden” where it can be allowed to reseed itself year
after year. This is one of the best plants for the no-work, self-maintaining
gardening. (Of course, no garden is ever no work, but that’s another story.)

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 Properties
Nasturtium plants are found along
California’s west coast and down
into Baja, but they are also com-
monly found inland as a popular
garden plant. Nasturtium seeds are
planted in the spring. The seeds are
quite interesting because they look
like miniature brains: two-lobed,
wrinkled, but green. The plants
arise in the spring with the long
stems, round in the cross-section,
and the stem of their round leaves
attaching to the bottom of each leaf.
The flowers are unique and beauti- Nasturtium flower and leaf
ful, generally coming in shades of
brilliant yellow, orange, and red,
though horticultural varieties have expanded this color spectrum somewhat.
The plant is an annual, so it dies back late every fall. And if the soil is not
disturbed, and there’s enough shade and enough moisture, you can guarantee a
crop of this beautiful ground cover year after year.

Nasturtium leaf

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 Uses
Everything above ground on the
nasturtium is edible. Everything!
Just make sure it’s still tender and
you can eat it: stems, leaves, flow-
ers, seeds. Everything.
The flowers are probably the
most popular, because they can
be added to salad for a colorful
garnish. The leaves are hot, very
much like horseradish, so use
them sparingly in your salads.
The leaves can be used like grape
leaves for dolmas, which is typi-
cally cooked rice, sometimes with
lamb, wrapped in a large leaf.
The stems and leaves are great
added to your soups, stews, and
egg dishes. They really liven up
any dish. You should try adding
diced leaves and whole flowers Nasturtium sprawling over a hill
over a rice dish or some freshly
cooked MREs (yum!).
The stems alone can be picked, steamed, and served with cheese or butter as
a sort of faux green bean, though they are thin. Use only the youngest stems that
are tender and snap readily when bent.
I have enjoyed nibbling on the still-green seeds. They are hot and stimulat-
ing. They can also be pickled and made into wild capers. See my “recipe” below.
I had some nasturtium seed pickles that I dated, and the jar was about 20 years
old. Believe it or not, they were still very tasty after all that time.

RECIPE
Nasturtium “Brain Food” Capers

I keep the pickling process very simple: Just wash the tender still-green seeds, pack them
into a canning jar, and cover with raw apple cider vinegar. Put into your refrigerator for
at least 3 weeks before you start serving them. Let your guests know they are “capers.”

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 Nettle Family (Urticaceae)
The Nettle family includes 50 genera and 700 species worldwide. Five of those
genera are found in California. There are 45 species of Urtica, only 2 of which
are found in California (not counting 2 subspecies).

Tender leaves at top of nettle plant

Stinging Nettle
Urtica dioica

Use: Leaves used for food (cooked) and for tea; stalks made into fiber
Range: Riparian, urban fields, edges of farms, disturbed soils, etc.
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Collect the greens in the spring.
Status: Common
Tools needed: Gloves and snippers

Forager note: Nettles are an undervalued medicine, and herbalists

speak highly of the many uses for nettle tea. I have found that drinking
nettle tea in the spring helps to alleviate the symptoms of pollen allergies.

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 RECIPE
Stinging Nettles Hot Sauce Recipe

I created this hot sauce through experimentation and really enjoy it. It has a mild “wild”
flavor and is really liked by those who taste it. It’s extremely simple to make. This is a
very basic recipe and you can include some of your favorite flavors and ingredients,
such as Italian herbs or bay leaves.

Supplies
Latex gloves

Blender (or go primitive with a knife and a molcajete)

Jars or bottles

Metal pot

Ingredients
5 ounces jalapeño peppers, stemmed and chopped with seeds (make sure they’re not
too hot though)

1 ounce serrano peppers

5 ounces fresh nettle leaves (or young nettles)

Juice from 2 limes

6 garlic cloves

31⁄2 cups raw apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon kosher or pickling salt

1 cup water or white wine (I used white wine in my original recipe)

Combine all the ingredients and blend until smooth. Strain for a thinner sauce, or keep
it as is. Transfer to jars and cover. Refrigerate at least 2 weeks then enjoy.
—recipe from Pascal Baudar

Properties
This perennial generally sends up a single stalk in the winter or spring that can
reach around 5' tall if undisturbed. The leaves are oblong with toothed margins,
and taper to a point. Both the leaves and stalks are covered with needles or
bristles that cause a stinging irritation when you brush against them.

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 Though it’s a European
native, you can find it all over
California, along streams in
the wilderness, and in fields
and backyards.

Uses
The young, tender leaf tips
of nettle are the best to use,
though you could also col-
lect just the leaves later in
the season (the stems get too
tough). These tender tops can
be steamed and boiled, which
removes the stingy-ness of net-
tles. They are tasty as a spinach
dish, alone or served with but-
ter, cheese, or other topping.
Also try the water from the
boiling—it’s delicious!
We’ve also made tasty
stews and soups, which we
began by boiling the nettle
tops. Then we quickly added
diced potatoes, some red Nettle leaves
onions, and other greens.
Often miso powder was added, or not. Cook until tender and serve, or add
Braggs Liquid Amino Acid for some great flavor and nutrition.
This is a vitamin-rich plant, so you’ll be getting your medicine when you
eat it.

Cautions
As you will probably learn from personal experience, you get “stung” when you
brush up against nettle. This is due to the formic acid within each “needle” or
“bristle” that causes a skin irritation. So be careful when you gather nettle greens
and wear gloves or other protection. And if you do get the nettle rash, you can
treat it with fresh aloe vera gel, or with the freshly crushed leaves of other plants
such as chickweed or curly dock.

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 Grape Family (Vitaceae)
The Grape family has about 15 genera and about 800 species worldwide. In Cali-
fornia, it is represented by only 2 genera, Parthenocissus (the Virginia creeper)
and Vitis (grapes).

Wild grape vines. Helen W. Nyerges

Wild Grape
Vitis spp.

Use: Fruits eaten raw or cooked; leaves used in Middle Eastern cooking
Range: Prefers riparian areas and moist shady canyons
Similarity to toxic species: Wild cucumber (Marah spp.) could be confused for wild grapes
when young. However, once they begin to fruit, wild cucumber fruits (which are large and
oval-shaped, about 4" long) bear no resemblance to grapes.
Best time: The fruits mature in the summer; leaves are best collected in spring.
Status: Widespread
Tools needed: None, but clippers can be useful.

Properties
Though there are 65 known species of Vitis, it is only represented in Califor-
nia by 3 species, one of which (V. vinifera) is the introduced cultivated grape.

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 The other 2 are the California wild
grape (V. californica) and the desert
wild grape (V. girdiana).
Anyone who has ever grown
grapes, or visited a vineyard, can
automatically recognize our 2 wild
grapes. Typically growing along
streams or in moist canyons, these
are sprawling vining plants that
often cover entire hillsides and what-
ever vegetation is growing there.
You can usually see peeling
bark on the woody stems and ten-
drils opposite each leaf. The bottom
of the young leaf is tomentose (cov-
ered with fine hairs), less so as the
leaf matures. The fruit clusters tend Flowering wild grape

to be more sparse than cultivated

grapes, and sometimes (depend-
ing on the location and the season)
there is a lot of leaf and vine and
very little fruit.

Uses
I first learned about our native
grape when reading the accounts
of the first Spanish explorers to
come into Southern California’s
Indian territory. They wrote that
the natives were eating acorns,
wild grasses, and wild grapes. The
more I observed, the more I real-
ized that our wild grape was very
widespread.
My first use of this plant was
when my friend Talal was getting
married. He’s from Lebanon, and
he wanted to make some Middle
Eastern grape leaves for the wed-
ding reception. We went up into Wild grape with green fruit
the local mountains and collected

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 many of the youngest wild grape
leaves. We then boiled them to
soften, added a tablespoon of
cooked rice on each leaf, and then
rolled it. We put about two dozen
of these in a pan and cooked them
further. They were delicious!
But mostly people think of
the fruit when thinking of grapes.
Commercial grapevines are far bet-
ter producers of the fruit because
they prune the vines back so they
get more sun, and they fertilize
them. Wild grapes produce end-
lessly long vines, and often just a
few fruits per cluster. In a dry year,
you may not find any grapes at all.
But if you do and your timing is
right, you can create some won-
derful dishes from the wild grapes.
On a few occasions, I’ve had wild Wild grape vines sprawling over hillside
grapes that could be eaten out of
hand like table grapes, but that is
the exception. Generally, wild grapes are very tart and must be cooked. Once
cooked, however, you can make some delicious juices, jams, jellies, and sauces,
or even just dry them for wild raisins.
Sometimes the desert Indians made a cooked mush from grapes.
Grape leaves have sometimes been made into a poultice for wounds.
The vines can also be used for weaving baskets and for other uses where the
fiber will not be under tension.

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 Monocots
These plants have one cotyledon. Leaf veins are generally parallel from the base
or midrib, and flower parts are generally in threes.

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 Century Plant Family (Agavaceae)
There are 23 genera and 637 species worldwide in this family. Eight of those
genera are found in California.

Christopher next to flowering yucca. Rick Adams

Yucca
Hesperoyucca whipplei ( formerly Yucca whipplei )

Use: Immature flower stalk, flowers, fruits, and seeds can be used for food; the leaves are an
excellent fiber and soap source.
Range: This yucca is found mostly in the desert and chaparral regions of the southern part
of the state.
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: The food sources are available from mid-spring to about midsummer; leaves can
be gathered at any time.
Status: Relatively common
Tools needed: Clippers (I always use Florian ratchet clippers) for the leaf; sharp knife for
other parts

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 Forager note: The leaves (used green, or dried, but moistened
before using) are excellent for making twine, braids, sandals, hats, nets,
net bags, or any item requiring twine or rope. The green leaves, when
shredded and agitated with water, produce a quality soap for washing
skin, clothing, dogs, etc.

Properties
Though there are 3 species of Hesperoyucca, there is only H. whipplei in Califor-
nia. This very common yucca had formerly been classified as part of the Yucca
genus, which includes banana yucca (Y. baccata), Joshua tree (Y. brevifolia),
and Mojave yucca (Y. schidigera).
Yuccas are a somewhat ubiquitous plant in many locales, including the
deserts, the chaparral, and the lower elevations of the mountains. The leaves
are long, lance shaped, and very fibrous with a sharp tip. Some varieties have
sharp edges.
The white to cream-colored flowers are produced when the plant is in its
final season.
Yucca looks like a giant pin-
cushion of leaves that are up to 2'
long and 1"–2" wide.
The plants will grow for 20
years or more, then flower one
spring, and die that season. The
beginning of the flower stalk
appears like a huge asparagus,
somewhat red in color. As this
flower stalk grows taller in April
or May, it begins to flower with
its clusters of creamy-white flow-
ers. There are 6 perianth segments
(sepals and petals) of the flow-
ers. By summer, the green fruits
develop. The fruits are capsules
that have a few chambers. When
the fruits mature, the flat black
seeds will develop in these cham-
bers, stacked like sliced bread. Yucca plant in the forest

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 RECIPE
Pickled Yucca Shoots

I’ve pickled Hesperoyucca whipplei shoots for several years now, and they’ve even been
served in some of the top restaurants in Los Angeles. The recipe is very simple.
For this recipe, we use 1⁄2-pint jars.
Peel and slice the fresh yucca shoot into small 1⁄2” squares. Fill up the jar with as
many squares as you can, and in each jar place the following:

1 garlic clove
1
⁄4 California bay leaf (or 1⁄3 regular bay leaf )

1 small- to medium-size spicy dehydrated chile (just because I like some heat)

1 teaspoon grated ginger or a nice chunk of ginger (around 1⁄2” cube)

Make a pickling solution of 2 cups raw apple cider vinegar and 2 cups white wine (or
water), 1⁄2 cup sugar, and 2 teaspoons sea salt. Depending on how many jars you’re
making, you may need to make more. Bring the solution to a boil and pour it into the
jars, covering the yucca.
Close the lids and place the jars in the fridge. Wait 2–3 weeks before consuming.
If you know how to can and want to preserve them outside the fridge (shelf sta-
ble), use the water-bath method and boil for 15 minutes.
—recipe from Pascal Baudar

Uses
Though yucca was probably one of the most important fiber plants of the South-
ern California Indians, let’s first look at the food uses.
In the spring, when you find a yucca plant that is beginning its flowering
death dance, it will begin by sending up its asparagus-like immature stalk that
can be cut, peeled, and eaten raw, though it’s better boiled, or sautéed, or cooked
into a mixed vegetable dish.
Next, assuming you didn’t cut down the stalk, the plant begins to flower
with these beautiful creamy-white flowers. The flowers have traditionally been
eaten in a number of ways, perhaps the most common is to first boil them (to
remove the soapiness), drain, add flour, form into patties, and then sauté. They
could also simply be boiled and seasoned.

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 The fruits that follow are also
good, and you need to get them
while they are still white inside.
They are probably best baked in
your oven or in the coals at the
edge of the campfire. They are
reminiscent of cooked squash.
Lastly, the flat black seeds
could be collected once the fruits
mature in mid- to late summer.
The seeds are best ground into a
flour and used with other flours to
produce various pastry products
like biscuits or pancakes.
In Mexico, the flowers of
some species of yucca are boiled,
then mixed with flour and spices,
and shaped into patties and
cooked. It’s like eating a vegetar- Yucca plant sending up its flower stalk.
ian burger. Helen W. Nyerges

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 Onion or Garlic Family (Alliaceae)
There are 13 genera and 750–800 species of the Onion family worldwide. Three
genera are found in California, with Allium being by far the largest.

Wild onion flower

Wild Onions et al.

Allium spp.

Use: Bulbs and greens eaten raw or cooked. However, I strongly advise readers to leave the
bulbs in the ground and only pick the greens for food.
Range: The habitat of the 52 species of wild onions found in California represents collec-
tively just about every type of environment.
Similarity to toxic species: Wild onions were once categorized in the Lily family because
these 2 groups are so similar, and the flowers of most are nearly identical. There are deadly
members of the Lily family, so never eat any member of this group unless you are absolutely
certain you have made positive identification.
Best time: The leaves and flowers are most noticeable in the spring and early summer.
Status: Though in certain areas you will not find wild onions, they can be common locally.
Tools needed: None

Properties
In California, 52 species (not including varieties) of Allium can be found. Most
are natives.

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 Wild onions go by many
names: ramps, wild garlic, leek, etc.
In general, wild onions look
like small green onions from the
market, though many are incon-
spicuous when not in flower.
There is a small underground
bulb, and the leaves are green and
hollow. The flower stalk tends
to be a bit more fibrous than
the leaves. There appear to be 6
petals of the same color; in fact,
there are 3 sepals underneath
the 3 identical petals, giving the
appearance of a 6-petaled flower.
The expedient field key to identi-
fying a wild onion is the unmis-
takable aroma. If you don’t have
that aroma, you shouldn’t use the
plant because similar-appearing
members of the Lily family could
be toxic or poisonous.
Wild onions actually can be
Wild onion plant in flower. Helen W. Nyerges
found all over the United States
in a broad diversity of ecotypes.
Here in California, we find a lot in the desert regions and in higher-elevation
meadows and fields. We notice them mostly when they flower, because other-
wise they appear very much like grass.

Uses
When you find wild onions, you’ll be tempted to pull up the plant so you can
eat the bulb. That’s what you do in your own garden, but that’s not the only
way you can use these. Generally, I only pick the green leaves for consumption.
If there are a lot of the wild onions, I might take some of the bulbs to eat, break
up the cluster, and replant some. The reason that I generally only eat the greens
is that I’ve seen some patches of wild onions disappear entirely due to foragers
uprooting the whole plant.
I used to hike with a man who always uprooted the wild onions to eat in
his sandwiches and other dishes. One time, as we walked by what had been
his favorite patch, he noted aloud that there were not many wild onions there
anymore. Guess what? He picked them! Two years later, he noted with dismay

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 that there were no more wild onions
at the particular spot by the river
where we hiked. “Don’t you know
why?” I asked him. “You picked
them all! You picked the roots. How
did you expect them to perpetuate?”
So, while the wild onion bulbs
can be used in any of the myriad
ways in which you’re used to eating
garlic, onions, chives, leeks, etc.,
you’ll still get most of the flavor and
most of the nutritional benefits by
eating only the leaves.
I pinch off a few leaves here, a
few there, and I add them to salads.
Diced, they’re great in soups, stews,
egg dishes, and stir-fries. And, if
you ever have to live off MREs,
you’d spice them up and add to
their nutritional value by adding
any of the wild onion greens.
All tender parts of wild onions
are edible, above- and below
ground. Generally, the older flower
Wild onion showing roots. Rick Adams
stalks become fibrous and unpal-
atable. Otherwise, the bulbs and
leaves are all used raw or cooked. Simply remove any outer fibrous layers of the
plant, rinse, and then use in any of the ways you’d use green onions or chives.
Wild onions can be added to salads, used as the base for a soup, cooked
alone like spinach, chopped and mixed into eggs, cooked as a side to fish, and
used to enhance countless other recipes. Wild onions share many of the health-
ful benefits of garlic and improve any urban or wilderness meal. Backpackers
who are relying on dried trail rations will certainly enjoy the sustenance of the
wild onions.
Many American Indians heavily relied on wild onions and regarded them
as staples, not just condiments.
There are excellent health benefits associated with eating any members of
this groups. Some of these benefits include lowering of cholesterol levels, flu
prevention, and reduction of high blood pressure. Used externally, the crushed
green leaves can be applied directly to wounds to prevent infection.

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 Cautions
Never forget that many members of the Lily family with bulbs are deadly
poisonous if eaten. Wild onions used to be classified within the Lily family
because their characteristics are so similar. So make absolutely certain that you
have correctly identified any wild onions that you intend to eat. You should
check the floral characteristics to be certain that there are 3 sepals and 3 petals.
Then make sure you detect an obvious onion aroma; if there is none, do not
eat the plant. Though there are a few true onions that lack the onion aroma, it
is imperative that you have absolutely identified those nonaromatic species as
safe before you prepare them in your lunch.

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 Palm Family (Arecaceae)
Worldwide there are about 200 genera, and about 3,000 species. These are very
conspicuous trees throughout California, widely planted as a street and park tree.
Typically there is the large trunk, which could be fat or somewhat skinny, and
can rise about 65' (in the case of our only native, the California fan palm) or as
tall as a 5-story building (in the case of the Canary Island date palm, which is
not native but has widely naturalized in our state). There is typically the trunk
with the fronds arising from the crown. The fronds are either palmately or pin-
nately lobed. The palmate leaves are formed on a stem; these are the fan palms.
The leaves can also form as pinnately lobed leaves, or feather fronds. The fruits
are usually drupes and are generally called dates. There is the common date palm
with the sweet fruits and 2-lobed seed, and there are also the little black round-
to-ovate fruits from the native palm.
California has 2 genera of the Palm family.

Cluster of immature palm fruits (dates)

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 California Fan Palm
Washingtonia filifera

Use: Fruits are edible fresh or dried. Dried fruit (minus the seed) is used in many dishes.
Leaves are used in many utilities, such as fire making, shelter, etc.
Range: California fan palm is restricted in the wild to the low desert, but cultivated palms
are found everywhere.
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Fruits in the summer
Status: Scattered, common locally
Tools needed: Usually you pick the fruit off the ground. If you can’t wait, you’ll need a ladder.

Properties
There are only 2 species of Washingtonia, and W. filifera is the native species. The
other is the Mexican fan palm (W. robusta), native to Baja California.
Though not widespread, the California fan palm is very common in cer-
tain locales, such as Palm Springs. The main trunk arises 60'–65', and the
dried fronds are often seen hanging down the stalk. The leaves are like fans,
with the outstretched leaflets arising from a common stem. The fruits are
small and black.

Native palms near Palm Springs. Note the dried fronds hanging down the stalk. Rick Adams

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 Native palms in Palm Canyon, Cahuilla territory near Palm Springs. Rick Adams

Uses
The little fruits can be collected and eaten as is, spitting out the seed. The local
Indians ground the fruits, sometimes seed and all, into a sweet flour that was
then used for a sweet gravy or a drink. The powder can be added to other foods
as a sweetener, just as you’d add white sugar in the modern diet.
Note: Because various parts of palms can be used in the same way, the
following comments can be applied somewhat generically to all of the palms
and don’t necessarily apply exclusively to the California fan palm.
When the tree is cut down, the inside heart can be cut out and eaten.
Yes, you will need saws and/or machetes to do this effectively. The white,
edible part is at the base of the leaves, in the very middle of the plant. If it is
not very tender, it won’t be good to eat. The hearts can be eaten raw, boiled,
or stir-fried, and they can be pickled as well. It’s a delicious food from the
palm tree.

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 Traditional shelter made from palm fronds. Rick Adams

The dried leaves of most palms have multiple craft uses. They are good
for making baskets, hats, sandals, and other woven goods. They can be used
as the thatching for homes as they were by the desert Indians in days gone by.
The stem of the fan palm is of the ideal balance between softness and
hardness for a hearth for making fire with the hand drill or bow drill.

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 Spiderwort Family (Commelinaceae)
This family contains about 40 genera and 630 species worldwide, mostly found
in the tropics, with some (commonly called “wandering Jews”) cultivated as
ornamentals.
In California, we have only 2 genera commonly found in the wild: Trad-
escantia and Commelina; only 1 species of each is represented. Though we are
presenting information about each plant individually, the plants are commonly
mistaken for one another because, when not in flower, they are very similar. And
because they are both used in the same fashion, the information in the Uses sec-
tion is the same for each. Both plants will grow readily from vegetative cuttings.

Wandering Jew
Tradescantia fluminensis

Use: Entire aboveground plant used raw or cooked

Range: Urban yards, riparian areas near urban areas, open fields with shade, etc.; can be
invasive

Wandering Jew

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 Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Can be harvested year-round
Status: Common in certain areas
Tools needed: None

Properties
This is a trailing ground-cover plant with succulent stems and leaves that are
alternately arranged on the stem. The parallel-veined leaves are forest-green, with
a sheath at the base of the leaf that clasps the stem and comes to a sharp point.
Sometimes they are streaked with lighter green stripes.
The little white 3-petaled flowers appear in clusters at the stem tips from
spring through fall.
This is native to Brazil and Argentina, where it is regarded as an agricultural
pest. It creates a quick ground cover in urban areas and generally takes care of
itself with no help from the homeowner. It has also been spotted sprawling
in mountain areas, typically where there was once a cabin where ornamentals
were planted.

Uses
Same as for Tropical Spiderwort (see next page).

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 Tropical spiderwort

Tropical Spiderwort
Commelina benghalensis

Use: Entire aboveground plant used raw or cooked

Range: Urban yards, riparian areas near urban areas, open fields with shade, etc.; can be
invasive
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Can be harvested year-round
Status: Common in certain areas
Tools needed: None

Properties
Tropical spiderwort is very similar to wandering Jew, though the leaf edges are
often wavy or wrinkly. The flower is blue, and though there are 3 parts, 2 are
larger and showy.

Uses
Because this plant is so common, I was happy to learn that I could use it in vari-
ous dishes. My first awareness of its use as food came from a Filipino friend who
told me that he ate it in a stew back home. Cooked alone (like spinach), spider-
wort leaves and tender stems are bland, but otherwise they make a good cooked

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 Tropical spiderwort in flower

green. I have added the leaves in moderate amounts to stews, soups, mixed sau-
téed dishes, and egg dishes. Because the leaves are not strongly flavored, they go
well with most dishes. Blending it with other more strongly flavored wild leaves
makes a tastier dish.
The tender parts of this plant can also be added to most cooked dishes,
such as stews and soups. Make a broth (miso, chicken broth, whatever) and add
maybe a half cup of the leaves along with a half cup of other wild greens; a blend
is always better. You can also just cook up the greens, drain, and serve seasoned
with butter or cheese.
I have had salads that were primarily spiderwort (either one of the two
described), to which we added avocado and dressing. This makes a good salad,
but, again, you get a better salad by adding a variety of greens.
I have a wild food friend who likes to make many variations of kimchee.
One variation includes a lot of the green spiderwort leaves, stems, and flower
buds. The vinegar makes this a tasty treat. My friend has also used the purple
wandering Jew flowers and tender stems in his wild kimchee, and though he says
it’s OK, it’s not my favorite dish.
The only downside we’ve noted is that when consuming good portions of
these greens, loose bowels can result.
The tropical spiderwort is used medicinally in China and to feed animals in
Pakistan, Africa, and Southeast Asia. It is eaten by people in Pakistan and Nepal,
and regarded as “famine” food in India.

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 Rush Family (Juncaceae)
The Rush family has 7 genera and 440 species worldwide. In California, it is
represented by only 2 genera.

Leaves and seeds of rush

Rush
Juncus textilis et al.

Use: Tender white growth at base of shoots edible raw or cooked; seeds cooked in pastry
or porridge
Range: Riparian areas
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Spring for the shoots; fall for the seed
Status: Common locally
Tools needed: None

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 Properties
There are 315 species of Juncus worldwide. In California, there are 64 species
(not counting varieties), and all but 8 are native.
When seeing Juncus for the first time, many folks will think it’s a type of
grass, cattail, or perhaps reed. Yes, it has a grasslike appearance, but there are
some important differences that put this plant into a different family.
The leaves are long, grasslike, and hollow from top to bottom. There are vari-
ous lengths of Juncus, and J. textilis can be found in thick patches 5'–6' tall. The
leaves are round in the cross section. The flowers are inconspicuous bits of seed
on the end of long stems, tassel-like, and are formed near the top of each leaf,
generally off to one side.
Like many grasses and the cattails, these spread with an underground system
of rhizomes.
They are typically found in association with wet areas, such as a spring or river,
though they are not necessarily right in the water, such as you’d find with watercress.

Uses
Though this plant and its close relatives are thought of as great weaving and fiber
plants, there are at least 2 good food sources as well.
In the fall, there will be a small tassel of seeds on the top portion of the
rushes. If you’re there at the right time, you can put a bag under the tassel and
shake out the seed. These seeds are then used in the 2 ways in which most grains
can be used: mixed in with pastry products or as a cooked cereal.
In the spring you can gently pull up the long leaves and note that the bottom
of the plant is white and tender. There’s not a lot of food here, but it’s good, and
you can get a lot in a short period of time. You can eat them raw on the spot, or
save them to add to salads, stir-fries, or soups.
Harvesting the shoots seems to make the rush patches grow better, but you
still shouldn’t just pick these for the tender base and then discard the rest because
you really only get a nibble from each shoot. The upper part of the plant—the
long leaves—are great for making traditional baskets. So if you’re going to eat
some of the young bases, you should really collect the shoots and use them for
weaving, or give them to someone who makes baskets. Unless of course, you’re
lost and starving, which is a wholly different situation.

Forager note: Properly prepared, these leaves are ideal for many
of the traditional basketry done by California Indians. One of the best
how-to descriptions of this is found in Paul Campbell’s Survival Skills
of Native California.

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 Grass Family (Poaceae)
This was formerly called Gramineae. Worldwide, there are 650–900 genera with
about 10,550 species. There are so many species that the family is divided into
5 major categories. In California, there are 115 genera and hundreds of species.
The Grass family has the “greatest economic importance of any family,”
according to botanist Mary Barkworth, citing wheat, rice, maize, millet, sorghum,
sugarcane, forage crops, weeds, thatching, weaving, and building materials.

Indian rice grass in seed

Use: Leaves for food (sprouts, juiced, etc.); seeds for flour or meal
Range: Grasses are truly found everywhere.
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Somewhat varies depending on what grass we’re talking about, but generally
spring for the greens and summer to fall for seed.
Status: Very common
Tools needed: None

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 Properties
The large plant family Poaceae
(or Gramineae) is characterized
by mostly herbaceous but some-
times woody plants with hol-
low and jointed stems; narrow,
alternate sheathing leaves; petal-
less flowers borne in spikelets;
and fruit in the form of seedlike
grain. Ranging in size from little
annuals to giant bamboos, the
family includes bamboo; sugar­
cane; numerous grasses; and
cereal grains such as barley, corn,
oats, rice, rye, and wheat.
The flowering and seed struc-
tures are rather diverse, ranging
from the stickery seeds of the
foxtail grasses that get caught in
your socks to the open clusters of
sorghum, such seeds as rice and Wild oats in front of a sycamore tree
wheat, and the kernels of corn.
Indeed, whole books have been
written describing the diversity of this large family.

Uses
The edibility of the wild grasses, generically, can be summed up in 2 categories:
the young leaves and the seeds.
You may have had some of the leaf when you went to a health-food store
and ordered wheatgrass juice. That’s perhaps one of the best ways to eat various
grass leaves—juice them. You can purchase an electric or a hand-crank juicer.
I have juiced various wild-grass leaves and found the flavor to be quite diverse.
Some have the flavor of wheatgrass juice and are good added to drinks or to soup
broth. Some are very different, almost like seaweed, and these are typically better
in soup. However you do it, get the grasses as young as possible. They are most
nutritious at this stage, and they are less fibrous. You will discover that grasses
contain a lot of fiber once you start to crank a hand juicer, watching the green
liquid gold come out one end and the strands of fiber come out the other end.
If you don’t have a juicer, you could eat the very young grass leaves in sal-
ads or soups, though you may find yourself chewing and chewing, and spitting
out fiber.

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 The seeds of all grasses are theoretically edible, though harvesting them is
very difficult—if not next to impossible—in some cases. Some grass seeds are
easy to collect by hand. They are then winnowed. Some are very easy to winnow
of the outer chaff; some are more problematic. I have taken some of the foxtail
grass seeds, put them in a small metal strainer, and passed them through a fire
to burn off the outer covering. Though I was left with a little seed, I found this
method less fruitful than simply locating other grasses with more readily harvest-
able seeds.
The seeds you gather for food should be mature and have no foreign growths
on them. Then you either grind them into flour for pastry products (bread, bis-
cuits, etc.), or you cook them into mush (like a cereal mush).
With thousands of species worldwide on every landmass, and large numbers
found in California, the grasses are a group that we should get to know bet-
ter. Not only are they arguably more important than trees in holding the earth
together—their combined root systems are vast—but they are a valuable food
source, assuming you are there at the right time to harvest the seed or leaf.

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 Cattail Family (Typhaceae)
The Cattail family contains 2 genera and about 32 species worldwide.

Mature brown cattail spike

Cattail
Typha spp.

Use: Food (inner rhizome, young white shoots, green female spike, yellow male pollen);
leaves excellent for fiber crafts where high tensile strength is not required
Range: Wetlands
Similarity to toxic species: None
Best time: Generally, the shoots and spikes are best collected in the spring. The rhizome
could be collected at any time.
Status: Common in wetlands
Tools needed: Clippers, possibly a trowel

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 Properties
The Typha genus contains about
15 species worldwide, with 3 of
those species in California. Each
of those 3 is considered native.
Everyone everywhere knows
cattail—think of it as that grassy
plant in the swamps that looks
like a hot dog on a stick. Always
growing in slow-moving waters
or the edges of streams, cattail
has long flat leaves that grow 6'
long and taller, arising from the
underground horizontal rhi-
zomes. When the plants flower in
spring, the flower spike is green
with yellowish pollen at the top.
As it matures, the green spike rip-
ens to a brown color, creating the
familiar fall decoration—the hot
dog on the stick.

Uses
Euell Gibbons, author of Stalk-
ing the Wild Asparagus and many Green cattail spike. Rick Adams
other wild food books, used to
refer to cattails as the “supermar-
ket of the swamps,” which is a good description of this versatile plant.
There are at least 4 good food sources from the cattail, which I’ll list in
order of my preference.
In the spring, the plant sends up its green shoots. If you get to them before
they stiffen and the flower spike has started, you can tug them up, and the
shoot breaks off from the rhizome. You then cut the lower foot or so and peel
off the green layers. The inner white layer is eaten raw or cooked. It looks like
a green onion, but the flavor is like cucumber.
The spike is the lower part of the flower spike, technically the female part
of the flower. You find the spike in spring when it’s entirely green and tender.
Though you could eat it raw, it’s far better boiled. Cook it, butter it, and eat
it like corn on the cob. Guess what? It even tastes like corn on the cob. You
could also scrape off the green edible portion from the woody core and add

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 David Martinez checks out the mature brown cattail spike.

to stews or stir-fries, or even shape into patties (with egg or flour added) and
cook like burgers.
The pollen is the fine yellow material that you can shake out of the flower
spikes. The flower spike is divided into 2 sections—the lower female part,
described above, and directly on top, the less-substantial male section, which
produces the fine yellow pollen. If you’re in the swamp at the right time, typi-
cally April or May, you can shake lots of pollen into a bag, strain it (to remove
twigs and bugs), and use it in any pastry product.
The rhizome is also a good starchy food. Pull out the long horizontal roots
from the mud, wash them, and then peel off the soft outer layer. You could just
chew on the inner part of the rhizome if you need the energy from the natural
sugar, or you could process it a bit. One method of processing involves mash-
ing or grinding up the inner rhizome and then putting it into a jar of water. As
the water settles, the pure starch will be on the bottom, and the fiber will be
floating on the top, so you can easily scoop it out and discard it. The starch is
then used in soups or in pastry and bread products.

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 Aside from cooking, the long green leaves have a lengthy history of being
made into various woven products that will not be used under tension, such
as baskets, sandals, hats, and even for the outer layers of the homes utilized by
many of the natives of old California.
And when that cattail spike matures to a chocolate-brown color, break
it open, and it all turns to an insulating fluff. Each tiny seed is actually con-
nected to a bit of fluff that aids in the transportation of that seed to greener
grass on the other side. You can use that fluff to stop the bleeding of a minor
wound, as an alternative to down when stuffing a sleeping bag or coat, and as
a fantastic fire starter!

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 Other Edibles

Do you have a favorite California wild food that isn’t listed here? Remember, it
was our intent to include those California plants that are the most widespread,
readily recognizable, and those that would make a significant contribution to
your meals. We also wanted to have plants that represented most of the biologi-
cal zones in our state. But as you continue your study of ethnobotany, you will
discover that there are many more wild plants that could be used for food. Some
are marginal, and some just aren’t that great.
I have eaten California ragweed, various species of Phacelia and Bidens, tele-
graph weed, and many others that I never found described in a wild food or eth-
nobotany book. Yes, they are edible, but after trying them, I realized why ancient
people never used them, or only used them when nothing else was available.
Yes, there are many wild animals and ocean life that could be used for food.
We have deliberately chosen to
stick to the plants.
Also, some of the other books
in this Foraging series have included
wild mushrooms. And yes, there
are a dozen or so common wild
mushrooms that could be used
for food. However, I am periodi-
cally reminded of the challenges of
mycology and mycophogy when I
read about someone—often a life-
long expert—who ate the wrong
mushroom and became very ill
or died.
For those of you who are seri-
ously interested in identifying and
eating wild mushrooms, I encour-
age you to enroll in a mycology
course at a local college or join a
local mushroom group. There are
many such groups nationwide,
and many such groups in the state
of California. (If you cannot find
one, contact me and I will try to
find one close to you.) You owe Yucca plant. helen w. nyerges

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 it to your longevity to take the time to learn about mushrooms directly from
someone who has already done so. You need to learn about the different types of
fungi, why they grow where, and when they grow. You need to see these mush-
rooms in the field, and see how they develop throughout their usually short
growing period. For a little more about the study of mycology, see page 224.
Perhaps the greatest problem with any book is that its author naturally wants
to show only the best photos of the subject. Of course! But not all the specimens
of a given type will look exactly like the photo in the book, nor does the book
have the space to show you all the variations from new growth to seeding plant.

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 Getting Started

Exploring the Fascinating World of Wild Plants

During the many field trips and classes that I have conducted since 1974, I have
often been asked how I got interested in the subject of edible wild plants.
Where I grew up in Pasadena, we were close to the San Gabriel Mountain
range and the Angeles National Forest to the north. Going to the mountains was
often an after-school or weekend recreation choice. During grammar school,
we went to the mountains just to hike and explore, and perhaps to run on the
trails. Eventually, my brother and various friends would go out on backpacking
trips, carrying heavy loads—the bulk of the weight was typically canned goods.
The most unpleasant aspect of those trips was carrying all that weight. But back
then, I was not aware of alternatives. Gradually, I learned that there was a lot
you didn’t need to bring, and I learned that you could carry dried goods from
the supermarket that cost a lot less than the freeze-dried food at the backpacking
shops. That helped a little bit.
One day, probably in 1969 or 1970, I was resting with a friend at a place
called Inspiration Point where there was a terrific view of the Los Angeles basin
to the south. Another hiker came by, and we got to talking about backpacking
things and about Native American skills. As we talked, the man told us that
he’d studied with some Indians in Northern California who’d taught him some
of the wild food plants that people ate in the “old days.” He said that most of
those plants are still with us. We looked around at our high-elevation locale, and
he pointed to the mustard plants and the pine trees as two examples of foods.
Though those examples didn’t seem all that appealing, something clicked inside
my mind. That’s it, I thought. I’d like to learn how to do that. I’d be able to
survive wilderness situations, and I could carry less weight in my pack. The man
was just there for a few minutes, and then he hiked on, but I thought about it all
day. Gradually I began buying books, checking out library books, taking botany
classes, going on field trips, and getting to know anyone who knew anything
about the usefulness of plants.
Another factor stimulated my interest. In the mid-1970s, there were many
businesses selling boxes of dehydrated food, wheat, and other necessities so
families could survive the “major famine that is sure to hit the United States
around 1978.” Well, the famine didn’t happen, but the fear factor stimulated
me to research agriculture and what we do to the land to raise food, how we
store and transport food, and all the hundreds of intricate steps that make up
what we call the “food distribution system.” Frankly, back then in my teens,
this eye-opening research shocked and frightened me, and I was convinced

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 that all I needed to do to personally survive was to learn about wild edible
plants.
Well, so much for my naïveté. Still, those were some of the early sparks that
got me interested in pursuing ethnobotany. But fear did not continue to fuel
the fire of my excitement. I had been generally interested in Native American
craftways since childhood, though it was always vague, faraway, untouchable.
Suddenly, when I began to identify, sample, and use these plants, the skills of
my ancestors came alive. Amazingly, I learned that I could create meals that
were probably identical to meals that people who lived in the Pasadena area
thousands of years earlier would have eaten. All the plants were still here,
though you had to find the pockets of wildness where the plants still thrived.
I took botany and taxonomy classes in high school and did a lot of inde-
pendent field work. I always knew and felt that the knowledge of plants was
key to outdoor survival skills and to unlocking the secrets of how people lived
in the past.
During the summer, I lived on my grandfather’s farm in rural Ohio. There
I spent most of my free time in the woods and fields learning how to identify
and use the plants of the eastern United States. It was a magical time, and I
learned much in those months of exploration and experimentation. I studied
not only plants but also the mushrooms. Still, I learned the long, slow way,
studying plant by plant, often using books with only an occasional teacher in
the flesh.
In January of 1974, I moved back to California and began to lead wild-
food outings that were organized by WTI (White Tower Inc.), a nonprofit
organization focused entirely on education in all aspects of survival. I led
half-day walks where we’d go into a small area, identify and collect plants,
and make a salad and maybe soup and tea on the spot. I became an active
member of the Los Angeles Mycological Association and made rapid progress
in learning about how to identify and use mushrooms. And I continued to
take specialized classes and field trips in botany, biology, taxonomy, and eth-
nobotany. I spent many hours in the classroom of Dr. Leonid Enari, who was
the chief botanist at the Los Angeles County Arboretum in Arcadia. He was a
walking encyclopedia, and he also took the time to mentor me, to answer all
my plant questions, and to help me with sections of my first wild-food book.
Though I have spent long hours studying books, my quick and primary
source of learning has always been direct field experience with an expert,
such as Dr. Enari and others. I have been humbled many times, thinking that
I knew “a lot” only to go to a nearby field or mountainside filled with flora
that appeared totally unfamiliar to me. Gradually, little by little, I came to
know the plants of the fields, the chaparral, the mountains, the ocean areas,
and the deserts.

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 In time, the more I researched the uses of plants, it was obvious that peoples
in the past were concerned about much more than eating, and plants played a
key role in just about every skill or art in the old days. Certain plants provided
materials for fire making, for soap, for fiber and weaving materials, for shelter,
for stunning fish, for clothing, for medicine. Gradually, as my interest in one of
these areas became stimulated, I would spend as much time as I could practicing
the new skill. My goal has always been to enhance my understanding of how
people did things in the past, but in the context of enhancing the quality of my
life in today’s living circumstances.
Now there are many more learning avenues than were available for me
then, such as the Internet. Most of what I learned, I learned the hard way, in
spite of the fact that I had many teachers along the way. So, when I teach, I
attempt to provide a way that my students can save time and can learn more
rapidly. In short, I try to provide an ideal learning environment that I wished
I’d had.
So let’s review some of those learning details. First, order of priorities. Never
forget that when we are speaking of “survival skills,” the knowledge of food plants
is arguably the least important while being one of the hardest to master. It is the
least important because we can get by for a long time without food, and anyone
should know that you can eat just about any animal—but you can’t randomly
eat any plant. It is the hardest to master simply because there are so many plants
from place to place. Lots of memorization is involved. So what’s the best way for
a beginner to make progress with plants?

• Don’t worry about trying to know everything at once. That idea just
clutters up your mind. Find a skilled naturalist or botanist to go on
a walk with you in your own backyard or neighborhood, somewhere
close to where you live. Take lots of notes and photos for your review,
but get out into the field with a knowledgeable person.
• Regularly review the plants you saw in your neighborhood walk.
Observe their changes throughout the seasons so you know what they
look like as a sprout, as an adolescent, as a mature and flowering plant,
in fruit, and when dead. This is the sort of awareness that you cannot
get from a book; it can only be gained by experience. And don’t worry
about all those seemingly exciting plants that you heard about from
the rain forest or from China: Learn about what you see every day.
Even 20 miles away is too far. Get to know the plants in your own
backyard, in your own neighborhood. Get to know them like friends.
Ask questions regularly of whomever is teaching you. Begin to use
one plant at a time in your meals—one plant that you absolutely,
unequivocally know is an edible wild plant. You don’t need to make

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 entire meals from wild plants. Just begin by introducing one wild plant
into your normal meals. You might use the plant in a salad, in a soup,
in a vegetable dish, in a stew. Get to know it. Then, repeat this with
another plant. Yes, at first, you’ll just be learning to recognize one plant
at a time and getting to know it intimately, until you can spot it while
driving by in a car.
• Believe it or not, most of what are called “common weeds” are edible
and today are found worldwide. Thus, some of the likely plants you’ll
be tasting in the beginning will be plants such as lamb’s quarter,
sow thistle, purslane, curly dock, dandelion, chicory, cactus, acorns,
watercress, cattails, onions, wild grasses, mustards, and so on.
• It is to your advantage to completely disregard any of the rules of
thumb you’ve ever been taught about plant identification—you know,
the shortcuts for determining whether or not a plant is edible: If a
plant has a milky sap, it is not edible. If a plant causes an irritation
in the mouth when you eat a little, it is not safe to eat. If the animals
eat the plants or berries, they are safe to eat. If the berries are white,
they are poisonous. If the berries are black or blue, they are safe to eat.
And on and on. Disregard all these shortcuts because—although often
based in some fact—they all have exceptions. There are no shortcuts to
what is necessary: You must study, and you will need field experience.
• If there is any sort of shortcut to the study of plants, it is to learn to
recognize plant families, and learn to know which families are entirely
safe for consumption. Beyond that, you must learn plants one by one
for absolute safety.
• I strongly suggest that you take at least a college course in botany
(preferably, taxonomy) so you get to know how botanists designate
plant families. This will enable you to look at my list of safe families,
and then, by using the books written by botanists of the flora of your
area, you can check to see which plants in your area belong to any
of the completely safe families. After a while, this will come easy.
Eventually, you’ll look at a plant, examine it, and you’ll know what
family it likely belongs to.
• Again, there is no magical key that will make all of this effortless.
Learn plants one by one, then begin to learn the edible families, one by
one. Get a botanical flora book written for your area and study it. In
California, that book is The Jepson Manual: Vascular Plants of California
(2012).
• Do your own field work, ideally with someone who already knows
the plants. Gradually—and eventually—you will be using more and
more wild plants for food and medicine, and perhaps for soap, fiber,

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 and fire, too. There will be no such thing as a “weed.” You will cringe
whenever you see the television commercials in the spring for such
noxious products as Roundup that promise to kill every dandelion on
your property.

When you discover that we have ruined the planet Earth in the name of
“modern agriculture” that produces inferior food, you will understand the mean-
ing of Pogo’s comment, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

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 Test Your Knowledge of Plants

Here is a simple test that I use in my classes. Take the test for plants and mush-
rooms and see how you do.
1. ❒ True. ❒ False. Berries that glisten are poisonous.
2. ❒ True. ❒ False. White berries are all poisonous.
3. ❒ True. ❒ False. All blue and black berries are edible.
4. ❒ True. ❒ False. If uncertain about the edibility of berries, watch to see if
the animals eat them. If the animals eat the berries, the berries are good for
human consumption.
5. Would you follow this advice? State yes or no, and give reason.
According to Food in the Wilderness authors George Martin and Robert
Scott, “If you do not recognize a food as edible, chew a mouthful and keep
it in the mouth. If it is very sharp, bitter, or distasteful, do not swallow it. If
it tastes good, swallow only a little of the juice. Wait for about eight hours.
If you have suffered no nausea, stomach or intestinal pains, repeat the same
experiment swallowing a little more of the juice. Again, wait for eight hours.
If there are no harmful results, it probably is safe for you to eat. (This test
does not apply to mushrooms.)”

6. ❒ True. ❒ False. “A great number of wilderness plants are edible but gener-
ally they have very little food value.” (Martin and Scott, ibid.)
7. ❒ True. ❒ False. Bitter plants are poisonous.
8. ❒ True. ❒ False. Plants that exude a milky sap when cut are all poisonous.
9. ❒ True. ❒ False. Plants that cause stinging or irritation on the skin are all
unsafe for consumption.

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 10. The illustration to the right is the typical
flower formation for all members of the
Mustard family. Write out the formula:
petal(s); sepal(s);
stamen(s); pistil(s).

11. What is the value of being able to identify the Mustard family?

12. ❒ True. ❒ False. Mustard (used on hot dogs) is made by grinding up the
yellow flowers of the mustard plant.
13. ❒ True. ❒ False. Yucca, century plant, and prickly pears are all members of
the Cactus family.
14. ❒ True. ❒ False. There are no poisonous cacti.
15. ❒ True. ❒ False. Plants that resemble parsley, carrots, and fennel are all in
the Parsley or Carrot family and thus are all safe to eat.
16. ❒ True. ❒ False. Only seventeen species of acorns are edible; the rest are
toxic.
17. To consume acorns, the tannic acid must first be removed. Why?

18. If you are eating no meat or dairy products (during a survival situation, for
example), how is it possible to get complete protein from plants alone?
19. ❒ True. ❒ False. There are no toxic grasses.
20. ❒ True. ❒ False. Seaweeds are unsafe survival foods.
21. ❒ True. ❒ False. All plants that have the appearance of a green onion and
have the typical onion aroma can be safely eaten.
22. List all of the plant families (or groups) from this quiz that we’ve identified
as entirely or primarily nontoxic:

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 ANSWERS
1. False. Insufficient data.
2. False. Though mostly true, there are exceptions such as white strawberry,
white mulberry, and others. Don’t eat any berry unless you know its identity
and you know it to be edible.
3. False. Mostly true, but there are some exceptions. Don’t eat any berry unless
you’ve identified it as an edible berry.
4. False, for several reasons. Certain animals are able to consume plants that
would cause sickness or death in a human. Also, animals do occasionally die
from eating poisonous plants—especially during times of drought. Also, just
because you watched the animal eat a plant doesn’t mean the animal didn’t
get sick later!
5. Very bad advice, even though this has been repeated endlessly in “survival
manuals” and magazine articles. Because food is rarely your top “survival
priority,” this is potentially dangerous advice.
6. False. To verify that this is untrue, look at Composition of Foods, which is
published by the US Department of Agriculture. In many cases, wild foods
are far more nutritious than common domesticated foods.
7. False. Insufficient data. Many bitter plants are rendered edible and palatable
simply by cooking or boiling.
8. False. Though you can’t eat any of the euphorbias, many others (like dan-
delion, lettuce, milkweed, sow thistle) exude a milky sap. Forget about such
“shortcuts.” Get to know the individual plants.
9. False. Many edible plants have stickers or thorns that must first be removed,
or cooked away, such as nettles and cacti.
10. Mustard flowers are composed of 4 sepals (one under each petal); 4 petals
(the colorful part of the flower); 1 pistil (in the very center of flower, the
female part of the flower); and 6 stamens (which surround the pistil), 4 are
tall, and 2 are short.
11. There are no poisonous members of the Mustard family.
12. False. The mustard condiment is made by grinding the seeds. Yellow is typi-
cally from food coloring.
13. False. Only the prickly pear is a cactus.
14. True, but you must know what is, and is not, a cactus. There are some very
bitter narcotic cacti that you would not eat due to unpalatability. Also, some
euphorbias closely resemble cacti and will cause sickness if eaten. Euphorbias

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 exude a milky sap when cut; cacti do not. Any fleshy, palatable part of true
cacti can be eaten.
15. False. The Carrot family contains both good foods and deadly poisons.
Never eat any wild plant resembling parsley unless you have identified that
specific plant as an edible species.
16. False. All acorns can be consumed once the tannic acid is removed.
17 Tannic acid is bitter.
18. Combine the seeds from grasses with the seeds from legumes. This generally
produces a complete protein. For more details, see Diet for a Small Planet by
Frances Moore Lappé.
Traditional Diets That Combine Legumes and Grass Seeds to Make a Complete Protein
Loosely based upon “Summary of Complementary Protein Relationships,” Chart X in Diet for a Small
Planet by Lappé
  Legumes Grasses
Asian diet Soy (miso, tofu, etc.) Rice
Mexican diet Beans (black beans, etc.) Corn (tortillas)
Middle East diet Garbanzos Wheat
Southern United States Black eyed peas Grits
Starving student Peanut butter Wheat bread

Others to consider Mesquite, palo verde, peas, Millet, rye, oats, various wild
carob, etc. grasses, etc.

19. True, however, be certain that the seeds are mature and have no mold-like
growth on them.
20. False. Seaweeds are excellent. Make certain they’ve not been rotting on the
beach, and don’t collect near any sewage treatment facilities.
21. True. But be sure you have an onion!
22. All members of the Mustard family, all palatable cacti, all acorns, all cattails,
grasses, seaweeds, onions. There are many other “safe” families, but you will
need to do a bit of botanical study to identify those families. Begin by reading
the descriptions of each family in this book. Also consider reading Botany in a
Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification by Tom Elpel.

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 The Study of Mycology
Some of the books in the Foraging series have chosen to include a few common
mushrooms in the mix of wild plants that you can bring into your kitchen. After
much thought, I have chosen not to. While there are many readily recognized
edible fungi, there are also many, many fungi that are not well known with
regards to edibility. Some, of course, are deadly.
If you want to begin using wild mushrooms for food, I am of the opinion
that you should plan on spending as much time as you devote to at least a four-
unit college course for at least two semesters, preferably more.
There are many reasons for this. For the most part, you cannot go back day
after day to the same mushroom to study it in detail, and watch its growth cycle.
Mushrooms come suddenly and decompose just as rapidly. They are not like the
oak tree that will be there every day.
Not all mushrooms have been identified, and even less is known about the
edibility of most species. And in their attempt to further clarify the relationships
of mushrooms, mycologists occasionally rename a mushroom. The changes in
Latin names causes initial confusion to wild-food foragers.
And though I regularly eat about two dozen wild mushrooms, I am always
humbled by the occasional newspaper article describing how a lifelong mycolo-
gist ate the wrong mushroom and died!
There are many books and videos today that are exclusively devoted to giving
you an understanding of how mushrooms grow, their classification, and how to
accurately identify those that are edible. Even better than books and videos are
classes and clubs where you go into the field and see the mushrooms for yourself.

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 The Dozen Easiest-to-Recognize, Most
Widespread, Most Versatile Wild
Foods of California
In the mid-1970s, I began to investigate the edibility of whole plant families
and found that there were quite a few entire families that are safe to eat, given a
few considerations in each case. Some of these families are difficult to recognize
unless you are a trained botanist. Still, in this book I have described many of
the entirely safe families. My original research on this was done with Dr. Leonid
Enari, who was one of my teachers and the chief botanist at the Los Angeles
County Arboretum in Arcadia, California.
The chart below was the idea of my friend Jay Watkins, who long urged me to
produce a simple handout on the dozen most-common edible plants that every-
one should know. Granted, there
are many more than a dozen, but
as Jay and I discussed this idea, I
decided to focus on twelve plants
that could be found not just any-
where in the United States but
in most locales throughout the
world. The result is largely self-
explanatory. This chart assumes
that you already know these plants
because its purpose is not identi-
fication. Anyone who has studied
wild foods for a few years is prob-
ably already familiar with all these
plants. However, not everyone is
aware that these plants are found
worldwide.
This overview should help
both beginners as well as special-
ists. It is a simple comparative
chart that could be expanded to
many, many pages, but I’ve delib-
erately kept it short and simple. Cattail

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 Description Parts used Food uses Preparation Benefits Where found When found

Foraging_CA_3pp.indd 226
Acorns Fruit of the oak Acorns (nuts) Flour, pickles, Leach out tannic Similar to Mountains, Fall
tree mush acid first, then potatoes valleys
grind
Cacti Succulent desert 1. Tender parts; 1. Salad; cooked 1. Carefully Pads said to Dry desertlike Young green pads
plants of various 2. fruit vegetable; remove spines; be good for environments; in spring and
shapes omelette; 2. dice or slice as diabetics; fruits Mediterranean summer; fruit in
2. dessert; drinks needed rich in sugar zones summer and fall
Cattail Reedlike plants; 1. Pollen; 1. Flour; 1. Shake out Widespread, Wet areas, e.g., Spring through fall
fruit looks like hot 2. green flower 2. cooked pollen; versatile roadside ditches,
dog on a stick spike; vegetable; 2. boil; marshes
3. tender shoots; 3. salad; 3. remove outer
4. rhizome 4. flour green fibrous
parts;
4. remove outer
parts and crush
Chickweed Weak-stemmed, Entire tender plant Salad or tea Rinse and add Good diuretic Common and Spring and
opposite leaves, dressing; or make widespread summer
5-petaled flower infusion when moisture is
present
Curly Dock Long leaves with 1. Leaves; 1. Salad; cooked 1. Clean; Richer in vitamin Common in fields Spring through fall
wavy margins 2. stems; vegetable; 2. use like C than oranges and near water
3. seeds 2. pie; rhubarb;
3. flour 3. winnow seeds
Dandelion Low plant, 1. Roots; 1. Cooked 1. Clean and cook; Richest source Common in lawns Best harvested in
toothed leaves, 2. leaves vegetable; coffee- or dry, roast, grind of beta carotene; and fields spring
conspicuous like beverage; 2. clean and make very high in
yellow flower 2. salad or cooked desired dish vitamin A
vegetable

4/4/14 11:31 AM
 Grasses Many widespread 1. Seeds; 1. Flour and mush; 1. Harvest and 1. Easy to store; Common in all 1. Fall;
varieties 2. leaves 2. salad; juiced; winnow; 2. rich in many environments 2. spring

Foraging_CA_3pp.indd 227
cooked vegetable 2. harvest, clean, nutrients
and chop
Lamb’s Quarter Triangular leaves 1. Leaves and 1. Salad; soup; 1. Harvest; clean; Rich in vitamin A Likes disturbed, Spring through fall
with toothed tender stems; omelettes; 2. winnow and calcium rich soils
margins, mealy 2. seeds 2. bread; mush
surface
Mustard Variable leaves Leaves, seeds, Salads; cooked Gather, clean, and Said to help Common in Spring through fall
with large some roots dishes; seasoning cut as needed prevent cancer fields and many
terminal lobes; environments
4-petaled flowers
Onions Grasslike Leaves, bulbs Seasoning; salad; Clean, remove Good for reducing Some varieties Spring is best
appearance; soup; vegetable tough outer high blood found in all
flowers with dishes leaves pressure and high environments
3 petals and 3 cholesterol levels
sepals
Purslane Low-growing All tender portions Salad; sautéed; Rinse off any soil Richest known Common in Summer
succulent, paddle- pickled; soup; plant source of parks, gardens,
shaped leaves vegetable dishes omega-3 fatty disturbed soils
acids
Seaweeds Marine algae of Entire plant Depends on Use dried, raw, Excellent source Oceans Year-round
many shapes and seaweed: salad, or cooked, of iodine; great
colors soup, stew, broth depending on salt substitute
species
Latin Names: Acorns = Quercus spp.; Cacti = Cactacea (Cactus family); Cattail = Typha spp.; Chickweed = Stellaria media; Curly Dock = Rumex crispus; Dandelion =
Taraxacum officinale; Grasses = Poaceae (Grass family); Lamb’s quarter = Chenopodium album; Mustard (Mustard family Brassicaceae) = Brassica spp.; Onions =
Allium spp.; Purslane = Portulaca oleracea; Seaweeds = brown, red, and marine green algae (Phaeophyta, Rhodophyta, Chlorophyta).

4/4/14 11:31 AM
 Staff of Life:
Best Wild-Food Bread Sources

The baking of bread goes back to the most ancient cultures on the earth, back
when humankind discovered that you could grind up the seeds of grasses, add
a few other ingredients, let it rise, and bake it. There are countless variations,
of course, but bread was once so nutritious that it was called the “staff of life.”
Most likely the discovery of bread predated agriculture, because the earth
was full of wild grasses and a broad assortment of roots and seeds that could
be baked into nutritious loaves. Most grains store well for a long time, which
allowed people the time to pursue culture, inner growth, and technology. The
development of civilizations and the development of agriculture go hand in
hand, and bread was right there from the beginning.
Today, we are at another extreme of a very long road of human develop-
ment. We started with the struggle for survival, and with the surplus of the
land allowing us the time to develop more fully in all aspects. That good bread
from the earth was heavy, rich, extremely nutritious. It was a vitamin and
mineral tablet.
We produced so much grain that the United States called itself “the
breadbasket of the world.” And this massive volume resulted in losses from
insects in the fields and also due to spoilage. Then came the so-called Green
Revolution where chemical fertilizers replaced time-honored fertilizers such
as animal manures, straw and hay, compost, bonemeal, and other such natu-
ral substances that the modern farmer was too busy and too modern to use.
Crops increased while the nutritional values dropped. And though this is a
gross oversimplification, bread from the supermarket is no longer the staff
of life. The mineral content of the once-rich soils of the United States has
steadily declined. Producers process and refine “white flour” and then add
certain minerals back in to the flour itself. We sacrificed quality as we thought
it would bring us security, and we knew it would bring big bucks. Now the
great irony is that we lost the quality of the food, of the soil, and ultimately
we are no more secure than ever before. Why? Because a soil rich in natural
organic matter can withstand floods and droughts and the ravages of insects.
It is the folly of man that causes the droughts and plagues of modern times.
There is much—very much—that we need to learn about modern agri-
culture or “agribiz” as it is more appropriately called. We should not put our
heads into the sand, ostrichlike, and pretend the problem does not exist.

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 Personal solutions are many. Grow your own garden. Learn about wild
foods and use them daily.
By using common wild plants, you can actually create nutritious breads
that are comparable to the breads your ancestors ate. The easiest way to get
started is to make flour from these wild seeds and mix that flour half-and-
half with your conventional flours, such as wheat. You’ll end up with a more
flavorful, more nutritious bread, pancake, or pastry product. And once you
begin to use your local wild grains, you’ll be amazed how tasty, how abundant,
and how versatile these wild foods are.
The accompanying chart, page 231, is by no means complete. It is a gen-
eral guideline to show you what is available over widespread areas. However,
there are quite a few plants of limited range that produce abundant seeds or
other parts suitable for bread making.

RECIPEs
Beginner Wild Bread

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup wild flour of your choice

3 teaspoons baking powder

3 tablespoons honey

1 egg

1 cup milk

3 tablespoons oil

Salt to taste, if desired

Mix all ingredients well and bake in oiled pans for about 45 minutes at 250ºF or in your
solar oven until done.

Beginner Pancake Recipe

Follow the above recipe, add extra milk or water until you have a pancake-batter con-
sistency. Make pancakes as normal.

Staff of Life: Best Wild-Food Bread Sources 229

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 Note that “Grass” is a huge category as it actually includes many of our
domestic grains such as wheat, corn, rye, and barley. Though some of the
seeds listed on this chart can be eaten raw, most require some processing
before you can eat them. Acorns must be soaked or boiled to get rid of all the
bitter tannic acid. Agave and yucca seeds and fruits are bitter and soapy and
must be cooked first. The seed from amaranth, dock, and lamb’s quarter can
get somewhat bitter and astringent as it gets older; it is improved by cooking.
By rediscovering the wealth of wild plants that are found throughout this
country, we can bring bread back to its status as the “staff of life.”

Curly dock

230 Staff of Life: Best Wild-Food Bread Sources

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 “Wild Bread” Chart
Parts used How processed Where found Palatability Ability to store
Acorns Shelled acorns Leach acorns of tannic acid by Worldwide; ripens in fall Good, if fully leached Excellent

Foraging_CA_3pp.indd 231
soaking or boiling and grind into meal
Agave Seeds and fruits Seeds boiled and ground; fruits boiled Southwest US, Mexico, and dry Good if cooked Very good
and mashed environments
Amaranth Seeds Collect and winnow seeds Worldwide as a weed of disturbed soils Good Very good
Cactus Seeds Mash ripe fruits, pour through Throughout US, though most common Good Good
colander to extract seeds in Mediterranean climates worldwide
Cattail Pollen and rhizome Shake the top of cattail spikes into Worldwide in wet and marshy areas Very good Good
bag to collect pollen; mash peeled
rhizome and separate out fiber
Dock Seeds Collect brown seeds in fall, rub to Worldwide in wet areas and disturbed Acceptable Very good
remove “wings”; winnow soils
Grass (most species) Seeds Generally, simply collect and winnow; Worldwide, some found in nearly every Generally very good Very good to excellent
difficulty depends on species environment
Lamb’s Quarter Seeds Collect when leaves on plant are dry; Worldwide in disturbed soils and farm Acceptable to good Very good
rub between hands, winnow soils
Mesquite Entire pod The entire pod is ground into flour Widespread throughout Southwest Excellent Very good
Wild Buckwheat Entire seed heads Collect entire mature head, pick out Western US and Mediterranean Very good Very good
stems, grind climates
Yucca Seeds and fruit Collect black seed from mature fruit Southwestern US and northern Mexico Good to very good Very good
and grind; mash up fruit when insides
are still white
Note: This chart is intended only as a general guideline to compare sources for “wild bread” ingredients. There may be many other wild plants that can be used for bread.
Never eat any wild plant that you have not positively identified as an edible species.
Latin names: Acorns = Quercus spp.; Agave = Agave spp.; Amaranth = Amaranthus spp.; Cactus = primarily Opuntia spp. and other Cactaceae; Cattail = Typha spp.; Curly Dock
= Rumex crispus; Grass = Poaceae (family); Lamb’s quarter = Chenopodium album; Mesquite = Prosopis glandulosa; California buckwheat = Eriogonum fasciculatum;
Yucca = Hesperoyucca spp.

4/4/14 11:31 AM
 Sweet Tooth:
Best Wild-Food Sugars and Desserts

When people speak of sugar today, they are almost always speaking of the highly
refined, nutritionless white substance made from sugarcane or sugar beets.
Unfortunately, modern sugar is a foodless food. It is the cocaine of the modern
human’s dinner plate. It is not good for the body, and it offers no nutrients what-
soever. It has not always been so.
Just a few generations ago, it was common for people to make their own
sugars. Every culture had their favorite sources for their sugars, depending on
what was found in the wild or what was grown in that particular location. In
most cases, they simply collected, dried, and ground up sugar-rich fruits. Most
such fruits will naturally crystallize with time and then could be further ground.
The advantage of these sugars over white cane sugar is that these sugars had their
own individual flavors, and they contained many valuable minerals.
Some sugars are quite simple to produce, such as honey. Its main obstacles
are to find a way to house the bees—something modern beekeepers do quite
well—and to keep from getting stung. And tapping maple trees (and several
other trees) was so simple that even the North American Indians did it. They
simply cut narrow slashes into the tree, inserted hollow tubes made from elder
branches, and collected the sap in whatever containers they had. Raw maple
sap is usually boiled down to get a syrup of the desired consistency and sugar
content. Sometimes you boil off about forty gallons of water for each gallon of
syrup. You do not do this indoors.
People have always sought ways to make foods more flavorful, and sugar is
certainly useful in that regard. But sugar is also valuable as a preservative. Both
sugar and salt help to preserve foods and keep them from spoiling. This was
especially important in the past when there was no electricity or refrigerators.
It’s amazing how fast a modern culture forgets things. Probably not one in a
thousand urbanites knows these simple details about sugar. Our culture has sunk
to such ignorance in this matter that we somehow believe that the only choice is
between white sugar, the pink container, or the blue packet. Rather than produce
nutritious sugars as we had in the past, the trend is to produce high-tech sweet
substances that not only have no nutrients but have no calories either, as does
white sugar. The wonders of science never cease!

232

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 For those of you who want to try making sugar, the following chart gives
you some ideas as to what is available. Currants and gooseberries were very pop-
ular among American Indians not as a sweetener but as a preservative. They
ground their jerky and added crushed currants or gooseberries, and the result
was pemmican.
Though many of the wild berries described in the chart have been used as
sweeteners for other foods, most of them are good in their own right and have
long been used to make such things as drinks, pies, jams, custard, and a vari-
ety of dessert items. Details for these can be found in many of the wild-food
cookbooks available.
Here’s one recipe that can be used with all of the sugars on the chart except
carob, maple, and manzanita; these three are not fleshy berries so they won’t cook
up like the others.

RECIPE
Appalachian Brickle
1
⁄2 gallon ripe toyon berries

Water to cover berries

1
⁄2 cup honey

Approximately 1⁄3 cup biscuit mix

Begin by gently cooking the washed berries in just enough water to cover them. When
they are cooked, pour off the water, add fresh water, and cook a little longer. Then add
just a little water, add the honey, and stir. After the mixture thickens, add the biscuit
mix, little by little, and stir. The mix will be very thick when it is ready to serve.
This makes a heavy, sweet dessert. In the old days, what wasn’t eaten of this
would be put into a bread pan and baked until dry so it would store. It would then
last a long time until reconstituted. The dried shape looked like a brick, which is the
source of the name.

Sweet Tooth: Best Wild-Food Sugars and Desserts 233

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 Sweet Tooth: Best Wild Food Sugars and Desserts
Part used How processed Where found Sweetness/palatability Ability to store

Foraging_CA_3pp.indd 234
Apples, Wild (including Whole fruit Use fresh, or slice, dry, and grind Entire US Very good; collect when Very good
crab apples) to flour ripe
Berries (black-, rasp-, Whole fruit Use fresh, or dry and grind Entire US Excellent Very good
thimbleberries)
Carob Whole pod Remove seeds, grind entire pod; Southern half of US, Good; rich source of Very good
use fresh or dried Mediterranean climates calcium
Currants Whole fruit Use fresh, or dry and store Entire US Good Very good
Elderberry Whole fruit Use fresh if cooked first; or dry Entire US Contains sugar but tart Good
and store
Gooseberries Whole fruit Remove spiny layer, then use fresh Entire US Good Very good
or dried
Grape, Wild Whole fruit Use fresh or dried Most of the US Sometimes tart; collect Very good
ripe fruit
Manzanita Whole fruit Dry and grind the pulp around the Southwestern US A bit tart; used like Good
seed, but not the seed aspic
Maple Sap Cut bark on tree, capture sap; use Entire US, but flows best Excellent Excellent
fresh; crystallizes naturally where there is snow
Prickly Pear Cactus Fruit Remove stickers, use inner pulp Entire US, but most common in Excellent Good
fresh or dried, with or without seed Southwest
Toyon Fruit Cook and use fresh, or dry for Southwest Good, a bit tart Very good
storage
Note: There are many sugars found in nature, usually in the fruits. Honey is a traditional sugar, made indirectly from plant nectars. Other traditional sugars
include dried and powdered dates, dried pomegranate juice, and beets. This chart compares a few wild sugar sources that are the most widespread
throughout North America. There are many plants that are either marginal sugar sources or available in very limited locations. Never use any wild plant for
sugar or food until you have positively identified it as an edible plant.
Latin names: Apples = Malus spp.; Berries = Rubus spp.; Carob = Ceratonia siliqua; Elderberry = Sambucus spp.; Currants and Gooseberries = Ribes spp.;
Grape, wild = Vitis spp.; Manzanita = Arctostaphylos spp.; Maple = Acer spp.; Prickly pear cactus = Opuntia spp.; Toyon = Heteromeles arbutifolia.

4/4/14 11:31 AM
 Useful References

Anderson, M. Kat. Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Man-
agement of California’s Natural Resources. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 2005. A fantastic reference on how Native Americans used fire and
other means for passive agriculture.

Angier, Bradford. Free for the Eating. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1996.

Baldwin, Bruce G., et al., eds. The Jepson Manual: Vascular Plants of California.
Berkeley: University of California Press, second edition, 2012.

Bean, Lowell John, and Katherine Siva Saubel. Temalpakh: Cahuilla Indian
Knowledge and Usage of Plants. Banning, CA: Malki Museum Press, 1972.
A wonderful original sourcebook on how the Indians around Palm Springs
traditionally used plants. A great section on mesquite and acorns.

Brenzel, Kathleen Norris, ed. Sunset Western Garden Book. New York: Time Home
Entertainment, 2013. By the editors of Sunset Books and Sunset magazine,
yes, this is about plants in your garden, but there’s a lot of relevant, useful
information in this book!

Campbell, Paul Douglas. Survival Skills of Native California. Salt Lake City, UT:
Gibbs Smith, 1999. A treasure trove of information about how people in
California actually did things, and a large section on plant uses.

Clarke, Oscar. Flora of the Santa Ana River and Environs. Berkeley, CA: Heyday
Books, 2007.

Cornett, James. How Indians Used Desert Plants. Palm Springs, CA: Nature Trails
Press, 2002. A slim book with good photos and good treatments of the com-
mon desert plants.

Doyle, Harrison. Golden Chia: Ancient Indian Energy Food. Vista, CA: Hillside
Press, 1973.

235

Foraging_CA_3pp.indd 235 4/4/14 11:31 AM

 Dunmire, William, and Gail Tierney. Wild Plants of the Pueblo Province: Explor-
ing Ancient and Enduring Uses. Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press,
1995. A good historical account of how plants were used in the pueblos,
mostly in New Mexico.

Elpel, Tom. Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification. Pony,
MT: HOPS Press, 2000.

———. Participating in Nature: Wilderness Survival and Primitive Living Skills.

Pony, MT: HOPS Press, 2009.

Garcia, Cecelia, and Dr. James Adams. Healing with Medicinal Plants of the West:
Cultural and Scientific Basis for Their Use. La Crescenta, CA: Abedus Press,
2005. An excellent summary of the common edible and medicinal plant
uses found in California.

Gibbons, Euell. Stalking the Blue-Eyed Scallop. New York: David McKay, 1964.
A good description of many of the foods found on the Pacific Coast.

Kane, Charles. Herbal Medicine of the American Southwest: A Guide to the Medici-
nal and Edible Plants of the Southwestern United States. Tucson, AZ: Lincoln
Town Press, 2006. Good descriptions and photos of plants found widely
throughout the Southwest.

Kirk, Donald. Wild Edible Plants of Western North America. Happy Camp, CA:
Naturegraph, 1970. Though you generally cannot positively identify plants
with this book, it does contain more edible and useful plants than any other
single book on the subject that I’m aware of.

Knute, Adrienne. Plants of the East Mojave, 2nd ed. Barstow, CA: Mojave River
Valley Museum Association, 2002. Good photos of the desert plants.

Moerman, Daniel E. Native American Ethnobotany. Portland, OR: Timber Press,

1998. Nearly a thousand pages of descriptions of how every plant known
to be used by Native Americans was utilized. No pictures at all, but lots of
useful data.

Watt, Bernice, and Annabel Merrill. Agriculture Handbook No. 8, Composition of

Foods: Raw, Processed, Prepared. USDA, 1963.

236 Useful References

Foraging_CA_3pp.indd 236 4/4/14 11:31 AM

 INDEX

A Buckwheat family, 149

Acacia, 104 Bush mallow, 134
Acacia dealbata, 106
Acacia spp., 104 C
Adoxaceae, 34 Cactaceae, 79
Agavaceae, 188 Cactus family, 79
Aizoaceae, 38 Cakile edentula, 62
Alliaceae, 192 Cakile maritima, 62
Allium spp., 192 Calanthus inflatus, 65
Althaea officinalis, 135 California bay, 30
Amaranth, 41 California buckwheat, 149
Amaranthaceae, 41 California coffee berry, 161
Amaranth family, 41 California fan palm, 197
Amaranthus spp., 41 Capsella bursa-pastoris, 68
Apiaceae, 44 Carob, 107
Arctostaphylos spp., 101 Carrot family, 44
Arecaceae, 196 Caryophyllaceae, 83
Arrow shafts, 123 Catalina Island cherry, 166
Asteraceae, 47 Cattail, 209
Atriplex californica, 87 Cattail family, 209
Century plant family, 188
B Ceratonia siliqua, 107
Bay, California, 30 Checker mallow, 134
Bitter cherry, 166 Cheeseweed, 134
Blackberry, 171 Chenopodiaceae, 87
Black nightshade, 175 Chenopodium album, 90
Black walnut, 125 Chenopodium californicum, 92
Bracken, 20 Chenopodium murale, 90
Bracken family, 20 Cherries, wild, 165
Brassica spp., 59 Chia, 130
Brassicaceae, 59 Chickweed, 83
Bread sources, wild, 228 Chicory, 47
Brickle, Appalachian, 233 Chokecherry, western, 166
Brill, Steven, 21 Cichorium intybus, 47
Brown algae, 16 Claytonia perfoliata, 136
Buckthorn family, 161 Cochineal beetle, 79
Buckwheat, California, 149 Coffee berry, California, 161

237

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 Coffee substitute, 49, 54, 58, 162 Fiber source, 181, 186, 188, 190,
Commelina benghalensis, 201 199, 205, 209, 212
Commelinaceae, 200 Fiddlehead, 21
Crassulaceae, 99 Fig marigold family, 38
Curly dock, 151 Filaree, 120
Currants, 122 Foeniculum vulgare, 44
Frangula californica, 161
D Frangula purshiana, 161
Dandelion, 56
Dennstaedtiacea, 20 G
Desert candle (aka Indian Garlic family, 192
cabbage), 65 Geraniaceae, 120
Desert purslane, 158 Geranium family, 120
Diabetes, 82 Gibbons, Euell, 210
Diarrhea, 172 Glasswort, 93
Dock, curly, 151 Gooseberries, 122
Dolma, 180, 186 Gooseberry family, 122
Dozen easy-to-recognize wild Goosefoot family, 87
foods, 225 Gramineae, 206
Dudleya spp., 99 Grape family, 184
Grape, wild, 184
E Grass family, 206
Easy-to-recognize wild foods, 225 Green algae, 16
Elderberry, 34 Grossulariaceae, 122
Ephedraceae, 24 GYMNOSPERMS, 23
Ephedra family, 24
Ephedra spp., 24 H
Ericaceae, 101 Headaches, 32
Eriogonum fasciculatum, 149 Heath family, 101
Erodium spp., 120 Hedge mustard, 76
EUDICOTS, 33 Hesperoyucca whipplei, 188
Euphorbia family, 79 Heteromeles arbutifolia, 163
Euphorbia peplus, 83 Holly leaf cherry, 166

F I
Fabaceae, 104 Indian cabbage, 65
Fagaceae, 116 Insulation, 212
Fan palm, California, 197
Fennel, 44 J
FERNS, 19 Jojoba, 173
Jojoba family, 173

238 Index

Foraging_CA_4pp.indd 238 4/7/14 1:20 PM

 Juglandaceae, 125 Mushrooms, 213, 224
Juglans californica, 125 Muskroot family, 34
Juglans hindsii, 125 Mustard, 59
Juncaceae, 204 Mustard family, 59
Juncos textilis, 204 Mustard flower formula, 220
Mustard, hedge, 76
L Mycology, 213, 224
Lactuca serriola et al., 50
Lamb’s quarter, 90 N
Lamiaceae, 128 Nasturtium, 178
Lappé, Frances Moore, 223 Nasturtium family, 178
Lauraceae, 30 Nasturtium officinale, 70
Laurel family, 30 Nettle family, 181
Laxative, 162 Nettle, stinging, 181
Legume family, 104 New Zealand spinach, 38
Live-forever, 99 Nightshade, black, 175
London rocket, 76 Nightshade family, 175
Lopseed family, 145 Nightshade, western, 175
Nopales, 80
M Nutritional data, 13
MAGNOLIIDS, 29
Malacothamnus sp., 134 O
Mallow, 133 Oak tree, 116
Mallow family, 133 Oak family, 116
Malvaceae, 133 Oca, 140
Malva neglecta, 133 Omega-3 fatty acids, 160
Manzanita, 101 Onion family, 192
Marshmallow, 135 Onions, wild, 192
Mentha spp., 128 Opuntia spp., 79
Mesquite, 113 Orach, 87
Mimulus, common, 145 Oxalidaceae, 139
Mimulus guttatus, 145 Oxalis family, 139
Miner’s lettuce, 136 Oxalis spp., 139
Miner’s lettuce family, 136
Mint, 128 P
Mint family, 128 Palm, California fan, 197
Monkey flower, 145 Palm family, 196
MONOCOTS, 187 Palo verde, 110
Montiaceae, 136 Parkinsonia microphylla, 110
Mormon tea, 24 Parkinsonia florida, 110
Mulga, 105 Parthenocissus, 184

Index 239

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 Passiflora caerulea, 142 Rhubarb, wild, 156
Passiflora tarminiana, 142 Ribes spp., 122
Passifloraceae, 142 Rosaceae, 163
Passionflower, 142 Rosa spp., 168
Passionflower family, 142 Rose family, 163
Phrymaceae, 145 Rose, wild, 168
Pickleweed, 93 Rubus spp., 171
Pinaceae, 27 Rumex acetosella, 154
Pine, 27 Rumex crispus, 151
Pine family, 27 Rumex hymenosepalus, 156
Pink family, 83 Rush, 204
Pinus spp., 27 Rush family, 204
Plantaginaceae, 147 Russian thistle, 96
Plantain family, 147
Poaceae, 206 S
Poison oak remedy, 103 Salicornia spp., 93
Polygonaceae, 149 Salsa, purslane, 160
Portulacaceae, 158 Salsola tragus, 96
Portulaca halimoides, 158 Salsola kali, 96
Portulaca oleraceae, 158 Salvia columbariae, 130
Prickly lettuce, 50 Sambucus spp., 34
Prickly pear, 79 Scarlet pimpernel, 83
Prosopis glandulosa, 113 Screwbean, 113
Prosopis pubescens, 113 Sea Rocket, 62
Prunus spp., 165 SEAWEEDS, 15
Pteridium aquilinum, 20 Sedative, 144
Purslane, 158 Sheep sorrel, 154
Purslane, desert, 158 Shepherd’s purse, 68
Purslane family, 158 Sidalcea sp., 134
Simmondsiaceae, 173
Q Simmondsia chinensis, 173
Quercus ilex, 116 Sisymbrium irio, 76
Quercus spp., 116 Sisymbrium officinale, 76
Soap plants, 189
R Soaproot, 92
Radish, wild, 73 Solanaceae, 175
Raphanus raphanistrum, 73 Solanum americanum, 175
Raphanus sativus, 73 Solanum douglasii, 175
Raspberry, 171 Solanum nigrum, 175
Red algae, 16 Solanum nodiflorum, 175
Rhamnaceae, 161 Solanum xanti, 175

240 Index

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 Sonchus oleraceus et al., 53 U
Sorrel, sheep, 154 Umbellularia californica, 30
Sorrel, wood, 139 Urticaceae, 181
Sour grass, 139 Urtica dioica, 181
Sow thistle, 53
Speedwell, 147 V
Spiderwort family, 200 Veronica, 147
Spiderwort, tropical, 201 Veronica americana, 147
Spurge, 83, 158 Vinegar substitute, 103
Stellaria media, 83 Vitaceae, 184
Stinging nettle, 181 Vitis spp., 184
Stonecrop family, 99
Sugar sources, wild, 234 W
Sunflower family, 47 Walnut, black, 125
Walnut family, 125
T Wandering Jew, 200
Taraxacum officinale, 56 Washingtonia filifera, 197
Test your knowledge of plants, 220 Watercress, 70
Tetragonia tetragonioides, 38 Western chokecherry, 166
Thimbleberry, 171 Western nightshade, 175
Tinder, 212 Wild radish, 73
Tobacco alternative, 103 Wild cherries, 165
Toyon, 163 Wild grape, 184
Tradescantia fluminensis, 200 Wild onions, 192
Tropaeolaceae, 178 Wild rhubarb, 156
Tropaeolum majus, 178 Wild rose, 168
Tropical spiderwort, 201 Wood sorrel, 139
Tumbleweed, 97
Typhaceae, 209 Y
Typha spp., 209 Yucca, 188
Yucca spp., 189

Index 241

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Foraging_CA_3pp.indd 242 4/4/14 11:31 AM
 RECIPE INDEX

Acorns New Zealand spinach

Tongva Memories, 118 Moon Sets in the Malibu Lagoon,
The, 40
Chickweed
Mia’s Chickweed Soup, 85 Onion
Saturday Night Special, 72
Curly Dock
Curly Dock “Nori” (Vegetable Purslane
Chips), 153 Purslane Salsa, 160
Elderberry/flower Radish
Elderberry Sauce, 37 Pickled Radish Pods, 75
Elder Flower Vinegar, 35
Russian thistle
Filaree Tumbled Rice, 98
Filaree Juice, 121
Sea rocket
Flour “Wasabi,” 63
Beginner Pancake Recipe, 229
Sheep sorrel
Beginner Wild Bread, 229
Shiyo’s Garden Salad, 155
Hedge mustard
Sow thistle
Screaming at the Moon, 77
Spring Awakening, 55
Tumbled Rice, 98
Stinging nettles
Lemons
Stinging Nettles Hot Sauce
Lemon and Wild Passion Fruit
Recipe, 182
Marmalade, 143
Toyon
Mesquite
Appalachian Brickle, 233
Traditional Southern California
Chumash Winter, 164
Mesquite Bean Cake, 114
Watercress
Miner’s lettuce
Saturday Night Special, 72
Richard’s Salad, 138
Wild Passion Fruit
Mustard
Lemon and Wild Passion Fruit
Pascal’s Mustard, 61
Marmalade, 143
Nasturtium
Yucca
Nasturtium “Brain Food” Capers, 180
Pickled Yucca Shoots, 190

243

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 About the Author
Christopher Nyerges, cofounder of the School of Self-Reliance, has led wild-
food walks for thousands of students since 1974. He has authored ten books
on wild foods, survival, and self-reliance, and thousands of newspaper and
magazine articles. He continues to teach where he lives in Los Angeles County,
California. More information about his classes and seminars is available at
www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com, on Facebook, or by writing to School of Self-
Reliance, Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041.

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