There are two colour phases that almost always grow together…these bulbils are not fully grown. They are not seed, rooting themselves quickly into damp soil when they fall.
It’s a rare event that I forage outside the garden at this time of year and almost never for leafy greens. I’m trying to find time at least once a week for a walk in the woods and at the weekend I did just that and I was surprised to find that the alpine bistort (viviparous knotweed / harerug) bulbils were ready to harvest. It often grows in large quantities along tracks in sunny spots on the edge of the forest.
We had a perennial veggie quiche for dinner and these were used as as a tasty nutty topping. The vegetables we used included sorrel (Rumex acetosa / engsyre), musk mallow (Malva moschata / moskuskattost), day lily flowers (Hemerocallis / daglilje), various onions (løk), Hablitzia leaves and Hosta.
Day lily flowers and other permaveggies, stir-fried with oregano and rehydrated porcini mushrooms (steinsopp)
(Sopptur = Mushroom picking / fungal foray)
Still masses of winter chantarelle in the woods despite for frosts a week ago…and a few chantarelle and hedgehog fungus….
Dandelions are one of my favourite winter perennial vegetables. During the summer, wild dandelions sow themselves on my cultivated beds….one of the advantages of having too much open soil! I deliberately let them grow on until late autumn when I dig up some of the roots, others left to grow on to the next year, and plant them in large pots ready to force later in the winter like witloof chicory. I usually force them by moving from storage in my cellar to a cool room in the house where I force them in the dark!
On the morning of my permaveggies course in Mértola, we did a wild walk into the Bombeira do Guadiana Biodiversity Station where information signs have been put up along a 1km trail informing about the rich local flora and fauna. There were many knowledgeable people in the group so that we managed to identify most of the plants we saw. Following recent rains there were many new shoots but few flowers….but we were lucky to see two species of Asparagus in flower!
Marta Cortegano gives an introduction before the walk
We found our first wild asparagus quite quickly
We had visited the evening before with Nuno Roxo and he showed us two species, only one of which he harvested.
We found a few shoots by digging around the base of the plant but at this time they are unpleasantly bitter.
Asparagus albus is Nuno’s preferred species for the edible shoots
Wild artichoke / alcachofra-de-são-joão (Cynara humilis) – has been used traditionally in Mediterranean countries – both peeled basal leaves and “artichokes”
Rumex pulcher subsp woodsii (coenha)
Colchicum?
Phlomis purpurea
Helichrysum stoechas
Wild olives
Discussing how to tell the four local oak species apart
Opuntia
NB!!! It resembles an Angelica, but seems to be Thapsia transtagana…a genus known as Deadly Carrots!!
Filming from all angles
Oxalis
Opuntia
?
?
Asparagus albus
Asphodelus ramosus distalis flowering out of season
The Portuguese water dog!
What was this? Daphne?
?
Cupressus?
Cupressus?
Arum shoots
Mértola
A wild almond
View of the Guadiana River…I was told that tides reached this far upstream
Cormorants on the river…there were also white and grey herons
Asparagus in old worker’s garden
View of Mértola
Puffball
The Guadiana river (we sadly had to turn back before we reached the river, but botanised on other days along the river.
Fennel / fiolho, funcho, erva-doce
There were many shoots of what I assume were Asphodelus
Wild asparagus and Mértola
Wild asparagus and Mértola
Wild almond covered in nuts
Portuguese Water Dog
This looks like Rumex but I’m not sure…
Pistacia lentiscus
There were four species of Lavandula here: stoechas, viridis, pedunculata and multifida
Lavandula multifida, only found in the Serra da Arrábida, just south of Lisbon and in Mértola!
Pyrus bourgaeana
Marrubium vulgare (marroio-branco)
Eucalyptus
Dianthus crassipes?
Cebola-albarrã / sea squill (Drimia maritima)?
Opuntias covered in fruit on the other side of the river
In the morning of the masterclass on permaveggies on 1st November 2018 organised by the Janas Ecovillage, we visited Jardim da Condessa D’Edla in collaboration with the Sintra Natural Parks! Fernanda Botelho and myself lead the tour of this amazing place seeking out a large diversity of edible plants, both wild and cultivated :)
Introduction by Joana Martins
A curly leaved Ruscus aculeatus (Butcher’s broom / erva-dos-vasculhos, gilbarbeira)…it has edible shoots At the bottom can be seen a Bergenia, a Siberian species that is very adaptable!
We talked about the edible flowers and fruits of Fuchsias
…and edible Begonias
Fernanda told us that the pretty flowers of Alyssum are edible!
Sweet chestnut
The cork palace, Chalet Condessa d’Edla
The cork palace, Chalet Condessa d’Edla
The cork palace, Chalet Condessa d’Edla
Rose
Yucca….the flowering stem can apparently be cooked and used like asparagus
…and the flowers are also edible! See http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=8470
Abutilon is in the mallow family and has delicious (taste and look) flowers…an edimental (edible ornamental)
What was this, Fernanda?
Somebody commented if Asterix and Obelix been here?
Quercus spp. (oak)
Quercus spp. (oak)
Umbilicus rupestris, navelwort / umbigo-de-vénus
The Pena Palace
Chickweed / morugem (Stellaria media)
Valeriana?
Cephalotaxus (Japanese plum-yew) with ripe fruit!
Cephalotaxus (Japanese plum-yew) with ripe fruit!
Cephalotaxus (Japanese plum-yew) with ripe fruit!
Cephalotaxus (Japanese plum-yew) with ripe fruit!
An interesting looking dandelion / dente-de-leão (Taraxacum spp.)
An interesting looking dandelion / dente-de-leão (Taraxacum spp.)
Centaurea with Alyssum
Monkey puzzle, Araucaria
Monkey puzzle, Araucaria
Blackberries
? on Eucalyptus
? on Eucalyptus
Tree ferns
Cordyline australis “Purpurea” (cabbage tree)
Monstera deliciosa has edible fruits
Gunnera, one of the 80 in my book
Yew (Taxus spp.)
Cardamom
Participants with a Fuchsia in fruit!
Cordyline australis (cabbage tree)
Abutilon x hybridum? is another great edimental?
Abutilon x hybridum?
Abutilon x hybridum?
Abutilon x hybridum?
Viola spp
Alyssum
Myrtus communis (myrtle)
Myrtus communis (myrtle)
Calamintha nepeta
Phytolacca americana
Rumex acetosella?
Asparagus officinalis
Goji
Acelga / chard
Allium schoenoprasum (chives)
Fuchsia
Lovage / levistico
Fuchsia
New Zealand Spinach
Parsley and Nigella
Agaricus
Tradescantia…probably one of the South American species that don’t seem to be edible
Fire salamander….
Parietaria
Plantago major
Returning to Janas and the afternoon session…a column of cars
The queues to get into see the Sintra palaces….we had the gardens more or less to ourselves!
3 years ago I had foraged this part of Sintra with Fernanda and Jorge and we had walked up these steps and had ID’d this plant as Sparmannia africana (pictures can be seen in the photo album in this link: http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?page_id=2744)
3 years ago I had foraged this part of Sintra with Fernanda and Jorge and we had walked up these steps and had ID’d this plant as Sparmannia africana (pictures can be seen in the photo album in this link: http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?page_id=2744)
The Wild Plants Lady meets the Extreme Salad Man to discuss ready salted vegetables on the Magoito Cliffs north of Lisbon!
A) Crithmum maritimum (rock samphire or death samphire; perrexil-do-mar); this is the first plant in my book and was my first plant in my talk at Ecoaldeias Janas the day before
B) Helichrysum stoechas (Portuguese curry plant; perpétuas-das-areias)
C) Beta vulgaris ssp maritima (sea beet; acelga-brava)
D) Plantago coronopus (buck’s-horn plantain, minutina or erba stella; diabelha)
Thank you so much for showing me the vegetable gardens of the sea cliffs of your home village, Fernanda Botelho :)
Thanks to Jorge Carona for filming and driving :)
With Ana Marques!The first slide in my talk at Ecoaldeias Janas was this one about Death Samphire! More people have probably died harvesting this than any other vegetable! Fernanda asked me if I’d brought my rope!!
As part of the course organised by Ecoaldeias Janas in the village Janas near Sintra in Portugal, Fernanda Botelho collected wild and cultivated plants and here she is making an inventory of all the ingredients, all 50 of them: a typical traditional Mediterranean multi-species salad! Jorge Carona was sitting next to her taking notes!
Part 1:
Part 2:
Jorge’s list in a mix of Portuguese, Latin and English
The course participants at the wonderful Janas Ecoaldeias coop and restaurant!
More work :(
There were again large numbers of perfect Lactarius deterrimus (granmatriske / false saffron milkcap or orange milkcap), which is a mycorrhizal fungus that associates with Norway spruce (gran). I think this is the tastiest of all fungi along with its brother Lactarius deliciosus!! I was surprised to learn on its English wiki page that its taste is often bitter, and it is not highly valued (see its taste is often bitter, and it is not highly valued). Really?
Also picked more porcini (steinsopp/cep) and a little Albatrellus ovinus (fåresopp)
I can’t remember the last time we had a porcini (cep, penny bun) or steinsopp in Norwegian year here, well over 10 years I think!! There are huge amounts for the pickings…and they were all in good condition with almost no insect larvae nor the parasitic fungi (snyltesopp) which makes them inedible.
There were also large amounts of saffron milk caps (matriske) again unusually for the time of year completely free of insect larvae!
Perhaps the warm dry weather was good for the fungi but not the flies!
I had to stop as I was afraid the load would be too much for the bike brakes on the very steep descent home!
Strangely, the most common edible fungi (chantarelle and hedgehog fungus/ kantarell og piggsopp) were almost totally absent!
Now, the job to dry them and return to the woods a couple more times to dry enough for the next porcini year!
Eikeskrubb (Leccinum quercinum / Orange oak bolete) which also grows on aspen :
The haul!
Furumatriske (Lactarius deliciosus), saffron milk cap
Eikeskrubb (Leccinum quercinum / Orange oak bolete) which also grows on aspen!
Eikeskrubb (Leccinum quercinum / Orange oak bolete) which also grows on aspen!
I passed over the brunskrubb also in huge quantities
Tempting :)
Home in the distance…a steep descent awaits with fully laden bike!
I had to take it very carefully down here…past Thomas Thomassen
..and a few others, mostly inedible
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
