Rice lily or riceroot (Fritillaria camschatensis) is a great hardy edimental, and exclusive root vegetable, although don’t expect large yields. The small (but many) sweet tasting tubers often lie right on the surface all winter! One of the hardiest plants found in Western North America from Oregon to Alaska, Northern Japan and the Russian Far East…and quite a common ornamental, grown for its almost black flowers (I’m still trying to establish the yellow flowered variant shown here in Gothenburg Botanical Gardens). See also my blog post Riceroot and Hog Peanuts (http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=480). It’s currently in full flower, so here’s a few pictures of my biggest expanding patch!
I also walked around the outside gardens during my visit to the Gothenburg Botanical Gardens on Saturday 25th January 2020. In the mild weather, there were many people out walking and running in the garden. Here’s an album of pictures of edibles and other interesting plants and a video of the large Actinidia arguta in the Asiatic woodland garden.
Hotell Krypinn: a great insect hotel
Cornus mas flower buds swelling
Hemerocallis shoots
Hemerocallis fulva var littorea
Ficaria verna (Lesser celandine / vårkål)
Yucca filamentosa “Color Guard” is a great edimental! (Edible flowers, shoots and fruits)
Magnolia stellata “Centennial” (the buds may be edible like other Magnolias)
Flowering Hamamelis (witch hazel)
Fertile fronds of ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris)
Crambe cordifolia buds
Eleutherococcus setchuenensis: A family / genus with many edible plants, but no ethnobotanical information on this one
Eleutherococcus nodiflorus: A family / genus with many edible plants, the root is recorded stewed with chicken in China
Serratula coronata var insularis (the young shoots of this species is recorded eaten in China, but the bitterness is first boiled / soaked away)
Claytonia parviflora from North America (I haven’t tried this species)
Smilax rotundifolia (edible shoots)
Cardamine californica (all parts are edible)
January flowering Rhododendron dauricum
Zanthoxylum piperitum (Japanese pepper, sansho)
Acanthopanax koreanum: A family / genus with many edible plants, but no ethnobotanical information on this one
Lonicera caerulea var kamtschatica already in leaf
Polypodium vulgare (sisselrot, sweet fern)
The world famous Gothenburg Rock Garden
Garden art on a dead oak tree which is also beneficial for insects by UK artist Stuart Ian Frost
Garden art on a dead oak tree which is also beneficial for insects by UK artist Stuart Ian Frost
Cyclamen (leaves of some species are eaten)
I also visited the greenhouses for the first time, but that will have to be a separate post
On my way north from Vienna to Oslo, I found myself unexpectedly with a 4 hour wait in Gothenburg in Sweden, and there was no hesitation to visit one of the great botanical gardens. I had no idea what there would be to see in January but with the mild winter I was surprised how much there was to see. Here are a collection of wierd and wonderful edibles in the unique bulb house!
The bulb house is unique with open sides
Lomatium canbyi (Canby’s biscuitroot) was used by native americans in the Pacific NW and North California!
Lomatium canbyi (Canby’s biscuitroot) was used by native americans in the Pacific NW and North California)!
Claytonia rosea (Madrean or Rocky Mountain springbeauty) grows in dry pine and oak woodland in USA
Viola trinervata (from NW USA)
Young shoots of Cymopterus planosus (Rocky Mountain springparsley); Cymopterus is a genus of native american food plants. I grow C. sessiliflorus, failed with planosus
Scorzonera spp.
Lomatium nudicaule (pestle parsnip) is also used by native americans and is one of the easiest to grow.
Lomatium ciliolatum (Yolla Bolly biscuitroot) is endemic to California
Tropaeolum polyphyllum (soldadito grande de la cordillera; meaning great soldier of the mountains)
Tropaeolum polyphyllum
Megacarpaea gigantea in the Brassicaceae is in a genus with at least two important edible plants. This one is from Central Asia.
Crocus kotschyanus is one of several species where the corms are used for food (in Turkey)
I was asked if it is possible to grow papaws (Asimina triloba) in Norway. I don’t think it’s impossible, but I suspect they need warmer summers than most parts of Norway can offer. I have seen good size trees in Malmø (Southern Sweden) with one fruit at the end of July in Åke Truedssons garden and a good size tree in the Gøteborg Botanical, pictures in both sites are from 29th-30th July 2008. I don’t know how these trees are doing today. I’ve tried a couple of times. I’ve managed to germinate seed, but the plants hardly grow in my cold summers! See more about papaw (which is not the same as the better known tropical pawpaw or papaya) on the wiki page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asimina_triloba
1) In Åke Truedsson’s garden in Malmø with a fruit!
A picture album of edible species spotted in the Gothenberg Botanical garden on the last day of August 2017! Thanks to Johan Nilson for showing me around!
Hosta “Halcyon”
Diphylleia cymosa is in the Berberidaceae …the berries of D. grayi are used in Japan
Alchemilla (Lady’s Mantle)
Gaylussacia dumosa, Dwarf Huckleberry from North America
A nice group of Allium wallichii
Allium wallichii
I’ve never seen North American Plantago cordata before, somewhat different leaves than other Plantagos
Canadian wood nettle (Laportea canadensis) is a good edible nettle (use leaves and stalks) from North American woodlands!
Labelled Allium taquetii, a synonym of thunbergii, nice in bud!
Saxifraga fortunei “Conwy Snow” : the leaves of this species (and a few others like stolonifera) are used in tempura in Japan. See http://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=5495
Lilium auratum, one of the edible Asian species”
Doellingeria scabra is the new name of one of my favourite edimentals, Aster scaber (Korea Aster; see my book for its use!). I don’t think I’ve seen this one in botanical gardens before!
Allium ovalifolium
Allium cyaneum
Begonia chinensis has edible flowers
The Japanese woodland has a good stand of edimental Ligularia fischeri (see edimentals.com for more)
Next to the Ligularia, there is a big stand of Cacalia delphiniifolia…I saw the leaves of this for sale in Japanese supermarkets, also used in tempura
Saxifraga fusca
Thanks to Johan Nilson for showing me round the bulb houses, where there are many Alliums!
Eryngium maritimum, sea holly, being grown for replanting in nature
I nice light blue variant of Allium beesianum growing alongside a normal flowered form
Nice to see a good form of dandelion (Taraxacum) ;)
Umbilicus tropaeofolius….I’ve never seen this Iranian brother of the European navelwort
A large Asian form of Oxyria digyna was interesting
Allium thunbergiii, one of the late flowering species
Allium hookeri var muliense, a good yellow flowered form!
I visited Bo “Bosse” Blomquist last year outside of Gothenburg and despite it being a bit late in the day and almost dark at the end, I was really impressed by his collection of edible trees, shrubs and bushes! He works in Gothenburg and is a regular visitor to the gardens! We agreed to meet before my talk and a group of friends also joined us!! It was great to walk in the garden with Bosse as he knew all the interesting edible woody plants! Thanks!! Here are a selection of pictures!
A walnut I’ve never seen before, Juglans microcarpa (Little walnut/Texas walnut)…this tree was surpisingly old, almost 90 if I remember right!
Juglans microcarpa (Little walnut/Texas walnut
Another surprise, Sorbus devonensis, which I first saw in Martin Crawford’s forest garden about 11 years ago :)
Another surprise, Dystaenia takesimana, a plant in the carrot family that I haven’t succeeded with…sometimes called Korean celery due to the taste of the leaves
…and then Aralia cordata var. sachalinensis, Sakhalin-udo!!
Aralia cordata var. sachalinensis, Sakhalin-udo!
Rubus peltatus from Japan (is in my Japanese foraging book)
Another thing I’d missed earlier in the day (looking down too much) was the hardy kiwi (Actinidia arguta I think) which has climbed right to the top of this conifer…
Bosse pointed out this bamboo with relatively thick shoots: Phyllostachys atrovaginata…
Large clump of Hosta (Sum and substance?)
Another patch of yellow flowered Allium hookeri var muliense; Yellow Hooker’s Onion
I hadn’t noticed this large Toona sinensis either….extensively cultivated in China for the young shoots, often served as a onion-like flavouring with omelettes!
Bosse shows us Zanthoxylum bungeanum (Northern China Pepper), one of several species for which the spicy seeds and leaves are used
Zanthoxylum bungeanum (Northern China Pepper)
Matteuccia orientalis is as far as I know not used like Ostrich Fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris
Sinofranchetia chinensis, an unusual fruit from China
Giant lily, Cardiocrinum…the bulbs have been foraged in Japan!
Japanese ginger, Zingiber mioga
Cephalotaxus harringtonia, yew plum
Hardy kiwi..
Torreya nucifera from Japan is a popular edible seed!
It was a great honour to finally get to talk at the Gothenburg Botanical Gardens last night….not just once but twice as the first talk (picture) was sold out…and as I told them Gothenburg is my favourite edible garden anywhere there was a big cheer (second talk). The garden has around 30,000 accessions and with an estimated 1/3 of all plants edible, that makes for a huge diversity of food plants all in one place…. I just hope the garden doesn’t have problems with “grazing” after my visit ;)
Thanks to Johan Nilson, Mats Havstrøm and the staff for making me feel welcome, to Johan for the tour around the greenhouse collections of Alliums and much more and the garden “forage”. Finally, it was great to meet Bosse Blomquist and friends who guided us around the more unusual collections of edible nut and fruit trees, many of which I hadn’t seen before!
Tomorrow evening, I’ll be giving two talks in the botanical garden in Gøteborg (Gothenburg) in Sweden, the first at 1700 is sold out, but there are I think still tickets for the second at 1900!
I’ll be selling signed copies of my book Around the World in 80 plants at SEK 250 (remember cash/paypal also accepted)!
The talk will be a little different this time as I will be showing many pictures of edimentals (edible ornamentals) taken in the botanical gardens, but keeping to my Around the World in 80 plants / perennial and forest gardening vegetable theme :) Welcome!
Alliums in the botanical gardens in Gothenburg, Sweden on a visit on 16th June 2014. The first batch are from the under cover bulb garden, where watering regimes can be controlled. Not many species were flowering. This is one of the best bulb collections in the world with some 1,600 species!!
On Facebook with more discussion https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152439429035860.1073742091.655215859&type=1&l=461d10dfe7
The first batch are from the under cover bulb garden, where watering regimes can be controlled. This is one of the best collections in the world with some 1,600 species!!
Allium sp. : this yellow Allium had seeded around quite a bit…
Allium sp..
This one’s a mouthful: Allium macleanii x jesdianum subsp angustipetalum
Allium karataviense
Allium parvum
Allium akaka
Allium tschimganicum
Allium barsczewskii f. rosea
Allium nigrum
Allium candolleanum
Allium acuminatum
Allium caesium
Allium colchicifolium
Allium scilloides
The next batch were all growing in the open garden… This was labelled Allium nanodes from NW China. However, Mark McDonough has commented “Not nanodes which is vey dwarf, maybe a form of ovalifolium or prattii)
Allium unifolium (I think) had gone wild in a few beds…
Allium unifolium (I think) had gone wild in a few beds…
Allium scorodoprasum
Allium scorodoprasum
Allium “Globemaster”
Crambe maritima, Crambe cordifolia and Allium Globemaster
Allium Globemaster
Allium Globemaster
Allium schoenoprasum var alvarense
Allium nigrum
Allium nigrum
Allium schoenoprasum “Corsican White”
Allium spp., Jigzhi, Sichuan, China
Allium maximowiczii var. shibutsuense f. album
Marked Allium carolinianum (from Kina) ???????
Allium altaicum
Allium “Satellite” from Mark McDonough
Allium “Pink Pepper” from Mark McDonough
Allium cf. rude (Bei Ma Shan, Yunnan, China)
Allium victorialis ssp. platyphyllum
Allium hookeri var muliense
Allium prattii
Allium prattii
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
