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Pindo Palm can fruit almost anytime. Photo by Green Deane

Pindo palm fruit is hard to resist.

Pindo Palm fruit are ripening. We ate some this week. They really don’t have a season, but they do favor the spring and fall. You’ll find them on many lawns, parks or in particular cemeteries, where they are a common landscape plant (a palm that does not grow very tall.) They are usually under 12-feet high, a feather palm with spines on the fronds. The fruit starts out green then turns yellow (not orange, orange is the Queen palm) then dark yellow, soft and sweet. The kernel is edible, too, It tastes like coconut and is easy to remove, unlike the queen palm whose kernel also tastes like coconut but is difficult to remove. Queen palm fruit is very sweet and fibrus. 

Eating Saw Palmetto fruit is a challenge.

We also recently saw thousands of ripe Saw Palmetto fruit. While nutritious, they are something of a challenge to eat.  The berries were described in 1692 as tasting like rotten cheese soaked in tobacco juice. The flavor has not improved since then. To the modern palette they seem more like an intense blue cheese with hot pepper added. Indeed, a false blue dressing can be made from the fruit pulp. The pungent berries are also a $70 million poaching business (for dozens of medicinal uses.) It is illegal to possess said berries without a permit. 

Foraging classes: There won’t be foraging classes for a few weeks as Florida recovers from hurricanes Helene and Milton. The issue is more than human displacement, but also flooding making parks inaccessible.

Ripe and unripe Pineapple Guava looks the same. Photo by Green Deane

One can also find  ripening Pineapple guava now. Perhaps no shrub (Feijoa sellowiana)was more championed and least planted as the Pineapple guava. Look for it in parks rather than front yards. It produces edible blossoms, leaves that can be made into tea (or wine.) And the fruit is edible. Besides its odd shape the fruit says green as it ripens only growing softer (which is when one knows it is edible. I eat skin, seeds and all.) 

I think we’ve seen the last of podocarpus arils for this year. And Java Plums (the Jambul.) Sea grapes have yet to ripen. Also misbehaving this year are Ringless Honey Mushroom. They are usually a November crop in Florida, but I’ve seen some in recently. Perhaps the Hurricanes are to blame.

Green Deane Forum

Tired of Facebook and want to identify a plant? The Green Dean Forum is up and running again. Have you come to dislike Facebook, then join us on the forum. Perhaps you’re looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk. There’s also more than weeds. The reference section has information for foraging around the world. There are also articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills from

You get the USB, not the key.

172-video USB would be a good end of spring present and is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out. The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy.  Most of the 172 USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page. That will take you to an order form. 

Now in  second printing.

EAT THE WEEDS, the book, 274 plants, 367 pages, index, nutrition charts and color photos. It’s available in many locations including Amazon.  Most of the entries include a nutritional profile.  It can also be ordered through AdventureKeen Publishing.

This is weekly newsletter #613. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

Is it edible? Yes, no, maybe… The Chinese Tallow tree is both banned and championed. It’s edibility is also linked to why it’s even in the United States to begin with.  The tree was imported by none other than Ben Franklin (well… he sent some seeds to a friend.)  The purpose was to use the white external seed fat for making candles which beef suet, tallow, was once used for. Hence the tree’s name in English. In theory that small coating of saturated fat on the outside of the seed is edible. It is also very stable. But there are two problems. It can be very difficult to remove and inside the seed there is an oil toxic to humans. So the fat and the oil should not mix. Some people have experimented with crushing the entire seed and heating the mash thus melting the saturated fat along with releasing the toxic oil. When they settle the edible fat and the non-edible oil separate on cooling.  In China, where the tree is valued, they steam the white saturated fat off. The tree, while an invasive species in some areas of North America — such as Florida — is being considered as a good candidate for bio-fuel. You can read my article about it here about it here. A later magazine article about the species is here.   

We have several species Reishi mushrooms in North America. This one is Ganoderma curtisii if growing on hardwood. Photo by Green Deane

The question isn’t whether Reishi mushrooms grow in North America. The question is what to call them. Some would argue there are only six species of Reishi mushrooms on this continent. Others say many more. Just as the botanical world is in DNA flux so to is the fungal realm. Regardless of the species the Reishis are all Ganodermas, a genus name that that always suffers from translation. One sees Ganoderma translated as “shiny skin.” That’s not exactly right. In Greek it actually means “polished leather.” When I think of shiny skin I think of what my fingers and toes looked like after getting chilblains or frost bite. My skin was shiny. It did not look like polished leather. By the way once you get chilblains you always have them. I can go into a well air-conditioned building in Florida and my fingers and toes will ache from frozen nights spent ice skating 60 years ago. 

Ganoderma lobatum. Photo by Green Deane

Pictured on top is Ganoderma curtisii,  an easy to identify Reishi mushroom. It’s almost always shaped like a P, or a golf club, some say a cobra. All the ones I have spied have been growing on oaks. In 1988 it was decided that a slightly different species grows on Pines especially in the Gulf Coast states. That is G. meredithiae name for fungal expert Meredith May Blackwell. As for use my herbalist friends tell me our Reishi mushrooms can be used like their more famous Asian relatives and do stimulate the immune system. Consult your local herbalist for detail

White Beautyberries. Photo by Green Deane

Are the berries to the left edible or not? Ninety-nine plus percent of white berries are not edible. White berries are a huge warning flag saying stay away. But there are exceptions.  I can think of a few wild white berry species in the world that are edible, some in North America and one in Africa. But what of the berries pictured left? They are white American Beautyberries. Usually they are magenta when ripe. These are stark white. I have eaten a few. They taste like the colored ones. A few years ago I had a woman in New Jersey write to me and report she eats them all the time and makes jelly out of them. That’s not an official endorsement but it is about as close as one can get to knowing if they are edible. There are at least four species of Beautyberries that can spontaneously produce white berries, and there might be a man-made cultivar or two. The shrub at left had magenta colored berries for several years then went white for one year then back to colored berries. To read more about them click here. 

Cuban Anole

The smallest roundup ever happened once during one of my classes. At the end of all my classes we always relax and chat a bit. I happened to mention that the invasive, aggressive Cuban anoles taste like bacon (when deep fried.)  That led to how to catch them and I told of one student who would make a noose out of panic grass and lasso them. One of the people at the class agreed that was how to do it and fashioned a noose for other students to use. Three of them went searching and one actually managed to catch an anole with a grass loop. Truth is stranger than fiction. To read about cooking them go here.   You also might want to read: Ignite of the Iguana.

An edible Bolete with no name, Gyroporus subalbellus. Photo by Green Deane

One of my favorite mushroom had a name change, the Chestnut Bolete. It was Gyroporus castaneus the latter meaning chestnut. This worked well as the top of the bolete is often chestnut colored. The fungal powers that be decided the name Gyroporus castaneus can only be used for the European bolete. Those mushrooms called Gyroporus castaneus in the northern part of North America are now Gyroporus borealis. Those called Gyroporus castaneus in southern North America are now Gyroporus smithii. (Too bad Brownii wasn’t in the offering.) The genus name is from two Greek words that mean “round pores” as the mushroom does not have gills. There is no “eye” sound in Greek thus they never would say the other name for a hero sandwich gyro, g-eye-row. They would  not call the mushroom  “gye-ROPE-poor-us.”  They say: “year-ROPE-poor-us,” or, “year-row-POOR-us.” Castaneus is “cass-TAN-ee-us.” Borealis is boor-ree-AL-us. Smithii is SMITH-ee-eye. The Boletes are a user-friendly group to study. There are no deadly ones per se if you’re in good health or ones that cause lasting organ damage should one err. Some can make you quite ill but you will live (unless your health is already compromised some way.) 

Classes are held rain or shine or cold. (Hurricanes are an exception.) Photo by Kelly Fagan.

Foraging Classes:

Saturday September 21, Spruce Creek Park, 6250 Ridgewood Ave. Port Orange, 32127. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the pavilion.

Sunday September 22nd, Eagle Park Lake,1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771. 9 a.m. to noon, Meet at the pavilion near the dog park, 

Sept 28-29. The unknown track of a hurricane predicted for that time of the month, precludes scheduling any classes that weekend.

For more information on these classes, to prepay or sign up go here.  The cost is $30 per adult (the class is usually three hours long and examines five-dozen or so species.) If cost is a hardship email me at: GreenDeane@gmail.com.

Crowfoot grass can have five to 14 “digits.” Photo by Green Deane

Crowfoot Grass, which is starting to ripen now, is not native to North America. It’s from Africa where the species is used to make unleavened bread and a frothy beer. While crowfoot grass is easy to harvest — when ripe — the grains are tiny, eye of a needle size. You can collect about two quarts an hour — making them calorie positive —  and they can grow in large colonies making harvesting easy. Usually you collect the grains while sitting and using window screen plastic as a strainer.  The grains have a small amount of cyanide in them but drying and cooking drives that off. Though minute botanically they are a mouthful: Dactyloctenium aegyptium. That means ‘little comb fingers from Egypt.’ You can find Crowfoot Grass from Maine to California skipping the upper northwest side of the country.  

Green Deane Forum

Tired of Facebook and want to identify a plant? The Green Dean Forum is up and running again. Have you come to dislike Facebook, then join us on the forum. Perhaps you’re looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk. There’s also more than weeds. The reference section has information for foraging around the world. There are also articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills from

You get the USB, not the key.

172-video USB would be a good end of spring present and is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out. The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy.  Most of the 172 USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page. That will take you to an order form. 

Now in  second printing.

EAT THE WEEDS, the book, 274 plants, 367 pages, index, nutrition charts and color photos. It’s available in many locations including Amazon.  Most of the entries include a nutritional profile.  It can also be ordered through AdventureKeen Publishing.

This is weekly newsletter #612. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

Groundnuts Photo by Green Deane

Fruiting now and making it easy to spot are Ground Nuts, or Apios americana. This is a vine found in wet spots nearly everywhere east of the Rockies. It has clusters of maroon pea blossoms, which means “wings and keels.” The four petals of pea blossoms arrange themselves differently than most blossoms. Two flare out and two form together creating what looks like a boat’s keel and two wings. It has an edible pea pod thayt looks more like a string bean. Grounds Nuts are a foraging staple and were also the second plant product exported from the New World to the Old World. The first was Sassafras wood. While we find Ground Nuts in damp spots they will happily grow in a regular garden producing edible tubers for many years. More to the point, once you know what the underground tubers look like you can easily identify them anywhere you find them. To learn more about Ground Nuts go here.

Looking like skinny red jelly beans, Goji fruit is in the greater nightshade family so those with allergies beware. Photo by Green Deane

Goji are blossoming for winter harvesting. Photo by Green Deane.

Wrong turns can lead to discovery, in this case dozen of goji berry shrubs. The foraging class was at Ft. Desoto last weekend. A blocked path and  mosquito distractions led to a wrong turn which revealed a patch of Goji berries in blossom. That means fruit around Christmas into late spring. Finding goji berries at Ft. Desoto was not unusual as there are plants scattered among the islands. Gojis like brackish water. Another place to find them, other side of the state, is the low-tide west side of Turtle Mound near Daytona Beach — follow the path — and in Spruce Creek Park, and the adjacent Doris Leper Park. In Leper Park follow the old U.S. Route 1 road south. Gojis are high in iron and vitamin A, with some fiber, vitamin C and zeaxanthin, an antioxidant. Research shows daily goji berry consumption can help protect against macular degeneration. To read more about Goji berries go here.      Video here

V Seea Gapes thrive in beach-like conditions.

Sea grapes, Coccoloba uvifera are starting to ripen. Instead of ripe bunches there is an occasional ripe fruit, a delightful hint to the crop to come. Sea Grapes, in the buckwheat family, are a protected species, not because they are rare but they help maintain sea side sand dunes, as do protected Sea Oats now full of grain, too. Sea Grapes have a unique sweet flavor which disappears when made into jelly. They are best eaten right off the tree. However, sea grape wine is a delightful native homemade beverage, common a couple of generations ago. Don’t confuse asian reports of sea grapes. Those can refer to an algae, Caulerpa lentillifera, also called sea grapes. Only female Sea Grape trees produce fruit, if there is no male tree around female trees won’t fruit.They also need bees. Sea Grape leaves can be used to make a tea. To read more about sea grapes go here. Video here.

Sea Oats. Photo by Green Deane

The grain pictured right, Uniola paniculata, is edible though it does not produce a lot of seed. It is also protected. It’s not protected because it is rare. In fact it’s very common. But the plant’s roots helps keep Florida’s coastal dunes in place thus Sea Oats are protected. I have known some folks to grow Sea Oats in their backyard as a long-lived perennial grass.  They are very drought tolerant and highly regarded by browsing animals such as deer but are lowly regarded by grazing animals such as cows. As Sea Oats are protected you might want to find a similar looking relative in the forests of Florida. They are called… Wood Oats… not too imaginative. Wood Oats are edible as well and not protected. Use them as you would cultivated oats. They are easy to identify: They look like Sea Oats just in the wrong place.  To read about Sea Oats click here.

Foraging classes are held rain, shine, hot or cold. Photo by Nermina Krenata

Foraging Classes:

Saturday September 14th, Mead Garden:1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  Meet at the bathrooms. 9 a.m. to noon.

Sunday September 15th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte 9 a.m. to noon, meet at the parking lot at Bayshore Drive and Ganyard Street.

Saturday September 21, Spruce Creek Park, 6250 Ridgewood Ave. Port Orange, 32127. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the pavilion.

Sunday September 22nd, Eagle Park Lake,1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771. 9 a.m. to noon, Meet at the pavilion near the dog park, 

For more information on these classes, to prepay or sign up go here.  The cost is $30 per adult (the class is usually three hours long and examines five-dozen or so species.) If cost is a hardship email me at: GreenDeane@gmail.com. 

Green Deane Forum

Tired of Facebook and want to identify a plant? The Green Dean Forum is up and running again. Have you come to dislike Facebook, then join us on the forum. Perhaps you’re looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk. There’s also more than weeds. The reference section has information for foraging around the world. There are also articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills from

You get the USB, not the key.

172-video USB would be a good end of spring present and is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out. The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy.  Most of the 172 USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page. That will take you to an order form. 

Now in  second printing.

EAT THE WEEDS, the book, 274 plants, 367 pages, index, nutrition charts and color photos. It’s available in many locations including Amazon.  Most of the entries include a nutritional profile.  It can also be ordered through AdventureKeen Publishing.

This is weekly newsletter #611. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

Wild Apples can be bitter.

Apple season is upon us, depending where you live. When I was a kid back in the BC era — Before Computers — I always associated going back to school with raiding apple trees. (We always went back to school on the Tuesday after Labor Day.) I also raided the concord grapes in the nearby hedg`e rows as well. The actual word for that is “scrumping” (which was a  verb for juvenile fruit stealing long before modern slang added naughty meanings. The internet is a sewer capable of flowing into every home.) There were orchard apples trees and there were wild apple trees. Sometimes the wild apples were from cultivated apples that grew up literally from a tossed apple core. Other times they were real wild apples, small and tart if not bitter. Those were usually better off cooked by a camp fire along a river while fishing after school. I walked or biked four miles to school daily and often didn’t get home until after dark (which means I thankfully missed anything my mother tried to cook.) Where I grew up there were many abandoned homesteads with flourishing apple trees in unused yards. There is something philosophical knowing the cared-for apple tree outlived family and home. Back then there was also a greater variety of apples than even just a few decades later because of mechanization. Even when I was young there was a great diversity of apples. Some would not store at all — eating apples —  some that would stay hard for months only softening in mid-winter or spring. Others were only good for cider or cooking and or just jelly. And contrary to common belief, apples will grow in Florida. I recommend Apple Anna, a very nice blush apple. I never got Ein Shemer apple to fruit in Central Florida.To read more about apples go here.

As the Ground Cherry ripens the husk turns golden. Photo by Green Deane

Our timing Saturday was off. The husks of the Coastal Ground Cherry were green to a tan, dry, and papery.  Ground cherries, in this case Physalis angustifolia, ripen from green to gold, getting sweeter and tangier as they go along. But they can often have a bitter after taste either from being under ripe or some species just retain some bitterness. A little aftertaste of bitterness is okay but the best is when there is none. Thus one always tastes a ripe ground cherry then waits a minute or so for any bitterness to appear.

While local Ground Cherries can fruit nearly all year, they do produce a spring and fall crop. In cooler climes they just have one season ripening in late summer and fall. Here our fall crop tends to be better than our spring one. Spring ground cherries can rot on the plant or get damaged by insects and that is also when I tend to find more bitter ones. But this time of year brings out the best in ground cherries. One can find whole, undamaged, very ripe Ground Cherries in significant numbers. You can make a pie out of them if you can manage to get some home uneaten. Incidentally there is a second local ground cherry that resembles the Coastal Ground Cherry. It’s Physalis walteri, also known as starry-hair ground-cherry and sand cherry. It has star-shaped hairs on the lower edges of the leaf which are visible with a hand lens. Still edible, however. To read more about Ground Cherries go here.

Some fruit on display at last week’s foraging class in Largo: Gopher apples, tallow plums, saw palmettto berries. Photo by Green Deane

Monarda punctata, Horsemint, Beebalm. Photo by Green Deane

We’ve mentioned it a few times in recent newsletters but it bares repeating: Horsemint — right — is in season and very easy to find now. Look in grassy sandy places or along paths in always dry areas. The pleasant side of the plant is that it smells nice and makes a Thyme-like spice. The naughty side of the species is that it contains Thymol which is a relaxant. Made into a tea it calms you down. How much it calms you down depends on how much you use and your personal response to it.  You can also suspend some in your house as an air freshener. You can read about Horsemint here. 

Classes are held rain or shine (but not during hurricanes.)

Foraging Classes: Sticking to the west coast of Florida this coming weekend, as the weather might accommodate. Ft. Desoto has many salt-tolerant edibles, persimmon trees, and poison Ivy. Bayshore Park has the same salt-tolerant edibles and many ignored fruit trees such as champagne mangoes, Java plums and Star Fruit. 

Saturday, September 7th,  Ft. Desoto Park, 3500 Pinellas Bayway S. St. Petersburg Fl 33715. There is a small entrance fee to the park. Meet at the Bay Pier parking lot.(The one with a dog park and ferry to Egmont Key.) 9 a.m. to noon.

Sunday September 8, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte 9 a.m. to noon, meet at the parking lot at Bayshore Drive and Ganyard Street.

For more information on these classes, to prepay or sign up go here.  The cost is $30 per adult (the class is usually three hours long and examines five-dozen or so species.) If cost is a hardship email me at: GreenDeane@gmail.com. 

Cloves are dried flower buds.

Recnetly we mentioned here that the Syzygiums were fruiting. That mostly included S. cumini also known as the Java Plum and Jambul. I’m making wine out of that. There are a few Jambuls in Orlando and certainly dozens in West Palm Beach. I know they also grow well in Sarasota and Port Charlotte where I think they are naturalized. Both Syzygium jambos and Syzygium samaragense are called the Rose Apple and Java Apple (and many other names as well.)  There also is a Syzygium in your kitchen is S. aromaticum. You know the dried flower buds as “cloves.”  As the species have been in foraging news lately I decided to bite the proverbial bullet and write a second article on the genus, or at least the latest one. You can read that article here and you can read about the Jambul here. 

The leaves of Heartwing sorrel resemble a knife hilt. Photo by Green Deane

In some parts of the country fall is upon the landscape and final harvesting is underway before plants shut down for the winter. When I was a boy in Maine this meant scrumping apples and concord grapes. Locally our winter foraging season is just starting and while it is still warm one edible to start looking for is the Heartwing Sorrel, noticed in Gainesville recently. This tart Rumex is closely related to Sheep’s Sorrel — sometimes is mistakenly called that — and is used the same way, usually as an addition to salads. This time of year there will be a plant here and a plant there. Look along grassy trails, pastures or fields particularly in northern areas. In a few months locally it can cover an entire field with a ruddy pink blanket of ripening seeds. (It’s commercial relative is buckwheat.)  To read more about the Heartwing Sorrel go here

Bacopa monnieri blossoms can have four or five petals. Phgoto by Green Deane

There are six Bacopa in Florida but we are interested mainly in one, Water Hyssop, Bacopa monnieri. It’s a very bitter herb that looks like dwarf purslane except it’s all green.  Water Hyssop has four- or five-petaled blossoms. They can be off-white, light blue or even light pink. You find the plant growing in damp or inundated areas. It is the only Bacopa with one line on the back (or top) of its leaf. What’s interesting about Water Hyssop is that two different studies show it can increase memory function. The plant causes a gene to upregulate or “express itself.” This means the DNA in the gene can stretch, literally like a spring losing tension. This in turn causes the gene to make a protein. That protein causes the hippocampus to make new memory cells. It takes three months for the difference to be noticed. You can read about the Bacopas here and here. 

Green Deane Forum

Tired of Facebook and want to identify a plant? The Green Dean Forum is up and running again. Have you come to dislike Facebook, then join us on the forum. Perhaps you’re looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk. There’s also more than weeds. The reference section has information for foraging around the world. There are also articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills from

You get the USB, not the key.

172-video USB would be a good end of spring present and is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out. The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy.  Most of the 172 USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page. That will take you to an order form. 

Now in  second printing.

EAT THE WEEDS, the book, 274 plants, 367 pages, index, nutrition charts and color photos. It’s available in many locations including Amazon.  Most of the entries include a nutritional profile.  It can also be ordered through AdventureKeen Publishing.

This is weekly newsletter #610. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

Crowfoot Grass, which is starting to ripen now, is not a native North American grass. It’s from Africa where the species is used to make unleavened bread and a frothy beer. While crowfoot grass is easy to harvest — when ripe — the grains are tiny, eye of a needle size. You can collect about two quarts an hour — making them calorie positive —  and they can grow in large colonies making harvesting easy. Usually you collect the grains while sitting and using window screen plastic as a strainer.  The grains have a small amount of cyanide in them but drying and cooking drives that off. Though minute botanically they are a mouthful: Dactyloctenium aegyptium. That means ‘little comb fingers from Egypt.’ You can find Crowfoot Grass from Maine to California skipping the upper northwest side of the country.  

The nose doesn’t always know.

The aroma of a wild food is the most flexible of all descriptions. This is for two reasons: Noses differ and plants differ. Taste is also quite flexible but aroma variations beat taste out. When you read in a foraging guide, or even in my articles, that a plant smells like such-and-such know that the description is quite subjective. There are several local species that elicit different descriptions even when noses are whiffing the same sample. One low-growing fruit — the Gopher Apple — has been described as smelling like pink bubble gum, a new plastic shower curtain, or no aroma at all. The smelly spice Epazote ranges in opinions from citrusy to floor varnish to industrial cleaner. Even among non-edibles the olfactory estimations can vary such as with the toxic Laurel Cherry. Some think its cyanide smells like almonds, other think they smell maraschino cherries, some can’t smell the cyanide at all. In guide books a reported aroma is just that, a guide. It is not always for certain by any means. There’s room for aromatic latitude.

Ringless Honey Mushrooms grow from one crowded spot. Photo by Green Deane

Mother Nature makes up her own rules. That is a veiled reference to shifting seasonality, meaning when plants fruit or make seeds. Locally Mulberries and blackberries are available in April, as are blueberries, Grapes in September, Tallow plums in summer. Seasonal expectation also apply to mushroom (along with the amount and timing of rain.)

I usually see ringless honey mushroom in November, sometime a second season in April. So I had a difficult time believing I found ringless honey mushroom yesterday. As the season was wrong I did not eat them as they were not exacting as the ones I find in November. It didn’t dot all the I’s or cross all the T’s. That is foraging. You develop an expectation for a particular plant. Any thing that gives you cause to pause is reason to stop and re-examine your criteria and judgment. My mushroom was 1) the wrong time of year 2) taller than usual and 3) a lighter color than usual. That all added up to a question mark, and they were tossed out. I don’t need to be sick. Always listen to any doubts you have about a wild edible, be willing to question your judgement, or that of others.

The controversial two-leaf nightshade, Solanum diphyllum. Photo by Green Deane

As mentioned in previous newsletters, a controversial plant is fruiting now, Two-leaf nightshade, A small shrub is universally listed as “toxic.” Adults routinely eat one or two small raw fruits when they find them.The poisoning is dose dependent. A native to Mexico and Central America it was first officially described in Florida in 1966 soon reported suspected in poisoning children and cattle. Edibility aside the species is a source of a highly cytotoxic steroidal alkaloid, 3-O-(beta-D-glucopyranosyl) etioline [(25S)-22,26-epimino-3beta-(beta-D-glucopyranosyloxy) cholesta-5,22(N)-dien-16alpha-ol] which is effective against the cervical cancer cells

Tallow plums ripen to yellow, and sweeten. Photo by Green Deane

And to be careful don’t confuse the pea-sized diphyllum, upper right, with the larger yellow tallow plum, left, also fruiting now and mentioned in previous newsletters. Like the diphyllum the tallow plum starts out green and ripens to light yellow then dark yellow but is closer in size to a large marble or small plum. The darker yellow it is and softer the sweeter. Out of an abundance of caution the seed and leaves not eaten. Capable of becoming a large spreading shrub with fuzzy blossoms and small thorns the tallow plum fruits from summer into fall. Don’t confuse the names Tallow Plum and Chinese Tallow Tree, which are two totally different species.   

Note the uneven leaf shoulders by the stem and three main veins at the base.

People launch into arguments over the common names of plants. That should not come as a surprise: Botanists get into arguments over the official names of plants. So is the tree a “Sugarberry” or a “Hackberry?” Some will argue the distinction is geographic, other will assert the names apply to different species. I call it a big tree with little burnt-orange fruit that is edible around now. In real estate it is “location, location, location.” Hackberries-Sugarberries like to be near fresh water such as lakes, ponds, streams or a very reliable irrigation-sprinkler system.  They don’t like being waterlogged. But you won’t find them on the top of a dry hill either. Usually you can find them up the bank from water. Older trees usually have warty bark, no thorns. Leaves have uneven shoulders, one down or one up, and on the back side of the leaf notice three prominent veins at the base. Often the leaves have many insect galls and or a black smut on them (the latter does not affect the tree or us. It is also found on useable persimmon leaves.)  The pea-sized fruit is burnt to medium orange in color sometimes red depending on the species. The entire fruit is edible though the seed is hard.  So you can eat the pulp, and or crunch the seed, or mash entire fruits into cakes. To read more about the Hackberry or Sugarberry  go here.

Classes are held rain or shine (but not during hurricanes.)

Foraging Classes: It is that difficult time of year to schedule foraging classes and duck tropical storms. Note there is a class on Labor Day. 

Saturday, August 31st,  Red Bug Slough 5200 S. Beneva Road, Sarasota, 9 a.m. to noon,

Sunday September 1, Wickham Park: 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL. 9 a.m. to noon, meet at the dog park..

Monday, September 2, Eagle Park Lake, 1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771. Meet at the pavilion near the dog park. 9 a.m. to noon.

For more information on these classes, to prepay or sign up go here.  The cost is $30 per adult (the class is usually three hours long and examines five-dozen or so species.) If cost is a hardship email me at: GreenDeane@gmail.com. 

Ghost Pipes, Melbourne Florida. Photo by Green Deane

Several plants were called “Indian Pipes” where and when I was growing up. One of them is the Monotropa uniflora. Living more like a mushroom than a plant it sprouts up in various edibility conversations. It helps focus the issue on exactly what “edibility” means. Other than allergies, edibility does imply it will not kill you or harm you in any significant way. But “edibility” does not have to imply tasty. As forager Dick Deuerling used to say “there are a lot of edible plants. I only eat the good stuff.” There are also things that are just too woody or bitter to eat more than a sample of but are included in “edible.” And some plants have to be prepared correctly to be “edible.” Is the Monotropa uniflora edible? Yes. Does it taste good? Only if you’re really hungry. But that is understandable. The list of edible plants has to include everything from incredibly delicious food to only-if-I-were-starving food. Indian Pipes are closer to the famine food end of that list. You can read more about the Monotropa here.

Green Deane Forum

Tired of Facebook and want to identify a plant? The Green Dean Forum is up and running again. Have you come to dislike Facebook, then join us on the forum. Perhaps you’re looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk. There’s also more than weeds. The reference section has information for foraging around the world. There are also articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills from

You get the USB, not the key.

172-video USB would be a good end of spring present and is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out. The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy.  Most of the 172 USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page. That will take you to an order form. 

Now in  second printing.

EAT THE WEEDS, the book, 274 plants, 367 pages, index, nutrition charts and color photos. It’s available in many locations including Amazon.  Most of the entries include a nutritional profile.  It can also be ordered through AdventureKeen Publishing.

This is weekly newsletter #609. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

Ripe Gopher Apples, photo by Green Deane

Gopher apples are a chance upon wild edible. You can go for years not finding any, then find a patch abundant with the rare fruit. That was the case in Lori Wilson Park Cocoa Beach this past weekend where we found hundreds of ripe Gopher Apples. When I first started looking for the species it took me seven years before I found a ripe fruit to taste. The species is salt and fire tolerant but difficult to grow. ALso the species’ name was recently changed from Licania michauxii to Geobalanus oblongifolius, the latter not an improvement nor widely accepted. What gopher apples taste like is quite fluid ranging from bubble gum to soft plastic. Over-eating gopher apples might interrupt one’s heart rhythms particularly if eaten with tallow plums.

More controversial yet easy to identify is the two-leaf nighshade, or armatillo aka Solanum diphyllum. Suspected in the poisoning of children and cattle most references say it is not edible but I know several adults who nibble on the ripe fruit. They contain solanine. The problem with children is that they are small and tend to eat way too many berries where as adults eat one or two. (Cattle also eat stems and leaves.) Like sweet mild little tomatoes a few ripe ones do not seem to bother adults (avoid if you have an allergy to the nightshade family.) Possible symptoms of poisoning are nausea, vomiting, and gastrointestinal distress. Skin can also manifest redness, itching and a rash. Long term use can cause liver damage. The fruit has been used as a laxative and green fruit externally for ring worm. Ripe fruit is also toxic to dogs. 

Foresteria berries, photo by Green Deane

Foresteria are in the olive family. And the fruit of one was used for ink. The fruit is bitter, but so too is the common olive without brining. One Foresteria, F. neo-mexicana, was used like olives. Thus I brined  F. legustrina fruit. Although small it had an acceptable flavor. Brining in this case meant soaking the fruit in salted water (10% solution) for a month and changing the solution every week. Salt is often used to reduce tannins and is part of the process of turning Java Plums into wine.

Tamarind fruit pulp and leaves are edible. Photo by Green Deane

Ripening now in different areas of the state are the aforementioned Java Plums. While fruiting heavily in the Port Charlotte area some fruit were just starting to ripen on the other side of the state in West Palm Beach. Astringent with tannins dozens of trees see their fruit rot on the ground every year, a similar situation with mango and star fruit trees. Also dropping fruit is the tamarind tree, usually used for seasoning the tart leaves are also edible. 

Foraging classes are held in rain but not hurricanes. Photo by Nermina Krenata

Foraging classes: Dodging tropical storms and hurricanes is normal for this time of year. Classes for this weekend were previously schedule and cancelled because of Tropical storm Debbie. Hurricane Ernesto is not predicted to bother us this weekend.

Saturday, August 17th John Chestnut County Park: 2200 East Lake Road, Palm Harbor, FL 34685. Meet at the trail head of the Peggy Park Nature Walk, pavilion 1 parking lot, 9 a.m. to noon.

Sunday August 18th, Red Bug Slough 5200 S. Beneva Road, Sarasota. 9 a.m. to noon, meet at the bathrooms.

Saturday, August 24th Mead Garden, 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  Meet at the bathrooms. 9 a.m. to noon.

Sunday August 25th, Boulware Springs Park, 3420 SE 15th St.,  Gainesville, FL 32641. Meet at the picnic tables next to the pump house. 9 a.m. to noon.

For more information on these classes, to prepay or sign up go here.  The cost is $30 per adult (the class is usually three hours long and examines five-dozen or so species.) If cost is a hardship email me at: GreenDeane@gmail.com. 

Controversial Peppervine.

Putting on black fruit now is the controversial Pepper Vine, Ampelopsis arborea. It is closely related to the edible grape but also closely related to the toxic Virginia Creeper. It’s one of those plants that some folks say is definitely toxic and others say definitely edible. My personal experience is that it is not edible but I know some credible foragers who say they have eating the ripe berries for a long time with no issue. No doubt the problem has to do with annual calcium oxalate production. In small amounts it’s tolerable. In higher concentrations it can cause skin problems or internally upset digestion. Pepper Vine (so-called because the fruit can give a pepper-like burn) apparently can make little to a lot of the chemical each year, varying greatly. Another possibility is method of preparation. Some people juice the berries and let the juice sit in the refrigerator which allows the acid to precipitate. The juice is then carefully decanted through two coffee filters and used. If you do so proceed with caution. The other caution is that Pepper Vine and Wild Grapes can grow intertwined and you can get some Pepper Vine fruit in with your grapes. This also can happen with Virginia Creeper. Pick your grapes carefully.

Coffee Cherries are edible and nutritious.

An edible commercial species one sees now and then locally is coffee. We all know you can roast the seeds, but the red ripe fruit is very tasty. We also have two wild coffee species, their fruit is edible but unremarkable. The seeds are not edible, are a laxative, and have no caffeine. Cultivated coffee can be found from at least mid-state to the southern end, usually in someone’s yard. Get permission to harvest. 

Green Deane Forum

Tired of Facebook or You Tube banning you? At least once a month or once a week, those media ban me, the last time because I wrote I wanted to kill all the ants in my back yard. The Green Dean Forum won’t ban you if you want to kill ants. Are you looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk. There’s also more than weeds. The reference section has information for foraging around the world. There are also articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills.

You get the USB, not the key.

172-video USB would be a good end of spring present and is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out. The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy.  Most of the 172 USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page. That will take you to an order form. 

Now in  second printing.

EAT THE WEEDS, the book, 274 plants, 367 pages, index, nutrition charts and color photos. It’s available in many locations including Amazon.  Most of the entries include a nutritional profile.  It can also be ordered through AdventureKeen Publishing.

Tindora, or Ivy Gourd, is a hated and appreciated escaped vegetable. Photo by Green Deane

Tindora is ripening now which mean there’s plenty of green fruit to eat. Looking like short fat cucumbers Tindora is used like cucumbers until it ripens, then it is more like a sweet red pepper in taste and nutrition. On the invasive plant hit list tindora is basically disease resistant and does not have to be planted every year. 

This is weekly newsletter #607. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

The Arils of the Podocarpus are ripening. Photo by Green Deane

Wild Grapes are coming into season a little early this year. This single-tendril species tends to be high in acid. Photo by Green Deane

April is a target month for many ripening edibles locally. July seems to be the runner up, this year. During foraging classes in coastal regions we have found ripe tallow plums and grapes.  The latter are usually ripe in September and tallow plums throughout the fall. We’ve also found chanterelles but they are more dependent on seasonal rain.  Also some wild plums are still producing, getting ripe and falling of the trees. Podocarpus arils and gopher apples are ripening and poised for next month are saw palmetto berries. Sea Grapes are usually in September. They are protected, not because they are rare, but the species helps to hold dunes in place.

As I had an excess of tallow plums locally, I tried dehydrating them and was quite unsuccessful. They took an excessive amount of time to dry, and rotted easily. I could not find any preservation information from Ethiopia or Brazil where the fruit are very popular. This did afford me an opportunity to taste the dried seeds, which have been eaten sparingly as they are a laxative and used as a spice. Their flavor was unremarkable and would be suitable for plain food if they weren’t diarrhea inducing. There is nothing to recommend the seeds as a spice. 

Foraging classes are held rain, shine, hot or cold. Photo by Nermina Krenata

Foraging Classes: The weather may or may not cooperate this weekend. Saturday’s class in Palm Harbor is probably not in doubt. Sunday’s class in Sarasota depends on the amount of rain. Light showers is fine, hurricane downpour is not. Rain doesn’t bother me but it can dissuade students. 

Saturday, August 3rd John Chestnut County Park: 2200 East Lake Road, Palm Harbor, FL 34685. Meet at the trail head of the Peggy Park Nature Walk, pavilion 1 parking lot, 9 a.m. to noon.

Sunday August 4th, Red Bug Slough 5200 S. Beneva Road, Sarasota. 9 a.m. to noon, meet at the bathrooms. Tropical storm Debby will probably force this class to be cancelled. 

Saturday August 10th, Lori Wilson Park, 1500 N. Atlantic Avenue, Cocoa Beach Fl,  meet at the middle bathrooms by the large parking lot. 9 a..m.

Sunday August 11th, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 33405. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet just north of the science center.

For more information on these classes, to prepay or sign up go here.  The cost is $30 per adult (the class is usually three hours long and examines five-dozen or so species.) If cost is a hardship email me at: GreenDeane@gmail.com. 

As the Ground Cherry ripens the husk turns golden. Photo by Green Deane

Rummaging about a mowed river bank  we recently found Coastal Ground Cherries, Physalis angustifolia. Their husks were gold to a tan, dry and papery. Inside the fruit was deep yellow to gold, tangy in taste. Ground cherries ripen from green to gold, getting sweeter and tangier as they go along. But they can often have a bitter aftertaste either from being under ripe or some species just retain some bitterness. A little aftertaste of bitterness is okay but the best is when there is none. Thus one always tastes a ripe ground cherry then you wait a minute or so for any bitterness to appear. While locally Ground Cherries can fruit nearly all year, they do produce a spring and fall crop. In cooler climes — most of North America — they just have one season ripening in late summer and fall. Here our fall crop tends to be better than our spring one. Spring ground cherries can rot on the plant or get damaged by insects and that is also when I tend to find more bitter ones. But this time of year brings out the best in ground cherries. One can find whole, undamaged, very ripe Ground Cherries in significant numbers. You can make a pie out of them if you can manage to get some home uneaten. Incidentally there is a second local ground cherry that resembles the Coastal Ground Cherry. It’s Physalis walteri, also known as Starry-Hair Ground Cherry and Sand Cherry. It has star-shaped hairs on the lower edges of the leaf which are visible with a hand lens. Still has edible berries, however as does P. angulata, and other common Ground Cherry. Some people like to grow P. angulata  in their garden. To read more about Ground Cherries go here.

Ripe and unripe Kousa Dogwood fruit. Photo by Green Deane

In the backwoods of Maine where I grew up Dogwoods were small. Perhaps the weather and the species conspired to make them inconspicuous. They did not prepare me for more flamboyant Dogwoods including Kousa. A popular ornamental and escapee, Kousa Dogwood does have edible fruit. Whether you will like it or not is a different debate. When I was in North Carolina studying mushrooms at an agricultural center I noticed the landscaping around the main center was quite coiffured. But next to a lower parking lot where the forest met the pavement was a Kousa Dogwood happily invading the harrow agricultural ground. They were not originally planted for their fruit but rather their attractive blossoms. By the way, one of the ways to identify a Dogwood is to carefully tear a leaf apart across the veins. A latex in them will form threads and hold the two separated parts of the leaf together on white webs. To read more about the Kousa Dogwood go here.  

Canna can grow in a garden or a pond.

When it comes to plants you can see something for a long time but not see it. That was my experience with Canna. In the late 80’s a friend of mine had Canna planted along her house. As she was from Taiwan I presumed — like most of the plants around her home — they were native to Asia. As it turned out I was just one in a very long line of people thinking this native of the Americas was actually Asian. I didn’t make the connection to local Canna because the two species have different blossoms, one skinny and red, the other fat and yellow. But then one day while fishing along the St. Johns River east of  Sanford I saw a large stand of “native” Canna and investigated. There are several edible parts to the Canna including the roots. The hard seeds, however, have been used as a substitute for buckshot… they are that hard. You can read more about this peripatetic beauty here. 

Green Deane Forum

Tired of Facebook and want to identify a plant? The Green Dean Forum is up and running again. Have you come to dislike Facebook, then join us on the forum. Perhaps you’re looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk. There’s also more than weeds. The reference section has information for foraging around the world. There are also articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills from

You get the USB, not the key.

172-video USB would be a good end of spring present and is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out. The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy.  Most of the 172 USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page. That will take you to an order form. 

Now in  second printing.

EAT THE WEEDS, the book, 274 plants, 367 pages, index, nutrition charts and color photos. It’s available in many locations including Amazon.  Most of the entries include a nutritional profile.  It can also be ordered through AdventureKeen Publishing.

This is weekly newsletter #607. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

Soon most Saw Palmetto Berries will be turning gold then black. Photo by Green Deane.

If you know where to look there’s plenty of “pickings” now. Ripening now and starting their several month run are Tallow plums. We collected many in Melbourne last week, as well as wild grapes. The single tendral species are a couple of weeks ahead of the usual season. And with green grapes also on the vine there is the promise of more to come. 

Unripe gopher apple fruit, photo by Green Deane

Not ripe yet are Gopher Apples though there’s plenty to be found. There is one precaution: Eating many gopher apples and tallow plums at the same time might temporarily affect one’s heart rhythm. I know of one such report, from years ago. What is  not known is was it the combination or eating a lot (12) of each species that triggered the temporary arrhythmia, or something else. Also seen on the bush profilically now are saw palmetto berries. They are mostly green now. They will turn golden in August and black by September, and will be at their best (if there is such a thing.) Strong-flavored, Chef Steven Carter tells me they can be used to make a false blue cheese dressing. In 1692 they were describe as tasting like “rotten cheese soaked in tobacco juice.” Java plums are also fruiting heavily, early for them. Podocarpus arils are also ripening. 

Foraging classes are held rain, shine, hot or cold. Photo by Nermina Krenata

Foraging classes: First an apology. I missed last Saturday’s class because I spent most of Friday night in the Emergency Room. Explanation below. For the next two weekend we will be trying to avoid Big Rain

Saturday, July 27th, Spruce Creek Park, 6250 Ridgewood Ave. Port Orange. Meet at the pavilion , 9 a.m. to noon. 

Sunday, July 28th, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  Meet at the bathrooms. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Saturday, August 3rd John Chestnut County Park: 2200 East Lake Road, Palm Harbor, FL 34685. Meet at the trail head of the Peggy Park Nature Walk, pavilion 1 parking lot, 9 a.m. to noon.

Sunday August 4th, Red Bug Slough 5200 S. Beneva Road, Sarasota. 9 a.m. to noon, meet at the bathrooms.

No birds were harmed in production of this story. Photo by Green Deane.

Florida is not the lightning capital of the world but it gets my vote, eh… or volt. At quarter past 8 p.m. on Friday July 19th, I was involved with a lightning bolt. Despite what our eyes tell us most lightning goes from the ground up. I mention that because I cannot remember the bolt that struck me. I have a small chicken hut with an attached wire cage. It is located between a one-story house and two typical Florida Live Oak Trees. I lock the birds in every night because of predators, specifically bobcats, raccoons and possums. A strong overhead thunder storm had lessened and the rain lightened. Carrying an umbrella I went out to close up the birds, which requires me to bend over or get on my knees. Suddenly I felt the electricity traveling through both hands on the umbrella shaft, and my barefeet with the wet ground. As I grew up with electrical fences I recognized the feeling immediately though it felt like 220 volts not 120 and it lasted longer than a fence shock. I yelled “no” and thew the umbrella away. There was a light yellow glow in the area. And things were blurry. The juice stopped, I checked my pulse — still had one — then went to the emergency room to be sure leaving Saturday morning at 4 a.m., Which is why I missed the class as it was too late to leave and arrive on time and I stayed up all night. I had to wait for two blood tests. Apparently when there is a serious electrical injury certain heart proteins are affected and can be detected in the blood. I passed.

Magnolia blossom. Photo by Green Deane

Is it time to rethink Magnolias? The leaves of Magnolia grandiflora can be used like a bay leaf and the blossoms lacto-fermented into a condiment (quite popular in England.) M. grandiflora is not the best leaf in the wild for flavoring, however. That distinction goes to a relative, M. virginana, also known as the Sweet Bay. It’s among the easiest of trees to identify. As I have been making wine I pondered making a test gallon of Magnolia Blossom Mead… Magnolia scent and honey…  It temps the senses nicely in theory but… The first point is mead. It’s made from honey and takes a long time to ferment. What materials you have in the mead stay in there for a long time. So, if you are going to add cinnamon you only need to add a little because it all gets extracted over time. I am making some Juniper Berry Mead now. Maybe it will be ready next year. Wine can be much different. If you make a fruit wine the fruit is in the “must” for about a week only. It’s an overlay flavor not the total focus. Wine is today, mead is tomorrow. With Magnolia Blossom Mead in mind I picked 580 grams of M. grandiflora blossoms. As I didn’t want them sitting in the mead for months or years I brought them to boil in a gallon of water then let them cool. The resulting tea was exceptionally bitter and vegetative tasting. Not the best candidate for mead or wine. Plan B: Magnolia Blossoms sparingly might be a good hops replacement in making beer and give a nice nose, too. The bitterness of the M. grandiflora raised another possibility: The Sweet Bay blossoms might be a better choice. That is Plan C. I’ll collect some of those blossom and give them a go. 

Green Deane Forum

Tired of Facebook and want to identify a plant? The Green Dean Forum is up and running again. Have you come to dislike Facebook, then join us on the forum. Perhaps you’re looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk. There’s also more than weeds. The reference section has information for foraging around the world. There are also articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills from

You get the USB, not the key.

172-video USB would be a good end of spring present and is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out. The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy.  Most of the 172 USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page. That will take you to an order form. 

Now in  second printing.

EAT THE WEEDS, the book, 274 plants, 367 pages, index, nutrition charts and color photos. It’s available in many locations including Amazon.  Most of the entries include a nutritional profile.  It can also be ordered through AdventureKeen Publishing.

This is weekly newsletter #606. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

Part of a pond apple blossom. Be on the lookout for. Subsequent fruit is edible Photo by Green Deane

Tallow plums ripen to yellow, and sweeten. Photo by Green Deane

It will be a few months before we can eat them because the tallow plum is setting  fruit. Sweet with a hint of lemon when ripe we’ll start finding ripe ones near the end of summer. A commercial fruit in other parts of the world, it is a very under utilized wild food locally. (My picture of an unripe fruit and blossom would not load.)

Tallow Plum, Ximenia americana, is a native shrub that many rangers and grounds keepers don’t recognize, thus it is often removed when an area is cleared of “non-native” species. Also little is known about the species, such as whether it is a clone, parasitic or semi-parasitic (on oaks and pines.) It has also been called the American plum, blue sour plum, monkey plum, mountain plum, seaside plum, Spanish plum, wild plum, hog plum, and yellow plum though it is not a plum but its leaves can be bluish. Other names include pepenance, coastal prune, spiny prune, Brazilian apricot, spiny apricot, wild apricot, little apricot and little wild apricot though it is not a prune nor an apricot.  Then there is ocean cherry, wild cherry and cherry — no, it is not a cherry either; sea lemon, seaside lemon, wild orange, and wild lime…and no it is not a citrus. Others prefer devil’s apple, fiddle apple, little apple and wild quince. Yes, you guessed it again: It is not an apple or any apple relative. Some even call it the Wild Olive. No, it is not related to the olive but it is in the Olax family. Olive/olax… tenuous at best. There is also a darker side with names like purge-nut, cagalera (diarrhea) and fransman moppe (Frenchman’s complaint) a reference to what too many of the seeds can do.

It got the name Tallow Plum because of the waxy texture of the fruit. Botanically it is Ximenia americana (that’s hem-MAY-nee-uh a-mer-ih-KAY-na.) It was named for the Spanish monk Francisco Ximenez, a native of Luna in the Kingdom of Aragon. Americana means of the Americas.

Chickasaw Plums are starting to ripen. Photo by Green Deane

Chickasaw plums are usually out of season by the fourth of July, but this year things are a bit late so the fruit is still ripening on the tree.

In the 1800’s there was great interest in making cultivars out of native plums (as they did apples) and by 1901 there were over 300 of them. But mechanization of fruit production in the early 1900’s led growers away from the native varieties though there has been some interest of late to use the native plums again as a high-value specialty crop.

Besides man the Chickasaw Plum’s fruit is eaten by deer, bear, fox and raccoon. The thorny thicket is valuable for songbird and game bird nesting including the bobwhite and mockingbird. It also makes a good wind break and can be used for erosion control. The plum, extensively used, was taken where ever the Chickasaw people went. It has many local names. While usable, the Flatwood Plum, is not prime foraging food. Its quality can vary from tree to tree, rarely rising to the gustatory level of the Chickasaw Plum. The American Plum was also used by the natives.

Foraging classes are held rain, shine, hot or cold. Photo by Nermina Krenata

Foraging Classes: The schedule is hopeful as we dodge hurricanes this time of year. 

Saturday, July 6th, Blanchard Park, 2451 Dean Rd, Union Park, FL 32817, meet by the tennis courts. 9 a.m. to noon.

Sunday, July 7th, John Chestnut County Park: 2200 East Lake Road, Palm Harbor, FL 34685. Meet at the trail head of the Peggy Park Nature Walk, pavilion 1 parking lot, 9 a.m. to noon.

Saturday, July 13th, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  Meet at the bathrooms. 9 a.m. to noon.

Sunday, July 14th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte, Meet at Bayrhore and Ganyard Street. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Saturday, July 20th, Spruce Creek Park, 6250 Ridgewood Ave. Port Orange. Meet at the pavilion , 9 a.m. to noon. 

Sunday, July 21st, Wickham Park: 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, meet at the dog park. 9 a.m. to noon. 

For more information on these classes, to prepay or sign up go here.  The cost is $30 per adult (the class is usually three hours long and examines five-dozen or so species.) If cost is a hardship email me at: GreenDeane@gmail.com. 

Is it edible? Yes, no, maybe… The Chinese Tallow tree is both banned and championed. It’s edibility is also linked to why it’s even in the United States to begin with.  The tree was imported by none other than Ben Franklin (well… he sent some seeds to a friend.)  The purpose was to use the white external seed fat for making candles which used beef suet, tallow. Hence the tree’s name in English. In theory the coating of saturated fat on the outside of the seed is edible. It is also very stable. But there are two problems. It can be very difficult to remove and inside the seed there is an oil toxic to humans. So the fat and the oil should not mix. Some people have experimented with crushing the entire seed and heating the mash thus melting the saturated fat along with releasing the toxic oil. When they cool the edible fat and the non-edible oil separate, the edible fat turning solid, the seed oil remaining liquid.  In China, where the tree is valued,  the white saturated fat is steamed off the seed. The tree, while an invasive species in some areas of North America — such as Florida — is being considered as a good candidate for bio-fuel. You can read my article about it here about it here. A later magazine article about the species is here.   

Edible Boletes. Photo by Green Deane

Mushroom hunters  like to say all boletes in Florida are edible, including the Pulchroboletus rubricitrinus.  (Most mushrooms do not have common names.) This red-capped bolete stains blue, has a slightly tart flavor and no netting on the stem, that’s important. The stem can have dots or smears but no netting. It likes sandy soil and grows in oak or oka-pine woods. Drops of household ammonia turns the cap skin olive colored. This bolete is a common find in lawns in Texas and Florida.

Tired of Facebook and want to identify a plant? The Green Dean Forum is up and running again. Have you come to dislike Facebook, then join us on the forum. Perhaps you’re looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk. There’s also more than weeds. The reference section has information for foraging around the world. There are also articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills from

You get the USB, not the key.

172-video USB would be a good end of spring present and is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out. The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy.  Most of the 172 USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page. That will take you to an order form. 

Now in  second printing.

EAT THE WEEDS, the book,274 plants, 367 pages, index, nutrition charts and color photos. It’s available in many locations including Amazon.  Most of the entries include a nutritional profile.  It can also be ordered through AdventureKeen Publishing.

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