False Hawk’s Beard can have blossoms in all stages. Photo by Green Deane

Crepis Japonica: Seasonal Potherb

If the Crepis fits….wear….ah…eat it

Crepis japonica gets no respect. When I wrote this original article seven years ago you couldn’t find Crepis japonica in field guides on edible plants. And there was very little of substance about it on the Internet other than its name. The same can also be said for its edible cousins, Crepis setosa, Crepis runcinata, Crepis glauca, Crepis capilaris, Crepis bursifolia, Crepis vesicaria and Crepis tectorum.  My point, there’s an edible Crepis near you.

Crepis japonica basal rosette. Photo by Green Deane

All these Crepis have little variations, and some are more or less bitter than the others, but they are found across North America, Europe and Asia. For such an edible group they are barely known. While this article is about the Crepis japonica there is in North America: Crepis capilaris, the Smooth Hawksbeard which is found in most northern states; Crepis glauca or Crepis runcinata, the Fiddle Leaf Hawksbeard which is found along the Rocky Mountains through the United States into Canada; Crepis tectorum, the Narrow Leaf Hawksbeard which is found in the upper half of the United States and Canada; Crepis setosa, the Bristly Hawksbeard, found in a smattering of states of no particular pattern; Crepis vesicaria, the Beaked Hawksbeard, which is found along both coasts of the United States, and Crepis bursifolia, the Italian Hawksbeard, which is found in California, and Europe. Crepis japonica is found from about Pennsylvania south in to the South and west to Texas, also in Asia.  What can be said of one, applies to the others and they are used in similar ways.

Crepis leaves resemble crepe paper

My local Crepis, C. japonica (KREP-is juh-PAWN-ih-kuh) might not get much attention because they changed its name from”Japanese sandal” which was kind of cute, to ” Japanese Young” or Youngia japonica (YOUNG-ee-ah) honoring which botanist I’ve never been able to find out.) Also being called the Oriental False Hawksbeard doesn’t help. But no matter what you call it, or them, the plants do just fine and are excellent potherbs.

Personally, I prefer the name Crepis japonica than Youngia or  hawksbeard. Youngia sounds a bit contrived and I have always associated “hawksbeard”  with a totally different plant in a different area of the country.

Crepis japonica’s continuous blossoms. Photo by Green Deane

As for the word “Crepis” we know that Theophrastus, the immediate successor to Aristotle in Athens, mentioned the plant by this name some 2,300 years ago, as did Pliny some 400 years later in Rome. But English-speaking botanists say they don’t know why the genus was named Crepis. They use the phrase “lost to history” to explain that when perhaps they should admit they are linguistically challenged: Knowing a non-speaking, dead form of writing — Latin —  doesn’t count towards linguistic proficiency.

Three possibilities are usually offered in English for the word “crepis” (krepis) two of which are not convincing. The first definition is that it describes a step at ancient Greek temples, what we would call a fancy doorstep. I have not been able to confirm “Krepis” ever referred to a temple step, and neither can a Greek professor of Greek I know

Crepis biennis as insects see it, Bjørn Rørslett – NN/Nærfoto

A more common ascription is that “krepis” means slipper or sandal, some say boot.  Again, research in Greek does not bear that out.  But it is getting closer.  A secondary use of “krepis” in non-demotic Greek is for the soft leather that makes up the soul of a shoe, back when shoes were more like pointy moccasins. And if you have fantastic eyesight and imagination the seed of the C. japonica might look like a slipper or a sandal. But that is looking very hard for an answer.

Crepis capillaris

The primary use of the word “krepis” in non-demotic Greek was for a textured light cloth that had various uses including veils. From there it went into Dead Latin as “crispus, or, “crisp” meaning curled and wrinkled. Then to French and lastly to English as  “crepe” as in “crepe paper.”  And indeed the leaves of the C. japonica and the rest, are curled and wrinkled. Crepis explained. You read it here first in 2011 …. lost to history… what nonsense. The more I live the more I think academics are lost inside their ivory towers, or like well frogs: They know only the bottom of their well and the tiny patch of sky above.

The local Crepis, C. japonica, is native to Japan and China and was first mentioned in the United Sates in 1831. It is now found throughout the world, and in many places it grows year round.

Crepis runcinata

There are about 200 Crepis worldwide and a couple of dozen in the United States. At least six are known to make a good potherb if not better than sow thistle and wild lettuce (read my separate articles about Sonchus and Lactuca which is one of several articles I have on wild lettuce.)  One writer refers to Crepis as “bitter”  but that has not been my experience. In fact, it’s very mild — when picked young and tender. Granted, however, bitterness may vary among species.

As you can see by the photos, it’s a low rosette with a long and skinny flower stock topped by small, dandelion-like yellow flowers, which are rather distinctive.  It can blossom, seed and drop old blossoms all at the same time. And, when in seed the Crepis blossom resembles a miniature puffy, slightly ratty dandelion, about one fifth the size.

Crepis tectorum

It might be easy to overlook Crepis in some landscapes but it tends to grow in colonies so you’ll spot a small stand of tall stalks with yellow flowers. It likes grassy areas and does not tolerate mowing well. The roundish dandelion-like leaves are shiny above, soft and dull underneath if not downy. Sometimes some edges of the leaves are decorated with a little dark trim. Veins are pronounced in the leaves, which curl on the edge. “Hawksbeard” also tends to have the same growing season as sow thistle and wild lettuce. Whilst you’re out collecting them keep your eye out for the “Japanese Sandal.”

Crepis bursaefolia

While C. Japonica can be found as far north as Pennsylvania, it’s more common in the southern United States where it’s considered an invasive weed. But, isn’t that a matter of perspective? It could also be considered a free beneficial crop, along with many other plants. In fact, one study found up to two-thirds of what we call weeds in an urban setting are edible. And let us not forget, any insect that likes a dandelion, such as a nectar-seeking bee, will find the Crepis familiar territory.

Despite its low profile, figuratively and literally, Crepis might have the last laugh. It has anticancer and antiviral “activities.”  A 2003 study in China showed a hot water extract of Crepis japonica inhibited cell proliferation and growth with human leukemia cells, mouse cancer cells, influenza A virus and herpes simplex type 1. An alcohol extract also worked but to a lesser degree. They think the “antiviral ingredients were likely to contain phenolic compounds including tannins….”

Not bad for a little weed that gets no respect.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile:False Hawksbeard

IDENTIFICATION: Crepis japonica: Flower: In the composite family, disk flower resembling a dandelion; Fruit; See seed. Leaves: oblong, soft, wrinkled and curly, often tinged red on the edge. Stem: Round, fuzzy, skinny, up to two feet. Seed: Seeds look like a miniature dandelion puff ball, several on one stem. Root: tap root vertical.

TIME OF YEAR: Springtime, can persist into warmer months in southern states and again in the fall through winter

ENVIRONMENT: Moist, semi-shaded to sunny areas, sandy to rich, soil, likes grassy areas and unmaintained lawns.

METHOD OF PREPARATION: Young leaves can be eaten raw, better cooked as a potherb, very mild when young, boil for 10 minutes or longer.

Black Medic resembles hop clover. Photo by Green Deane.

Medicago Lupulina: Grain and Potherb

I debated a long time whether to include Black Medic as an edible. There are several plants in that category and over time I usually land on one side or the other. Black Medic is one of them.

Black Medic itself has not been implicated in any disease that I currently know of. But one of its relatives and at least one chemical it contains has. Not exactly a smoking gun but where there is warmth there might be fire.

Black Medic, an old world edible

Black Medic is a species in the Medicago genus. Some Medicagos (Alfalfa for example) might present a health risk because they have L-canavanine.  It’s an amino acid which can cause abnormal blood cell counts, spleen enlargements, or a recurrence of lupus in those who had the disease under control. Seeds and sprouts have more L-canavanine than leaves or roots. One qualifier: Heated alfalfa did not appear to cause any problems, and the thinking is heating the L-canavanine destroys its potential toxic activity.  The seeds of the Black Medic might also contain trypsin inhibitors that could reduce nutritional qualities. Sprouting the seeds might eliminate that purported problem. It’s all rather iffy.

Alfalfa also has some estrogenic components, so it is not recommended for pregnant women or children, and it also increases the clotting ability of your blood, or decreases the effectiveness of such drugs as Warfarin/Coumadin. Lastly Alfalfa sprouts can appear fresh yet contain a multitude of bacteria so they are not recommended for children, those with chronic disease, or the elderly. It would seem cooking the Medicago genus is a good idea. So, if you are a healthy young man you might be able to eat a Medicago now and then and be none the worse for it. But what about Black Medic? The answer is no one really knows. 

Dried seed head

A report that California Indians used to eat the seeds of the Black Medic is a curious one. They parched them or ground them into a flour.  The seeds can be beaten off ripe inflorescences over a sheet or the like to collect them.  In Eurasia, where the plant is native, it was used as a potherb.  Black Medic is first mentioned in the early United States in a seed catalog in Pennsylvania in 1807. The plant went west with the expansion of the nation. Oddly there seems to be no mention of the Indians eating it as a potherb (they only ate the seeds) nor any mention of Eurasians eating the seeds (they only ate the foliage.)  Need could dictate that, poor record keeping, wrong questions asked, or how the plant was being used the day the chronicler visited.

According to the well-known Dr. James Duke (Medicinal Plants of China) nutritionally the leaves of the Black Medic are rather high in protein for a green. Three ounces has about 23.3 grams of protein, 3.3 of fiber and 10.3 of ash. In milligrams they have 1330 mg of calcium, 300 mg of Phosphorus, 450 mg of magnesium and 2280 mg of potassium.

Botanically the Black Medic is Medicago lupulina. Medicago (med-ik-KAY-goh) is Greek bastardized through Dead Latin. Some say the Greeks imported a grass (alfalfa) from Media (Persia now Iran.) Some say the Medes brought it with them when they invaded Greece. Regardless the Greeks called it “median grass” which in Greek is μηδική (said mee-thee-KEE.) The Romans’ called it Medica. That got botanized into Medicago when combined with agere, to bring.

Lupulina is Latin for “little wolf.  Origin of the term is a bit contorted. The Black Medic blossom resembles Hops (Humulus lupulus  which means “low wolf.” That hops in Germany often climbed on the Willow Wolf Tree, Lupus silicarius (wolf with silica.) That double hint towards lupus ended up Lupulina.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile: Black Medic

IDENTIFICATION: Medicago lupulina: Multi-branched, slender, prostrate, slightly hairy stems, 12 to 24 inches long, spreads low to the ground, does not root from nodes. Leaflets of three, center leaflet on separate petiole and longer than other two. Resembles hop clover but has longer leafstalk, leaflets often bristle-tipped. Tightly coiled one-seed black pod.  Re Black Medic and Hop Clover: Stems of M. lupulina are downy (they have white hairs.) The stems of Trifolium. dubium are almost hairless and more reddish.

TIME OF YEAR: Flowers April to August, seeds ripen July to September. Not frost tender.

ENVIRONMENT: Roadsides, waste areas.

METHOD OF PREPARATION: Seeds parched and or ground into flower. Leaves as a potherb. Chewy. Should be cooked.

Western Tansy Mustard. Photo by Green Deane

Descurainia pinnata: Abandoned Seed

What shall we call this little member of the Brassica family? Western Tansy Mustard or Tansy Mustard? We could always opt for its scientific name: Descurainia pinnata (des-kur-AY-nee-ah  pin-AY-tah.)

I am hesitant to call it the Western Tansy Mustard because it definitely grows here in eastern Central Florida, that’s hardly west unless you’re living in Europe. It’s our native tansy mustard vs. a European import (which is why it’s called “western.”)

It shares many of the characteristics of a subset of members of that popular family: Small edible leaves, spicy seeds in pods, rangy growth, the ability to survive in dry areas, and four-petaled yellow flowers resembling a cross.

Blossoms of western tansy mustard

Other writers say older leaves of tansy mustard are edible cooked but bitter. They say as young spring greens can be salty. I have found them to be neither bitter nor salty and edible raw as well as cooked though the raw texture is a bit cottony. The seed pods are an interesting nibble and can be pickled but they are tiny. The seeds are edible raw or cooked and have been used as piñole. The seeds can also be used to flavor soups, as a condiment ground into a powder mixed with cornmeal, used to make bread or to thicken soups and stews. In Mexico the seeds are made into a drink with lime juice, claret and sweet syrup. That’s a lot for such a minute seed. Medically natives ground up the seeds and used them in the treatment of stomach complaints. A poultice of the entire plant was used to ease the pain of toothache. An infusion of the leaves was used as a wash on sores.

The D. pinnata grows from Quebec to British Columbia, Florida to California, and south into Mexico including Chihuahua, Sinaloa, and Sonora. It was more used by Western Indian tribes than eastern because the eastern diet was supplanted by beans, maize and squash.

The Tansy Mustard was a major plant for various Indian communities. The Hohokam cultivated the plant, the Maricopa and Quechan baked the young greens in pits. They would alternate layers of greens and hot rocks then cover the top with earth. Of prime use, however, were the seeds, They were eaten by the Atsugewi, Cahuilla, Cocopa, Gosiute, Hopi, Kawaiisu, Keres, Maricopa, Mojave, Navajo, Paiute, Papago, Pima, and Quechan. Up to a century ago the seeds were still sold in large quantities near Indian villages. That’s rather amazing since the seed is about the size of the eye of a needle.

Typical preparation of the seeds was to collect them when ripe. The plants heads were shaken into baskets to collect the microscopic seeds. They were then mixed with water and eaten like a mush (they are a bit mucilagenous, perhaps why they settle tummies.) Another way was to grind them and mix with cold water and sugar, much as the modern drink is still made.

Interestingly the Pima also used the seeds to remove foreign objects from the eye. They would put one seed in the eye and it would bring out the offending debris, so they say. I’m not sure putting a mustard seed in the eye is a good idea. They can be spicy. Another non-culinary use was the Hopi mixed the ground seed with iron to make a pigment for pottery.

The Descurainia genus honors Francois Descurain, 1658-1740, a French botanist and pharmacist.  “Pinnata” is from the Latin word for “feather”, describing the finely cut leaves.  “Tansy” comes from the Greek word “Athanasia” meaning “immortal” in that its blooms last a long time. “Mustard” comes from the Latin word “mustum” which means “young wine” read tart, rank and or bitter.

Lastly, the Tansy Mustard is toxic to livestock in more than small quantities, especially if there is a lot of selenium in the soil. It is difficult for humans, who are not grazers, to eat that much. Grazing cattle can go blind and die from it.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile

IDENTIFICATION: An annual cool-season forb to 2.5 feet high, usually single-stemmed, leafy, covered with fine, gray hairs. Leaves alternately along wavy stems, each divided into small segments. Flowers range from yellow to whitish, in long clusters at stem ends, four petals but oddly shaped. Very distinctive club-shaped fruit, long, round, slender, two-celled capsules filled with many small, waxy seeds. It’s a silique meaning it separates like a V-sign with your fingers but in between is a small tongue holding all the seeds.

TIME OF YEAR: Flowers January to July depending upon climate, seeds pods follow quickly.

ENVIRONMENT: Plains, hills, disturbed areas, does very well in sandy soil and the desert.

METHOD OF PREPARATION: Young leaves as greens or older leaves cooked. Young leaves and seeds pods as a trail side nibble or for seasoning or pickling. Seeds have many uses including drinks, breads, mush, thickener and flavoring. It picks up selenium from the soil. 

Brookweed salad ingredient and source of vitamin C. Photo by Green Deane

Brookweed is an edible plant few know a lot about these days. Even Professor Daniel Austin, who managed to write 909 pages about ethnobotany, could only scrape up one paragraph.

Petals fuse part way down. Photo by Jan De Laet

Moerman does not mention the Brookweed in his book on Native American Food Plants. It escaped entry in Cornucopia II, the Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of North America, and Edible Wild Plants, the latter by Fernald who included some mighty off-beat species in his book such as Montropa uniflora, the Indian Pipes. Brookweed also managed to not be mentioned in the Journal of Economic Botany during the last 60 or so years. Most references skip over the genus (Samolus) going from Sambucus to Sassafras which is admittedly quite tempting. On the positive side the plant is also not mentioned in Plants that Poison People by Morton, Plants That Poison by Schmutz nor in the mystery writers’ bible Poisonous Plants of the United States and Canada by Kingbury.  Here’s Austin’s entry from page 596 of his book Florida Ethnobotany:

“This is another medical plant that Hogan (1978) found at the pre-Columbian Glades village at Ft. Center. Here, however, apparently is the only record of indigenous use of the plants in North America. Nearby in Cuba, Samolus is considered antiscorbutic and diaphoretic and is sometimes eaten in salads or as emergency food. (Roig 1945). Although no use is given for Samolus, its Huastec name associates it with an edible plant, suggesting that it, too, was eaten (Alcorn 1984.)”

Low-growing in wet spots. Photo by Bruce Patterson, New England Wildflower Society.

Brookweed, Samolus valerandi, has some history as an edible in Europe (as old books say it is found in the Old and the New World and even in Australia.) It grows in watery conditions and can tolerate some salinity. At least one related species tolerates high salinity. Young leaves are soft, spinach-like. When very young the leaves are bland but quickly develop a bitter flavor, which might explain their absence from the dinner menu but found in the home pharmacy. Like many such greens they were tossed into salads with a lot of other greens. In Catalonia, for example, it is a very common salad addition usually with two to three other greens. When cooked they are used the same way, an addition to not the main flavor of. In parts of Africa it is famine food, that is, eaten when preferred food is not available.

Medicinally S. valerandi has been used as an astringent, a laxative and  for scurvy so we know it has some ascorbic acid (vitamin C) but we don’t know how much. A 2004 publication, Plant Resources of Tropical Africa 2, states the plant’s nutritional and medicinal properties need to be researched. Brookweed was also often used to heal wounds, rashes, chaps, and ringworm. Close relatives, the Pimpernels, were used for dropsy, epilepsy even rabies. Locally Wunderlin enumerates two Samolus in Florida, S. valerandi subsp. paraviflorus, aka S. floribundus, and S. ebracteatus also called the Limewater Brookweed. Interestingly the word “brookweed” has been around in English since at least 1624. As Florida is wet and there aren’t that many brooks the name “Pineland Pimpernel” is as good as any other.

Worldwide distribution of Brookweed

There are about a dozen species in the Samolus genus and there is a bit of a debate on what the genus name means. It could be from the Gaelic meaning “ointment” or “plant salve.” Other translations include “Good Pig,” “Healthy Pig,” and “Pig Food.”  Or Samulos might be Dead Latin for some plant the Druids used for pig medicine. Pliny the Elder reported that in the first century. Perhaps the Druid/Gaelic words came first and the Dead Latin is only echoing that use. Pliny also reported there were superstitions associated with the plant and that was used as medicine for cattle. It was harvested only while fasting, only with the left hand, and was not  put anywhere “other than the trough where it is crushed.” Translations vary but what he wrote was: “Druidae Samolum herbam nominavere – hanc et sinistra manufactory legiti a jejunis counter morbos sum boumque, ne respicere legentem -”  The Druids believed Brookweed could make one invisible. (Apparenlty the conquering Romans did not believe that.) Because of the plant’s common name back then some early botanists thought the plant was from the Greek island of Samos. That’s probably not true but inhabitants there did make vases that resemble the plant’s leaf shape, and the plant is common on Crete.

A portrait of Anne Platt as a young woman

Valerandi is also from Dead Latin and means “full of strength.” The species was named after 16th century botanist Valerand Dourez of Lyon. An early publication, the Journal of British and Foreign Botanists, says Dourez was born in Lille, Flanders, and might have been related by marriage to the more famous botanist Johann Bauhin for whom Bauhinia is named. Though a botanist Dourez leaned towards the chemistry side. Today we would call him a pharmacist. His botanical travels included going to the Alps, Greece and Syria. In 1565 he married in Lyon then died there between 1571-75.  Samolus (Samole in French) was a tribute to Dourez by his French botanists friends. And there is also some disagreement whether his name is Valerand Dourez or Dourez Valerand.  I think this can be traced to a Victorian illustrator named Anne Platt (1806-1893)  who wrote and illustrated over 200 books. Though publicly very popular she was never accepted by the Good-Old-Boy botanists because

A later photograph of Anne Platt. To read about the Victorian’s Language of Flowers click here.

she was self-taught. In 1855 she wrote Flowering Plants of Great Britain and mentions Dourez in Volume 3 page 52. Later she repeats herself (posthumously) on page 79 in an 1899 book called Flowering Plants, Grasses, Sedges, and Ferns of Great Britain. It seems Platt is the first one to switch the names in print calling him Dourez Valerand. Unfortunately a 1985 book copied the mistake. Platt also reported that some earlier authors thought Dourez (rather than the plant) was from Samos. That is how someone who was born in Belgium and lived in France becomes on the internet a Greek from Samos with a reversed name.

Ebracteatus means without bracts, parviflorus means small leaf. Samolus in English is said SA-moe-lus or SAM-uh-lus. Valerandi is said va-LAIR-ann-dee though some might be tempted to say val-er-ANN-dee. Common names in English are the Pineland Pimpernel, Water Pimpernel, Water Chickweed, Seaside Brookweed (the name the USDA prefers) Salt Bunge, Water Rose, Water Cabbage, Florida Limewater Brookweed, and Kenningwort, the latter a rare use meaning “ulcer plant.” There is some speculation that Shakespeare mentioned it in Midsummers Night’s Dream when referencing “Dian’s Bud.” The Germans call it  Samoskraut, Dutch Strandpungen and the Danes Strandsamel.

Green Deane’s Itemized Plant Profile:  Brookweed

IDENTIFICATION: Samolus valerandi, low to short, creeping perennial; stems branched or unbranched, erect, light-veined leaves a basal rosette of oval, alternate along the stem. White blossoms, cup-shaped, stalked, borne in lax racemes; five petals joined at half way. S. ebracteustus does not have any bracts, flowers are 5-7 mm wide, stem leaves do not extend into the inflorescence. S. valerandi has minute bracts near the middle of the pedicle, the stem leaves extend into the inflorescence, blossoms are 2-3 mm wide. Grows eight to 10 inches high. Now in their own family, Samolaceae.

TIME OF YEAR: Flowers May to September depending on climate, young leaves when present. Small pods ripen, darken then turn brown.

ENVIRONMENT: Slow growing. Watery places, wet grasslands, edges of streams, ditches, can thrive in salty conditions. Given a choice it likes to grow on wet gravel. Can reproduce by seeds or by leaf bud. Some report it is difficult to grow. Can grow submerged. The plant’s habitat is diminishing in France and in some areas is protected.

METHOD OF PREPARATION: Young leaves raw or cooked.

Special thanks to Josey for some information used.