Wild Edibles - Is this Plantain?

[Becca]

For over a year I have been interested in wild edibles, but don't have much experience with it. I need to find someone local to me to walk around with me and let me know what plants are, as I don't really trust myself yet to identify plants from pen drawings in a book. I recently came across this plant near my garden, which I'm hoping is plantain - can anyone let me know what it is? I'd love to harvest this for my juice feast.

Thanks so much!

[James Thomas]

Thanks Sherlock - Becca , I am running into the same issue with identification. It could be Burdock too, which is also edible. Examining the geographics where you found it, as well as more thorough characteristics of the root and flowers can help a lot too. Even if you find someone, there are species that look like others. Keep loading up pictures of what you find, like the following:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burdock

[nicole anderson]

I am having the same problem but i believe I cracked the case. The belladonna plant is the plant you need to look for if it is growing around the vacinity of the burdock plant . Because I have been obsevebing the burdock plant and the belladonna plant grows in between the burdock plant looking like a bush This I believe is how it usually become mistaken as one plant instead of two. Because they grow so close together looking like one bush and the roots also look the same it is even harder to tell them apart.

If you find a burdock plant without a belladonna around the vacinity the chances are I believe you will be all right .

[James Thomas]

Because the roots of burdock closely resemble those of Deadly nightshade (also known as belladonna or Atropa belladonna), there is a risk that burdock preparations may be contaminated with these potentially dangerous herbs. Be sure to buy products from established companies with good reputations. Do not gather burdock in the wild unless you know what you are doing.

[Becca]

I have more photos - there are clumps of it everywhere - and then smaller leaves lower to the ground in some areas - I'm thinking it's the same thing but just younger plants. It looks like plantain, but I'm not sure. I shall dig one up next time I get out there & examine it.

We do have a lot of plants out here with burrs/thistles which is what the page you linked to says burdock has - but where I found these plants, I don't normally see any plants in this area - at least not last summer, so I am thinking that this is just a cool weather plant. I know there is a lot of yarrow, milk weed, pigweed, thistle out here - those I can identify, I just need some help with what everyone around here calls "weeds" - I only found one dandelion plant which I happily juiced 2 days ago - I've been searching for more. I assume there are new small plants around, but I've never really looked for them so I just don't know.

Here are two more photos of what my mystery plant - hoping its plantain or something I can juice : )

[Becca]

Thank you Julie! I think there is enough out there to have some in my juice every day of this 92 day feast, if indeed it is edible. I really hope it is :)

In my research online I have found two types of plantain - one broad leaf & one narrow leaf - here is a photo of the narrow leaf http://www.umassgreeninfo.org/fact_sheets/weed_herbarium/pop_ups/pl... - which is why I thought it might be plantain. I will do some research on dock now.

[steve doucet]

Hi Becca, it looks like yellow dock to me, which is a very cleansing and medicinal herb. One way to tell is to dig some up.Dock usually has a VERY tough and long tap root(almost impossible to pull out by hand), while plantain has a more dendritic, fibrous root system.I've never seen the narrow leaf plantain up here in british columbia, but one noticeable trait of the broad leaf plantain which might also be common to the narrow leaf plantain is the stringy fibre in the leaves...if you pinch a section of the leaf off a stringy fibre is usually revealed ( at least in the broad leaf plantain).I'm sure looking forward to being able to juice the weeds...there's still 2 feet of snow covering the weed seeds in my garden, but once the snow melts I'll be getting my 2lbs of leaafy greens from nettles, dandelions, pigweeds.I love weeds!

[Kat Bowie]

Hey Becca,

where do you live? I am here in Kansas City, MO, but have lived in Southeast Missouri in the Ozarks for the past 20 years. The picture that you showed is a member of the dock family. It looks like the burdock that we have in Missouri. Plantain has smooth edges, not jagged like the burdock. There is a long leaf and a short leaf variety that we have down here. Hope that helps some.

In Peace,
Kat Bowie

[beckx]

i live in new england and it doesn't look like the plantain that grows here... it could be a different species i've never seen, i guess, but plantain has broader leaves and grows in a cluster kind of flat to the ground and has these long thin green stems with seeds on them that grow up out of the center of the cluster. that also doesn't really look like burdock... i've never seen burdock grow in patches like that; it likes to grow on the edges of forests with partial shade and it gets very big (i've seen it grow 5 feet) in its second year (that's when you'll see burrs on it)... young burdock looks a lot like kale and the stuff around here usually has a slightly red/purple vein up the center.

actually looking at the second picture you posted there might be some plantain in that patch toward the upper left corner of the big patch (see those yellowish things sticking out of it?) but the mystery plant definitely isn't plantain.

[Becca]

Thank you everyone! I live in Oklahoma - in the central part - which is hilly w/ a lot of oak - not really farm land, although some people do farm here, but there are a lot of ranches & spreads like that. This is in an old corral that is barely ever used (maybe once a year for a few hours). I went into it to see if I could find some good dark soil under the old hay for my garden beds & I found mounds and mounds of this plant . Some are like the first pic that is an attachment, and then some is flat & low to the ground, I'm assuming much younger plants. All of these plants are fairly young.

I found a woman in my area online who gives classes on how to ID & forage plants - and she has a class in 2 weeks. I have emailed her & asked her to help me Id this plant & also to take the course. I'm very excited about it. There is so much untouched land out here - and I want to learn as much about it as I can (i'm originally from so cal, so this area is new to me). I will definitely let you all know what I find out - but please, if anyone else has opinions on it, please let me know.

[Becca]

I found someone to help me id the plant & he said it is Dock - which is what most of you also told me. I gathered some today & juiced it - drank it about 2 hours ago - don't feel ill yet - I did however save a few leaves of it just in case I need to hand them to a medical staff :)

He also told me that my garden area is full of lambs quarters, or will be soon. I'll be on the lookout for those as well. I am definitely going to walk around the area & see what else I can find and am toying with the idea of buying some seeds & starting off a lot of "wild" greens all over the place to see what comes up in the next few years..

[Amy Lynn]

hmmm...doesn't look like plantain to me at all. there are 2 common varieties in the area-and that doesn't match. definitely is not burdock either. the close up pic looks like dock to me, but dock doesn't usually clump up like that. i'd reccommend getting a good book guide to help. i'm actually in the action of trying to get together a local group to take out for field and woods id for wild edibles and medicinals. let me know if you'd like to go out some time to find some goodies. i live on 10 acres and would be happy to do a city walk too! take care, amy

[Becca]

Hi Amy Lynn,
Thanks so much for responding. I have in fact found out that is Dock - and I can really tell now that it has grown even larger. I can't believe how big it is. I have been juicing it at least once a week along with dandelion, shepherds purse and chickweed.

I know there are so many more wild edibles out here - I am trying to find someone here locally to walk around with me and show me everything that I have. I'm in the northern most area of OKC & probably a bit far for a hike around to look for plants. If you are ever up for it, let me know.