Wintercress is a nonnative garden vegetable that has escaped into the wild in Ontario. The subtitle was a toss up between broccoli and arugula of edible wild plants. Which would you have picked? Winter cress (barbarea vulgaris) is common here along moist roadsides and in fields among flowers and grasses. Its bright yellow flower clusters …
Horseradish is a nonnative edible and medicinal plant that has escaped into the wild here in Ontario. It’s known for causing your nose to sting when you eat it. Horseradish (armoracia rusticana syn. cochlearia armoracia, armoracia lapathifolia, and rorippa armoracia), originally called sea radish, is a long way from home in Ontario. It was brought here as a …
Shepherd’s purse is the second-most prolific wild “weed” in the entire world (polygonum aviculare/pigweed is #1). In cottage country Ontario it’s not that prolific, but you can still find this edible and medicinal mustard. Shepherd’s purse (capsella bursa-pastoris) may be found around here on dry sandy sites and moist wooded roadsides. I’ve only found it …
Field penny-cress is a slightly edible and medicinal plant may have a future in renewable fuels. Field penny-cress (thlaspi arvense) is listed as uncommon in Haliburton Flora. It is sometimes found along roadsides or on old farmland mixed in with tall grasses. It prefers disturbed areas, so even though it’s not native here it’s not …
You’re unlikely to find the popular white or black mustards here in the wild. The only brassica on iNat for Haliburton, Ontario is field mustard (brassica rapa). It’s more of a wild cabbage or wild turnip. It’s the mother of many vegetables you’ll find in the grocery store, but not a “true mustard” renown for …
Bittercresses are in the mustard family and include toothworts. The Latin name “kardamine” means water or pepper grass. The folk name “pepper root” tells what this edible wild plant tastes like. Bittercresses (cardamine SPP.) like the twoleaf toothwort in our pictures here (cardamine diphylla syn. dentaria diphylla) are related to mustard. Dentaria diphylla is the outdated …