June 11: Smoothish Hawkweed and why "hawkweed"

I'm starting to see more flowers in the Hawkweed, or Hieracium family, so-called because in ancient times, hawks were observed eating this plant. Hawkweed flowers are yellow or orange and have flat petals that are notched on the end. There are many varieties of Hawkweed. I'm pretty sure this one is Smoothish Hawkweed, since the blooms are only about 3/4" across.

Smoothish Hawkweed

In early medicine, Hawkweed was thought to be good for your eyesight, and the name is a telling reason why. Here's how the reasoning goes. Hawks eat this plant. Hawks have good eyesight. Therefore, eating this plant will give you good eyesight. This makes about as much sense as reasoning that dogs have a good sense of smell and dogs like to chew on bones, so chewing on bones will improve your sense of smell.

I didn't find any information on whether Hawkweed is edible (other than to hawks) so I wouldn't suggest trying it.-

June 7: White Avens -- a chocolate substitute?

White Avens is one of those plants which is easy to overlook. The flowers aren't particularly impressive and sometimes look rather raggedy.

White Avens

But this plant has hidden virtues -- the roots are supposed to be a substitute for chocolate! For other avens plants the root is supposed to taste like cloves.

This I had to try, so I pulled some White Avens and cleaned off the root, which looked like a ginger root and smelled like dirt. Undeterred, I grated the root and microwaved it with a cup of water. To my surprise, it did make a tea which tastes a bit like chocolate, especially when I added a bit of sugar.

June 11: Crown Vetch -- A plant with imperial designs

Similar to Dames Rocket, here's another beautiful non-native plant which has quickly spread. It's Crown Vetch.

Crown Vetch

Crown Vetch is a relative newcomer to America -- it was brought here from Europe in the 1950s. It is used to prevent soil erosion and you can sometimes see it along the highway and in medians, which adds greatly to the beauty of the landscape. But it tends to crowd out other plants. Here's what it can look like when it gets going.

Field of Crown Vetch

Deer, elk, and rabbits like to eat it, but it is toxic to some other animals, especially horses. It's not good for humans either. One website claims it's toxic to sheep and cows, but agricultural papers suggest using it as a non-bloating legume for livestock, though sheep and cows eat it only parts of it and don't like mature crownvetch.