Native, Perennial Sources of Greens and Vegetables
Nothing herein or in related content should be taken as medical or as personal advice, or as a diagnosis or a prescription in any form. Please always make the choices that are best-suited to you and your situation.
Greens and vegetables tend to be rich in valuable nutrients, and some, can bless us with their bounty over multiple years without re-planting, called perennials.
Fortunately, there are many native*, perennial sources of greens and vegetables. Here are just a few examples: * native, meaning to the east, north-central Midwest
- American basswood (Tilia americana) – leaves
- wild beans (Phaseolus polystachios) – beans, cooked
- American beech (Fagus grandifolia) – very young leaves
- birch (Betula spp.) – very young leaves
- eastern camass/ wild hyacinth (Camassia scilloides) – cooked, onion-like bulbs
- cattail (Typha spp.) – asparagus-like young shoots & stalks; boiled immature (pre-eruption) flower spikes; dried pollen as “flour”; rootstock sprouts; rootstock starch
- wild chives (Allium schoenoprasum) – leaves
- buffalo clover (Trifolium reflexum) – cooked or tea-infused young leaves and flowerheads; seeds can be ground into flour
- spring cress (Cardamine bulbosa) – young leaves; grated rootstock for “horseradish”
- groundnut (Apios americana) – potato-like tubers
- American lotus (Nelumbo lutea) – spinach-like young leaves; sweet-potato-like tubers; immature seeds; cooked, mature seed kernels
- common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) – boiled young shoots; young leaves; unopened flower buds and young pods
- mulberry (Morus rubra) – cooked leaves
- Canadian wood nettle (Laportea canadensis) – cooked or tea-infused leaves; caution: handle with gloves until cooked
- stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) – cooked or tea-infused leaves; caution: handle with gloves until cooked
- persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) – cooked or tea-infused leaves
- ramps (Allium tricoccum) – onion-like leaves and bulbs; now in peril due to over-harvesting, please consider respectfully collecting just one of the 2-3 leaves from sporadic plants (leaving most fully intact), and returning to the area later in the season to spread the seeds to help increase natural stands
- Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum spp.) – asparagus-like shoots; potato-like rootstock; caution: do not confuse with false Solomon’s seal
- garden sorrel (Rumex acetosa) – leaves
- spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana) – young leaves; stems
- sunchoke/ Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) – potato-like tubers