Leave it to Cleavers

Cleavers (Galium Aparine) Also called Goosegrass, Barweed, Amor De Horelano 

Galium: a large genus of annual and perennial herbaceous plants in the family Rubiaceae.

Aparine: Latin word meaning "To Seize."

Cleavers is weedy, meaning it shows up in my garden over and over again, despite my repeated attempts to yank it out. The name Aparine is appropriate, as it has small hooks on the leaves and stems that will attach to anything growing nearby, in an attempt to pull itself closer to sunlight.

Cleavers prefers a loose moist leafy soil in partial shade. It provides food for the larvae of many butterfly species. Leaves are narrow, lance-shaped and are rough along the margins and surface, the prickles pointing backwards, they occur in whorls of 6 to 8 leaves, around and along the square, delicate, branching stem which may grow to 6 or more feet in length. The flowers are white, tiny, 1/16 to 1/8 inch in diameter and star-like, growing in a stemmed bud rising from the leaf axils and arranged in clusters or whorls, six or eight together, blooming separately, 2 or 3 at a time, so flowers and seeds are present in each cluster. The seeds are little round vessels, covered with hooked bristles and readily clinging, to whatever they touch, ensuring dispersal of the seeds. 

I have read that the plant is edible, but it must not be very good – most books/sites seem to poo-poo it as a food source.

Lettuce Be Friends

Siberian Miner’s Lettuce – Claytonia sibirica  (also called Candy Flower) 

Claytonia: genus of mainly North American succulent herbs with white or pink flowers usually in terminal racemes

Siberica: from Siberia.

I have never seen regular miner’s lettuce, outside of farmer’s markets. I know it’s out there, and supposedly it’s common enough, but apparently I’m always busy looking at other things on the ground. It seems like it should be easy to find, since it has such a memorable shape (round leaf with a little white flower shooting up from the center.)

However, while I was camping on the Clackamas river over the weekend, I found what felt like acres of Siberian Miner’s Lettuce, literally growing in every crack and cranny of the campground. It doesn’t have the obvious whorled leaf, but I could definitely see the resemblance to it’s cousin. The 5-petaled flowers have little pinkish stripes on them, giving the plant it’s nickname Candy Flower.

This cute little guy can be eaten as a spring green, like spinach. Unfortunately I didn’t bring any home with me.

You say phylum, I say phyllum

Largeleaf Avens (Geum macrophyllum var. macrophyllum)

Geum: a genus of about 50 species of herbaceous plants in the Rose family

Macrophyllum: big... leaf?

I can't find any definition of the word Macrophyllum. Macro is obvious enough, but phyllum has stumped me. I thought it might be phylum, but that doesn't make sense either. The word Macrophyllum is used when describing big leaf maple as well, so I'm going to go the easy route and assume it refers to large leaves.

Largeleaf Avens is a member of the rose family, although it's big leaves remind me of strawberry mixed with a raspberry plant.  It is found in meadows and moist forest environments. I found this specimen while camping on the Clackamas River. As you can see, it has 5 petaled yellow flowers that are very bright, but plain.

I have read that Avens was used medicinally by many Native American tribes, both internally for stomach pain and externally for healing bruises and boils. I don't see any record of this plant being used as food.