Roadside Edible Plants

It might be surprising to learn that Queen Anne’s lace is a member of the carrot family and takes two years to mature before the lovely airy flower heads bloom. It may even be more surprising to learn that wild plants that taste like wasabi or lettuce are available, if not in your backyard, then very close by. But more surprising still might be the fact that any of the varieties of maple trees – not just the sugar maple – may be tapped for sap to make maple syrup.

Imparting all these facts on July 18 was educator, writer, and well-known expert in the study of wild edible plants Russ Cohen during the Edible Foraging Ramble sponsored by the Sippican Lands Trust in partnership with the Marion Garden Group.

Cohen has been teaching students and interested others about wild edible plants for four decades, doing as many as 40 programs a year. Cohen, a highly respected expert on the subject of wild edible plants, is retired from the Massachusetts Division of Fish & Game and has written several books on the subject of edible plants. He also writes a column for the Essex County Greenbelt Association.

On this day, a group of about 30 people gathered at Brainard Marsh off Delano Road in Marion, a 6-acre parcel now owned and managed by the Sippican Lands Trust. Yet, the wild plants that Cohen spent much of the two-hour event discussing were right there, along the roadside.

As the group snaked along Delano Road, Cohen pointed out and taught the group about the vegetation. Ambling along to the first stop, Cohen demurred, “Old friends come to greet you as you walk along.”

Cohen said the local area has about 75 edible plants, including the non-poisonous sumac. He said that it’s fairly rare to find a poisonous sumac in the same neighborhood as its tame cousin, but right there next to his knee grew the dangerous variety. His warning when asked about the vicious sumac, “It’s much worse than poison ivy.” The most striking difference between the two plants was the shiny leaves sported by the gentle edible greenery. The bad one has dull leaves, but otherwise is hard to distinguish.

As he moved along pointing out invasive and native plants that can be eaten, Cohen said that in nearly every environment you would find something to eat if you knew what to look for. He stressed that native plants are critical to the natural environment supporting both people and animals. He also highlighted the importance of not over-foraging on native plants that may be endangered. Cohen steered the group towards “guilt-free” foraging.

The old wives’ tale that whatever an animal may eat a human may also doesn’t hold true, Cohen warned. “There’s not one hundred percent overlap in what animals and humans can eat,” he said. The group chuckled when he said that just because a deer may eat a plant doesn’t mean it didn’t wander off and die. He was asked how risky it was to put something wild in your mouth. Cohen responded that most poisonous plants “taste horrible.”

Of safe wild edible items located along Delano Road, Cohen found wine berries, roses, daylilies, grapes, wild lettuce, pokeweed, tupelo trees, dewberries, jewelweed, elderberries, bayberry, and along the beach at the preserve, rockweed, pickle weed, and orach, a kissing cousin to spinach.

Of the well known Queen Anne’s lace, that relative of the carrot, Cohen said, “You can eat the root, but it’s never as good as store bought.”

Cohen’s book Wild Plants I Have Known…and Eaten is available by contacting Essex County Greenbelt Association at 978-768-7241. All proceeds benefit Essex County Land Trust.

If you want to learn more about upcoming events planned by the Sippican Lands Trust, visit www.sippicanlandstrust.org. You may also request to be placed on their email blasts by emailing info@sippicanlandstrust.org.

By Marilou Newell