“Are you SURE that THAT is a Dandelion?”
Every year while Carol and I are teaching Edible and Medicinal Plants along the Yough River Trail and elsewhere in Southwestern, Pennsylvania, I find myself asking class participants that question.
Because it’s easy to make a mistake, when it comes to gathering edible plants. Remember, Weed Mart is not WAL MART. You’ve got to pay attention when shopping in Weed World.
Look closely in the photographs below.
The flower on the LEFT is Hawkweed. Notice how it is FLATTER on the top than Dandelion. Notice how the underside is different. Notice that the STEM of the Hawkweed is hairy.
Every year, I catch experienced “weed eaters” misidentifying Hawkweed as Dandelion. Take your time, be positive about ANYTHING you decide to put into your mouth.
And join us for a Native Eyes Walk soon!
Mr Twenty Twenty
AKA Mr Nature
PS: Carol just released her new Edible Plants Book here: Edible Plants Book – Go check it out! It’s just $5 bucks and has some of the best photographs I have seen in it for identifying edible plants! Click the link!
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- Hawkweed – Dandelion
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- Hawkweed – Dandelion
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- Hawkweed – Dandelion
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Please, what’s the botanical name for your hawkweed?
Hello Eelbrood,
The hawkweeds most people confuse with Dandelions are one of the four following:
Hieracium pilosella.
Hieracium floribundum.
Hieracium pratense.
Hieracium venosum.
Thank you for asking, and have a great day!
Out of curiosity, what makes hawkweed toxic? Does it have any specific symptoms? Just in case, of course ^_^.
Cheers
Bucketua,
Actually, you can make a tea out of the leaves of many of the Hieracium (Hawkweeds.)
I have NEVER seen any of my mentors or teachers actually eat the leaves or root.
Thank you for the question, and the opportunity to share even more.
Whooo yah!
Hi, thanks for this article, I live out in northern california on the coast, literally right under oregon, I already forage for a number of things in the wild I am able to be 100% sure of, but I KNOW there must be more available here, can you direct me to a source, preferably a free website, but if not that, books are ok, which directly relates to my area or at least the whole west coast and has really good and detailed photographs? I don’t do well with descriptions, I need to be able to SEE the real thing…
Oh and weirdly, everything we call a dandelion over here, looks just like hawkweed except the stalk isnt hairy, and the flower is a bit fluffier, in fact, nothing we have here seems to look like the pictures of a dandelion as shown above:(