stockslager's Identifications

I have lots of Plantago in my lawn, which I usually think of as a treat for the little pollinators. However, a friend told me that the young flower heads are edible for humans. I tried a couple. They're relatively chewy (high fiber, I'm sure) and taste a little bit like mushrooms. Not bad. I wonder how they'd be in soup?

As usual, if you decide to try these from your own lawn, use caution. Do your research on whether anyone is known to have bad reactions, make sure you've got the right plant, make sure it's clean (ex. no pesticides), and try just a little (in case you're the one person with allergies).

This Verbena was growing in a weedy field next to the parking area for Jungle Jim's market in Cincinnati. I was surprised to see this species apparently growing wild, but the field looked like a dumping site for concrete and soil and maybe flowerbed remnants (I saw a hydrangea in one pile), so I assume seeds could have been carried in with garden waste. I only saw two V. bonariensis plants, but they were mixed in with other field weeds and looked like they had come up in the area rather than being carried in as plants.

The Marianist Nature Preserve is maintained by the Marianist Environmental Education Center (MEEC) at Mount St. John. This was my first visit, and I hiked a short loop of the trail that took me from an open wildflower meadow at the Sacred Embrace Earthwork, through oak/hickory/dogwood woods to the Woodland Fen, and then along a little side loop trail through the Moist Woods and overlooking the Brother Don Geiger Tall Grass Prairie.

These little white-flowered herbs were blooming all along the stretch of woodland trail leading out to the restored prairie. They were probably the most common wildflower in bloom there. For plants with such a mystical common name, the were disappointingly plain looking. Still, I've heard about these for years and never put a face to a name, so it satisfying to finally see them.