spiny sowthistle This plant can be weedy or invasive according to the authoritative sources noted below.This plant may be known by one or more common names in different places, and some are listed above. And it's a great friend, edible from the top of its bright flowers to the bottom of its beneficial … They can be added to salads, cooked like spinach or used in soups etc. The Spiny Sow Thistle is one we keep in Zone 0. View photos of the edible plant Sonchus asper (Spiny sow thistle), profiled in Sonoran Desert Food Plants and Wild Edible Plants of Texas. Edible parts of Sow Thistle: Young leaves - raw or cooked. Some say the roots can be used as a coffee substitute, but I would say coffee extender. I experimented with an older plant, … Often plants with white sap are not edible, but for sow thistle the entire plant is edible and nutritious containing carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals. The leaves can be prepared much like dandelion leaves. Plant produces Hundreds of beautiful yellow flowers that looks Just Like Dandlion on Steriods. Sow thistle is one of the most plentiful wild plants you'll see in the Los Angeles area. This species has the nicest tasting leaves of the genus, they usually have a mild agreeable flavour especially in the spring. Spiny-leaved sow-thistle is native to Eurasia and introduced worldwide, including across North America. It prefers highly disturbed areas, and is a weed of many crops. Same type of content with added weirdness. Thank you for looking. There are many recipes online. The leaves contain about 30 - 40mg of vitamin C per 100g, 1.2% … ***Attention*** Plight to Freedom is now The Cargo Cult Café. The leaves are edible, and the plant produces a thick, white sap like wild lettuce in flavor and use. I only eat the young tender leaves, and they can be eaten raw with no “pokey factor.” Spiny-Leaved Sow Thistle, Sonchus asper, you can find this thistle almost all year and it was used for both its edible and medicinal properties.You can find it in fields, waste places and even in your garden. The leaves are also great to use as an antioxidant. Common sow thistle is in the Compositae (Asteraceae) family. Leaves can be hairy or woolly, second year stems topped with old style shaving brush shaped flowers like you would see in old western movies barbershops scenes. Sow thistle (part of "Edible weeds in Los Angeles") Information, recipes, and fun facts about one of my favorite weeds, the sow thistle. Leaves are very spiny. Sow-thistles are closely related to wild lettuce (Lactuca species), and like them, the young leaves are edible. 50 Spiny Sow Thistle / Sonchus asper seeds. Bull Thistle Identification: Herb, two to five feet high, basal and stem leaves lobed, lower stems leaves can be 4 to 9 inches long (10-23 cm). The leaves on this plant are “toothed” similarly to another popular wild edible plant, Dandelion (Taraxacum) – Wild Edible Plants, but the Sow Thistle has small pokey things on the outside of the leaves. The genus Sonchus, is the old Greek name for ‘hollow’ and was applied due to the hollow stem of the Sow Thistle and the species asper, means ‘rough’ – as in the spiny edges. It does not invade pastures because it is eaten by livestock. This is a nutritious plant that contains several minerals (calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, sodium, potassium and zinc) and vitamins ( A, B1, B2, B3, B6, & C). Spear thistle has large, deeply-lobed leaves with large spines at the margins, as well as hairy, spiny stems. ( Lactuca species ), and the plant produces a thick, white sap like lettuce... 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