After our trip to Tregothnan, Radix and Choclette took me to Par Beach (near St Austell) for a look at coastal edible plants.
There was lots of Rosa rugosa, which will have lovely large rosehips later in the year.
Sea buckthorn also has edible berries, that are held on the plant right through the winter. But by April there were fresh flowers.
The Hogweed family (Heracleaum spp.) has a bad name because of sap that can cause phytophotodermatitis (painful burns on skin exposed to sap and sunlight), but apparently the young shoots are delicious cooked, when used before the leaves unfurl.
The wild radish doesn’t have the enlarged roots of its cultivated relatives, but it has edible leaves, flowers, seeds and seedpods.
And a little bit further inland, we found silverweed, a plant of which Radix is rather fond :)
Apologies for the iPhone photos. I did recharge my camera that evening and so the final batch of photos from Cornwall will be back to normal.
Karen wrote:
...on Fri, May 4 '12 (411 days ago)