Danke! Now, it so happens that I went to school eight years in one-room school houses. how a deer or buffalo touching one of those with it’s nose would not try to eat it. Seeds can separate from the white tufts. Since I was a small child, my grandmother and mom and I would go each year in the 40 days of Lent to pick these. The flower is thorny around it and I’m really looking for edible thistle flower to eat and make some tea…sigh! It is hardy to zone (UK) 4 and is not frost tender. All thistles belong to the same family as sunflowers, which has no poisonous plants. Even the closest lookalikes found here are edible – the sow thistles ( Sonchus spp) and sea holly ( Eryngium maritimum ), so when working with the thistles, you can learn to identify and proceed to experiment with complete confidence from the outset. Cut them in small circles and serve with salt, pepper, vinegar, and a little oil. Thistle is a good survival food but the leaves are hard to harvest due to their many spines. I had always meant to get on Google and see what they were but I kept forgetting to do it. I love your website, articles and videos. Dinner here I come! (Also, on something almost completely unrelated, it’s a cute linguistic and conceptual hop from kirsos, varicose veins, to kissos, which means ivy.). The standard English name in its native area is creeping thistle. A treatment on fall regrowth should be included. I let a thistle grow in my yard last year just to see what it looked like. The thistle, which is in the sunflower family, is often called an invasive weed even where it is native. Sandra. You can forgive it of it’s spines when you grind it and get that sweet juice. In the end – no thorns at all – perfectly smooth. It can be found around the world and throughout North American and Canada, even in the arctic circle and Greenland, just like the mustard plant, chickweed and blackberries. You can dab baking soda paste on it to draw it out of your skin. Would like to learn if eating or juicing thistle would help in any way. Thanks for sharing what you have learned along the way. Edible is another matter of course, since being able to eat something doesn't mean we gain food value from it worthy of the effort. The ones here get to at least 5 ft tall. Legal status: Canada thistle is considered a noxious weed in 46 states including Indiana. (I still wouldn’t know they where called thistles if it wasn’t for your awesome website!) However, all members of the sunflower family are NOT edible, including the toxic Senecio glabellus. An annual project, as directed by Mrs. Arlene Tryon, was to bring unopened thistle blossoms to school, hang them up, and watch them turn into cotton puffs. On true thistle the thorns do not soften when cooked. The stalks, while still flexible, can be peeled and eaten raw. I was wondering if you can use the flower to make tea or wine? Canada thistle is a creeping perennial that reproduces from vegetative buds in its root system and from seed. Cardoons are in the same family and get used for their stems. The thistle is an annual, biennial, or perennial herb. All you need to be is observant, and hungry. A bit more reading has shown me C. lanatus is not actually in my area, so I should be able to pick and eat all thistles in my area without much discretion. The effort is worth the result, though. Considered noxious under the BC Weed Control Act , Canada thistle is commonly found on roadsides, cultivated fields, pastures, logged forests, riverbanks, and other disturbed areas. Loading... Unsubscribe from Barry Bertin? Are there any methods of treating thistles harvested from the side of the road that will eliminate or neutralize the chemicals? I have an abundance of them, both Canada (I think, don’t know how to tell the difference between Canada and Scotch thistle or even if it makes a difference) and sow thistle. We have a Varegated Milk Thislte or Thor’s Thislte growing, it is very large and beautiful, is there a place on this web site to send photos of it. I’ve done this twice now, and find it quite satisfying. I love your web site! 1. Purple thistle, sow thistle, etc. 🙂. Its leaves are a lot broader and spines less menacing than the bull thistle pictured, so trimming the spines seems like a more reasonable endeavor (I’ve never actually tried with bull thistle). I will be looking for thistles on my walks now. Your efforts are appreciated tremendously. I am of Acadian descent and heritage. In Florida the seasons can be mixed with the plant not taking a break between first and second year growth. At the very least, this means no thistle is poisonous. i read somewhere thistle sprouts were good eatin, anyone know anything about that? Suppose we say that these thistles produce at a medium only 80 beads, and that each contains only 300 seeds; the first crop from these would amount to 24,000. ... Understanding Canada Thistle | Dow AgroSciences Canada - Duration: 2:53. A bit of research reveals that every part of thistle is edible so long as you can get past the thorns. Cirsium edule is a PERENNIAL growing to 2 m (6ft 7in). Individual leaves can be rolled up to smash the spines and eaten like that, or placed whole on sandwiches, as noted in Foraging the Mountain West. The taste is somewhat bland but the prickles MUST BE removed from the leaves before the leaves can be eaten! I think the stalk boiled a few minutes and then served with butter, salt and pepper is absolutely delicious, for a green. It’s covered in little spikes from head-to-toe. Oh, and a parting factoid: Thistle root gives some folks gas. It’s more healthy that way. Learn how your comment data is processed. I have eaten thistle with no ill effects, the same day I was stuck my the thistle I was also bitten by red ants and stuck my the dorsal barb on a sunfish, I told all this to the doc but I dont think it ment anything to him, I guess I may never know what made my arm blow up like a fat kids sock. Thistles can be found from valley bottoms to mountain tops. I just use a long-handled shovel to cut them at the base above the rosette. Do you have a website? (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Disclaimer: Information contained on this website is strictly and categorically intended as a reference to be used in conjunction with experts in your area. I also scrape the stalk after peeling it, then eat it with Italian dressing. Tastes like: The raw leaves are bland, the stem and root taste like a Jerusalem artichoke. What is native? The species is hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs) and is pollinated by Bees, flies, Lepidoptera (Moths & … Thanks! Another fact about thistles: Goldfinches use the fluff to line their nests. (if you didn’t get bored reading it.) We peel them for the strings just like a carrot. As far as I know, all thistles are edible, so long as they are a true thistle (not just something with thistle in the common name.) I would like to look at your thistle garden. Bull thistles (Cirsium vulgare) are exactly that – bullish. this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ... Are all thistles edible? Carefully peel the stalk of the fibrous coat, which is most of the green you’ll see. Horridulum means a little spiny, clearly a joke by Andre Michaeux the botanist who named it. The down was used as guide feathers for arrows. Copyright 2007-2018 – This web page is the property of Green Deane, LLC. Edible thistle is used by Native Americans for its edible roots and young shoots. Hen and Chicks. Emergence: Seedlings produced from seeds emerge from soil depths of 1/4- to 1/2-inch. 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