What is this weed I found in my yard? Yesterday, having just read all about the nutritional benefits of eating dandelions, I went to my yard to find some fresh greens. I have some plants coming up that have a purplish tinge to the leaves. Assuming these were dandelion new growth (the leaves have the same saw-tooth shape), I picked a leaf and ate it. It was delicious! I dug up 2 plants and transplanted them to my lettuce patch. Then I decided that before I fed it to my family, I'd better double check. I searched the web for 2 hours yesterday and found NO REFERENCE to dandelions having purple leaves. I could find nothing on ANYTHING with purple leaves. (I did read that dandelions don't have any poisonous look-a-likes, and I'm not sick, so that's good to know) So what did I eat? The pictures show a newer plant whose leaves are still purple, the fuzz on the underside of one of the leaves, and an older plant whose leaves have started to lose some of their deep purple tinge, but it has a flower stalk starting to emerge from the middle (which does not look like dandelion). What is this thing?
It's not a Dandilion. To me, it looks like one of the lovely weeds that falls under the catchall term "Sow Thistle." These are technically edible, but so bitter that it's not really pleasant (unless you like that sort of thing - I don't.)
No, it can't be that, because it tastes delicious, like spinach. This morning I had a leaf of what I know is dandelion, and it was definately more bitter than this purple thing. I probably can't get my family to eat dandelion unless I cut it up REALLY small in the salad!
Maybe a pigweed (Chenopodium), then? I'm unused to those growing like the one in your picture, though.
Here is a close-up of one of the leaves. Maybe this will help. I read that dandelion leaves get even more bitter after the flowers bloom, so I don't want to wait until there's flowers. But I will if I have to.
OK, with the closeup I can confirm Chenopodium. Definitely an edible, and tasty even after it flowers.
Awesome! Is it in the lettuce family? I think I'll do some research online (now that I know what it is) to see what kind of heath benefits it may have. If nothing else, it's yummy and pretty in a salad! Thanks so much for your help!
After looking online, I'm not quite sure that this is the same plant. The one big discrepancy is that in the hundreds of photos I looked at, each leaf is one piece. It's hard to tell in the picture, but the leaves of this plant are actually in 5 pieces (at least on the one in this photo): one triangular/diamond shaped section at the tip, and 2 smaller sections on each side in a tear-drop shape that give the illusion of a saw-tooth shape for the entire leaf. I'm not sure what this is called in scientific terms, but I will try to take a better picture tomorrow. On a side note, I just noticed that you are in Ecuador. My husband grew up in Quito, a son of missionaries. Small world--especially with the internet!
Spinaches (and pretty much everything else that tastes like them) belong to the Amaranth family, along with Pigweeds, Goosefoot, Amaranth, and Quinua. The flowering head (which I missed the first time 'round - apologies!) along with the tasty, spinachy flavour, would seem to bear out at least the family designation.
The flowers haven't bloomed yet, but in my first post there is a photo of a single stalk with buds on it rising out of the center of the plant. I'll dig up some roots tomorrow.
I dug up a plant the other day. the roots are shallow; there's no long taproot like a dandelion. Here is a close-up photo of one of the leaves: I also spotted a plant where the flower is just starting to bloom; here's the photo: Lorax, can you get more specific as to the species you think it is? Perhaps if I could narrow it down a little bit, it would be easier for me to find a similar picture on the web.
Yes! This is it! The pictures online look exactly like my plant! (Wicpedia had the best picture that showed the leaves and the flower). Thank you so much for your help, everyone! I can't wait to put it in my salad tonight!
