Not only does this plant appear to have shown up by surprise but also it’s a foot tall already and has a bunch of Dandelion-esque leaves making you wonder what it is. The plant in question is commonly called Tall Lettuce, but it is also known as Canada Lettuce and Canada Wild Lettuce. Those common names seem to just be weird right? There’s no way this thing could actually be lettuce; it doesn’t even look like lettuce! Tall Lettuce’s scientific name is (Lactuca canadensis) and Lactuca is the genus name of all of the true lettuce plants just like the ones you get at the store. Tall Lettuce is actually the wild cousin of that head of flavorless Iceberg Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) in the produce aisle. How, the mighty have fallen to become a flavor free orb with barely any green color, but I digress. Lettuce is in the Aster family so it is related to Marigolds, Zinnias and Sunflowers and a few others you can think of. The USDA recognizes that Tall Lettuce can be an annual or biennial and that it can appear in any hardiness zone ranging from 2 to 11. Unlike it’s cousin the Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), Tall Lettuce is native but in a funny reversal it has spread to Europe, Tropical Asia, Africa. But wait, there’s more, as Tall Lettuce has a milky latex sap just like Dandelions, and so does our store bought lettuce. I’m sure by now you are wondering, what does one do with it? Well if it’s not in a position to be out-competing your other plants and is not anywhere that it will be a problem it’s a good trap crop plant for keeping aphids off the stuff you intended to grow. Tall Lettuce can get up to seven feet tall including the flowers and it can do this by the month of May easily. Its flowers can support local pollinators and they are kind of pretty in a mini-dandelion sort of way. If you look at the photographs this is the stage that it is best to harvest as a leaf green as the leaves are tender and have the least amount of bitterness. <Alt Text 1 of 2>

<Alt Text 2 of 2> Once a Tall Lettuce goes to produce flowers its flavor as a whole will head towards bitter land. You could conceivably feed it a decent nitrogen fertilizer and keep cutting off the flower buds and stalks to force it to produce soft foliage. Cutting and feeding a Tall Lettuce plant for foliage should be considered a temporary means to extend a wild harvest period as the high heat of summer will make these plants (if they emerged in spring) fall apart. As I noted earlier, you can eat the leaves of this plant and the flowers. Typically Tall lettuce can be eaten raw or cooked and is generally used like Escarole (Chichorium endiva) a relative in the Aster family and a form of Chicory. Now personally, I prefer to use the leaves of this plant about this time of the year in a sauté with garlic and Broccoli Rabe served with pork or chicken breasts and a side of either pasta or rice. Literally once cooked it blends seamlessly in with the other greens and no one would readily know the difference without me saying something. As a note for eating it raw in a salad, make sure to thoroughly wash the leaves as Aphids love this plant. For those who don’t know; Aphids are small soft-bodied insects that suck fluids out of whatever plant they attack. Aphids are usually green, but I’ve seen them be red, yellow, gray, almost black, and in one case on a petunia, purple-ish because it was feeding on the flower. So give the foliage a good wash and maybe put in the refrigerator for an hour then cut and use in a salad. The only real downside to Tall Lettuce is that it’s mainly a spring and early summer kind of plant, I never see it in fall but I do see its close relative Prickly Lettuce (L. serriola), which is less desirable because of the leaf spines. <Alt Text 2 of 2>

The Wild Harvest Digest: March 2025, #4

Good Morning Neighbors,

Today’s wild plant of the week is one that may have seemed to have appeared overnight from nothing in your gardens. <See Alt Text for more!> #TallLettuce #CanadaLettuce #WildForageFood

<Alt Text 1 of 2> The Wild Harvest Digest: March 2025, #1 Good Morning Neighbors, Today’s wild plant of the week is one that you’ve probably seen while walking about your yard or somewhere in the urban landscape and probably thought; ‘Oh it’s a weed, I’ll get it later’ or something close. You see not all wild plants invoke the same level of reaction as say, Japanese Knotweed (Reynoutria japonica), or Dandelions and a few others. The plant in question is called Shiny Cudweed but I prefer its other common name Rabbit Tobacco (Gnaphalium spicatum). Rabbit Tobacco is generally considered an annual or a biennial and this varies on when its seed germinates. On my property these plants are definitely biennials, but elsewhere they may only be annuals. Rabbit Tobacco is not exactly what you’d call an aggressive or even very competitive wild plant as it forms it’s basal rosette of leaves and may even form small colonies of inter generational plants but it only spreads by seed. Rabbit Tobacco prefers dry open areas with some level of soil disturbance which kind of summarizes the Sandhills of North Carolina pretty well. The spread of Rabbit Tobacco is surprisingly vast as it has been seen all over the southeast, as far north as New York and in the west as far as Texas, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana and even in Kansas. For all that spread you would think this was a well-traveled native wild plant right? Unfortunately no, Rabbit Tobacco (Gnaphalium spicatum) is actually native to South America with references to the plant indicating it was introduced to Mexico in 1958. Physically though I have to note that there is some variation on the shiny green leaves you see in the pictures as these leaves can have a light hoar-fuzz that can make some or all of the leaves appear different. Individual plants in a colony might have this trait or perhaps the whole thing so if you’re planning to use Rabbit Tobacco then make sure you have the right plant. <Alt Text 1 of 2>

<Alt Text 2 of 2> So how does one use Rabbit Tobacco? Well the name indicates one use that I’ve found good evidence is true, this plant can be used a low-quality substitute for actual Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum). Most folks seem to agree that smoking it straight and not mixed in with other smoking herbs isn’t desirable but perhaps used in conjunction with other herbs to ward off biting insects might be an option. Ticks, fleas, flies and mosquitoes inherently avoid burning brush so a little Rabbit Tobacco might not be out of place in telling them to get lost. In terms of medicinal use a number of reasonably credible sources indicate that this plant has been used to treat congestion in a tea form but it also was smoked to handle emphysema and asthma. Personally I’d say stick to using it as a tea as smoke may agitate those conditions. The parts you want for use in an herbal tea are the leaves, stems and flowers, for smoking you just need the leaves. In both cases its best if the plant material is dried first. If you’re eating this plant as a wild forage item you want it raw and you want to go for the least fuzzy and youngest leaves. I’ve had Rabbit Tobacco in a Wild forage Salad before and it’s not really too flavorful though I suspect you can get more bang for your forage buck by actually cultivating it. So that is Rabbit Tobacco for you, thank you for reading and stay tuned, more wild food plants are emerging from dormancy and things are going to get real interesting soon. <Alt Text 2 of 2>

The Wild Harvest Digest: March 2025, #1

Good Morning Neighbors,

Today’s wild plant of the week is one that you’ve probably seen while walking about your yard... <See Alt text for more>
#RabbitTobacco #ShinyCudweed #WildForageFood