White Campion – Silene pratensis

White Campion flowers

This biennial from Europe first came to North America as a contaminant in grain seed. It is commonly found growing amongst grains, legumes, and vegetable crops, and has become widespread throughout the northern part of the UA and southern Canada. It was first introduced in the early 1800s.

 

This sweet scented, night blooming plant was used during the Elizabethan era in England in a concoction made with sugar and wine. This concoction was used to sooth the heart. The roots were used as a vermifuge (expels intestinal worms).

 

The root was also used as a soup substitute for washing clothes. To extract the saponin the root is simmered in hot water. Secondarily it could have been used as a fish poison. Fish assimilate saponin directly into their bloodstream through their gills.  The toxin does not kill the fish, but rather stuns them so that they float to the surface where they can be collected with ease.

Mouse-eared Chickweed – Stellaria media

Mouse-eared Chickweed

The Mutterings Of Chickweed

What the trees announce in bud,
showy and majestic as they are,
is not as vitally important
as the mutterings of chickweed,
clover, dandelion, upland cress
as they creep along the edges
of lawns, roadside ditches. Sideling
into sidewalk cracks, cress roots its way
through thinning asphalt, chickweed’s everywhere
and all at once repeating keep on keep on
one more time, they listen constantly and
that is what they teach us when we
search them out and take them in our mouths
and let them tell our bodies root,
and listen, persevere, and spring.

By  Margo Solod

This diminutive little plant has followed white man wherever he has settled, and in so doing it has become one of the most common weeds. Moreover it has become invasive in some areas. You can harvest chickweed anytime you find it, but it is recommended to be gathered between May and June, while the plant is still in nice condition. It can be used fresh, or dried for later use.

 

Dioscorides, a Greek physician writing in the 1st century AD, described chickweed’s uses: “It (chickweed) may usefully be applied with cornmeal for inflammation of the eyes. In antiquity it was used to cool the liver, treat obesity, and care for skin problems (including using the juice to remove warts.

Chickweed is a feminine herb with an affinity for the moon and water. Chickweed is often used in workings to strengthen or maintain a relationship, or other rituals of love. It can be carried for the same purpose.

Wilted Chickweed

Here’s a very simple, super-delicious way of preparing a chickweed side dish in a hurry. Serve hot over whole-grain noodles or toast.

12 cups chickweed, rinsed, drained, and chopped
1 tbs. olive oil, or to taste
1-1/2 tsp. lemon juice
¾ tsp. salt, or to taste
½ tsp. black pepper, or to taste

1. Steam the chickweed over low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, or until just wilted (avoid overcooking), covered, in a heavy saucepan, without any more water than what clings to the leaves after rinsing and draining, and without a steamer rack!

2. Stir in the remaining ingredients and heat to serving temperature.

Serves 6

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Deptford Pink – Dianthus armeria

Deptford Pink

This pretty little flower with the blue-purple anthers showed up in my garden this year. It was hardly noticeable with the other weeds growing at the edge of the garden, until one day a flower burst open in all this glory!

This flower was named for a place in England, on the east end of London that rumor has it the plant once grew in abundance. It was mistakenly identified by Thomas Johnson (a 17th century herbalist), what he more likey had was a Maiden Pink (Dianthus deltoides). The Deptford Pink has supposedly not grown there in historic times, if ever!

I have been unable to find any reference to the uses of this plant. So if anyone has information, please let me know so I can update my records!

Due to saponins in the leave, the leaves can cause dermatitis in sensitve people. I have handled this plant extensively and had no adverse effect from it.