A to Z Challenge: I is for Inedible Plants and Weeds

In case you missed it, I'm taking part in the 10th anniversary of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, the annual event where hundreds of bloggers write 26 blogs—one for each letter of the alphabet—and post them each day of the month, except Sundays. I’m blogging about: THINGS THAT GROW IN ALBERTA. Leave a comment on my blog, Facebook page, or Twitter for a chance to WIN a set of the Superman Duffy books.


Missed a post? Click here start back at the letter "A."

I is for Inedible Plants and Weeds

Last week, I blogged about dandelions, which, as it turns out, aren’t quite the horrible weed my dad, the king of perfect lawns, led me to believe. You can even eat them, and the "young" leaves are considered by some to be quite a delicacy. (I haven’t made up my mind about that yet.)

And despite the popularity of stinging nettle in some of the new Alberta restaurants, most weeds are inedible. And some are even poisonous—not only to humans, but also to animals. Did you know that there are about 200 different plant species in Alberta that are toxic (aka: bad news) for livestock?

Most plants are only considered dangerous when too much is consumed or at certain times of the year.  But a few, such as the Western Water Hemlock are extremely poisonous even in SMALL amounts. Now that’s scary!

Check out the names of some of these other potentially deadly plants:

• Seaside Arrowgrass
• Death Camas
• Milk Vetch

They kind of sound like comic book villain names, don’t they? Wait! Maybe they SHOULD be! (* jots down idea for a short story *)

As always, be careful if you decide to become a plant scavenger—some of those plants can be real pests. Oh…and speaking of pests, scroll up to the top of this post to see how you can win a whole set of the Superman Duffy graphic novels—including AMELIA XERCES DUFFY, aka: my pesky sister.

Gotta jet!

~ Chase Superman Duffy