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Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

Credit: en.wikipedia.org This ubiquitous seed head will likely evoke two very different feelings depending on your age. To a child, this is a game, a thing of wonder. To many adults, it’s a villain, to be exterminated at all costs. Don’t worry, we’ll change that for you. Description This herbaceous perennial plant consists of a rosette […]

Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) is a native edible plant with tons of uses. You may be most familiar with milkweed for its association with monarch butterflies. Indeed, monarch larvae (caterpillars) eat only plants in the genus Asclepias. The rapid depletion of milkweed plants due to pesticide use in fields and lawns and the mowing of […]

Burdock (Arctium spp.)

If you’ve ever had one of these stuck to your clothes or your pet’s fur, you’ve encountered this plant. Burdock (Arctium minus, A. lappa) is an escaped domestic vegetable, cultivated for thousands of years in Japan. Here, it’s an introduced species and is generally considered a weed. Budock is fairly easy to identify. Have you […]