Creeping Bellflower
Also known as rampion bellflower, like a lot of edible wild plants, a transplant from Europe and Siberia, it was apparently popular as a garden plant (like many weeds in the United States) and, as weeds will do, it rapidly spread from gardens to yards, to forests and fields. The good news, is that you can eat it, and you should–as much as you can find. The leaves and young shoots of Creeping bellflower has a mild flavor, similar to, but not quite like spinach or other mild, leafy greens you’d cook and like a lot of other greens you might forage, creeping bellflower is better cooked than it is raw. You could possibly hide a few leaves in a salad, but it's not worth it, when it’s so much better as a cooked green. Only harvest the basal leaves though, as leaves growing up the flower stalks are relatively small and north worth mentioning. The deep beautiful bell-shaped blue flowers can be added to a salad. The young roots are somewhat sweet and pleasant addition to a salad, boiled in water along with potatoes and other vegetables, and probably also ok in a stir fry.
I found this growing in South Hero, Vt.
Also known as rampion bellflower, like a lot of edible wild plants, a transplant from Europe and Siberia, it was apparently popular as a garden plant (like many weeds in the United States) and, as weeds will do, it rapidly spread from gardens to yards, to forests and fields. The good news, is that you can eat it, and you should–as much as you can find. The leaves and young shoots of Creeping bellflower has a mild flavor, similar to, but not quite like spinach or other mild, leafy greens you’d cook and like a lot of other greens you might forage, creeping bellflower is better cooked than it is raw. You could possibly hide a few leaves in a salad, but it's not worth it, when it’s so much better as a cooked green. Only harvest the basal leaves though, as leaves growing up the flower stalks are relatively small and north worth mentioning. The deep beautiful bell-shaped blue flowers can be added to a salad. The young roots are somewhat sweet and pleasant addition to a salad, boiled in water along with potatoes and other vegetables, and probably also ok in a stir fry.
I found this growing in South Hero, Vt.
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