How to identify flatweed and cat's ear, and use them in your recipes. — Wild Plants, Foraging, Food, Art and Culture (2024)

FAQs

How to identify flatweed and cat's ear, and use them in your recipes. — Wild Plants, Foraging, Food, Art and Culture? ›

The leaves of flatweed and cat's ear are club-shaped, with rounded indentations as opposed to the deeply toothed leaf of the dandelion. They are dark green on both sides and can grow up to 30 centimetres long and 5 centimetres wide. Flatweed's leaves are noticeably hairy while cat's ear can be less so.

From 2 to 7 flowers are produced on each flower stalk. The rosette growth habit, irregularly lobed leaves, and bright yellow flowers are all characteristics that help with the identification of common catsear.

In folkloric medication, it is used to heal jaundice, dyspepsia, constipation, rheumatism, and hypoglycemia as well as renal problems. Leaves and roots of the plant have antioxidant and antibacterial properties.

Hypochaeris radicata (sometimes spelled Hypocho*ris radicata) – also known as catsear, flatweed, cat's-ear, hairy cat's ear, or false dandelion – is a perennial, low-lying edible herb often found in lawns.

This weed flowers all year round and its round dented leaves can be easily spotted. Flatweed is naturalised in Australia. The leaves of flatweed and cat's ear are club-shaped, with rounded indentations as opposed to the deeply toothed leaf of the dandelion.

Common Chickweed—Stellaria media

Leaves are bright light-green, hairless, nearly rounded with pointed tips, and are ½ to 1½ inches long. Flowers occur singly, are ¼ inch across, with 5 white petals so deeply indented that they appear as 10 petals.

All parts of this plant are considered to be edible, however, typically the leaves and roots are usually harvested for consumption.

There also are several flowers per flower stalk on Cat's Ear, but only one flower per flower stalk on a dandelion. Once you get the hang of it, identifying Cat's Ear is quite easy. Luckily, they both are edible and both have a similar, bitter flavor.

The bright yellow flowers from seeds when mature, attached to a natural windborne parachute. Catsear can continue growing in every condition because of its deep tap-root. Catsear is more tolerant of low fertile soil than any other weed. Surprisingly, the whole plant is edible.

Cat's Ear, often confused with the noxious dandelion, is harmless to humans. This common misconception stems from its visual similarity to less benign flora. Research and plant safety databases have cleared Cat's Ear of toxicity accusations, ensuring it's safe for human consumption.

Does cats Ear have medicinal properties? ›

Cat's Ear, often dismissed as a mere weed, is a treasure trove of medicinal benefits. It's been used to tackle everything from kidney issues to itchy skin, thanks to its natural cortisone content.

Catsear is typically not harmful unless consumed in large quantities. However, it is suspected of causing stringhalt in horses if consumed in excess. Stringhalt is a neurologic issue characterized by a sudden, exaggerated flexion of one or both hind legs of the horse.

It consists of the outer, middle, and inner ear. The outer ear includes the pinna (the part you see that is made of cartilage and covered by skin, fur, or hair) and the ear canal. The pinna is shaped to capture sound waves and funnel them through the ear canal to the eardrum.

False dandelions are look alikes within the Aster family but are not in the genus Taraxacum. One of the most common dandelion look-alike is Hypocharis radicata, also known as Cat's Ear or Flatweed.

Australian Stringhalt is one of three different forms of stringhalt that have been documented in horses. It is caused by grazing pastures which contain certain plants that are considered toxic to horses; the most common being Hypocho*ris radicata (more commonly known as Flatweed, False Dandelion or Catsear).

Common dandelion plants can be distinguished because young leaves do not have hairs, whereas cat's ear dandelion leaves have dense hairs. In addition, the leaves of common dandelion are more deeply notched than those of cat's ear dandelion. On common dandelion, the leaf notches extend almost to the midrib of each leaf.

When comparing the relative length and width of hawkbit and catsear leaves, catsear leaves tend to be wider than hawkbit leaves. Once the plants begin flowering, they are easier to tell apart. Hawkbit and dandelion flower stems are unbranched, whereas they are branched in catsear and hawksbeard.

This plant has low severity poison characteristics. Cat's Ear is a perennial weed from Eurasia in the aster family. It has naturalized on every continent except Antarctica. It has a long taproot and a basal rosette of leaves.

The leaves of catsear are dark green, lobe-shaped and hairy which is in stark contrast to dandelions, which have jagged, hairless leaves that are a lighter shade of green. Catsear and dandelions are typically found at different times of the year as well.