mustard whose leaves add zest and vitamin C to coastal camping meals.
Shepherd’s purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) is exceptionally easy to recognize with its distinctive heart-shaped seedpods. Petals are white. The peppery-tasting stem leaves are arrow shaped and alternate along the stem. The lower leaves, like those of dandelions, are deeply lobed and arranged in a basal rosette, i.e. they grow in a circular pattern at the base of the stem.
Other commonly eaten Alaskan mustards include:
• Bittercress, aka spring cress (Cardamine species) has white- to rose-colored flowers and long narrow seedpods (siliques).
• Sea rocket, aka beach rocket (Cakile edentula). A pink-petaled beach species with leaves with wavy or saw-toothed edges.
Refer to Discovering Wild Plants for detailed illustrations and line drawings of these and other Alaskan mustard species.
RANGE: Mustards range throughout all regions of Alaska and in diverse habitats.
HARVESTING DIRECTIONS: Leaves are prime before flowering; flavor becomes stronger and more peppery with age. Selectively pick flowers and seedpods throughout the summer, leaving some remaining on the plant to propagate.
FOOD USE: Leaves add zest to salads, stir-fries, and soups. Seeds and roots are traditional spices. Blend mustard with cream cheese as a dip; dairy-free foragers can blend chopped mustard (leaves, young pods, seeds) with ground, soaked cashews, nutritional yeast, lemon, and salt.
HEALTH USE: Mustards in general are good sources of vitamins A and C, and the minerals calcium, potassium, and manganese. Shepherd’s purse, in particular, is an excellent source of blood-clotting vitamin K, making it of use in the field as a poultice for cuts. Shepherd’s purse tea has traditionally been drunk to soothe stomach ulcers and can be applied with a cotton swab to hemorrhoids.
OTHER: Tulane University, in the 1970s, conducted experiments documenting that shepherd’s purse seeds, placed in water, release a gummy exudate that entraps and destroys mosquito larvae.
BLUEBERRY & HUCKLEBERRY
Vaccinium species Heath family (Ericaceae), Blueberry subfamily (Vaccinioideae)
FLOWER STAGE
FRUIT STAGE
Alaska’s blueberries, aka bilberries, are truly free-rangers, growing in acid soils in woods, wet meadows, heaths, bogs, and in the mountains to over 3,000 feet. “Mother’s Day flowers” is a common name for the bell-like pinkish to whitish blooms that generally flower in early May. These shrubby plants range from low tufted varieties to species more than 3 feet high. Vaccinium fruits are blue to bluish-black, with a couple exceptions: Vaccinium parvifolium, red huckleberry found only in south coastal to Southeast Alaska, and the dwarf red-fruited lingonberry, aka lowbush cranberry, Vaccinium vitis-idaea (see page 114).
DERIVATION OF NAME: Vaccinium is the classical name for blueberry and cranberry.
OTHER NAMES: huckleberry, great bilberry, whortleberry, dyeberry, wineberry, Mother’s Day flowers.
RANGE: Throughout Alaska except the extreme north Arctic.
HARVESTING DIRECTIONS: The early blooming flowers are edible and sweet, but most gatherers prefer waiting for the delectable fruits!
FOOD USE: Nibble Vaccinium blooms to savor their refreshing, light, blueberry tang. Toss a few blossoms on a salad or dip as a garnish. Limit your flower intake to ensure abundant fruits. Snack on the berries in the field while gathering. Bake in pies. Mix into a morning smoothie. Add to pancakes, muffins. biscuits, nut breads, salads. Make jam or juice. How about a blueberry vinaigrette, marinade, or liquor?
HEALTH USE: A study published in the International Journal of Circumpolar Health noted antioxidant values of Vacciniums and other berries. Values were compared using an ORAC scale (Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity). The higher the ORAC value, the more antioxidants to protect the body against cellular damage that can lead to cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s. Interestingly, while cultivated blueberries rank 30 on the ORAC scale and Lower 48 wild blueberries rank 61, Alaskan wild blueberries test a stunning 85. Blueberries have hypoglycemic and antidiabetic activity and are a valuable aid to those experiencing excess weight. Statistically, 32% of Americans classify as obese, and indigenous populations are particularly at risk. Trials published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry document blueberry’s abundant anthrocyanins, which “actively regulate genetic markers associated with obesity. Rats on high fat diets failed to get obese in the presence of the compounds so richly available in blueberries.” Blueberries also contain proanthocyanins, compounds having antiadhesion and antiproliferation properties, effective in easing urinary tract infections. For urinary tract infections while in the bush, young leaves (with a tart aftertaste) are often blended with blueberries and drunk 2 to 3 cups a day for up to a week.
OTHER: Blueberries are a valued subsistence food for Native communities and bush residents, both culturally and nutritionally. Blending blueberries with sugar and seal oil is a traditional Iñupiaq dessert. And blueberry pickled fish is another favorite. “Any meat or fat stored in blueberries” writes Anore Jones, “will get pickled, flavored, and brilliantly colored in a few days to a week.”
LOOKALIKES: Some foragers have been fooled by finding bell-like blooms on shrubby false azalea (Menzisia ferrugina), only to return at berry time to find no berries! Aptly called “fool’s blueberry,” this plant is a good teacher in observation as its family pattern is quite different from the Vacciniums.
COLTSFOOT
Petasites species Aster family (Asteraceae), Groundsel tribe (Senecioneae)
Coltsfoot is wide ranging and widely loved in Native villages throughout Alaska. Habitats vary from moist places in woods to Arctic tundra to rocky mountain passes. Its nickname “son before father” refers to coltsfoot’s unusual habit of flowering before the leaves develop. The fragrant cluster of blossoms sits atop a rather thick and hairy stem. Leaves vary from triangular to lobed and bear a thick felt-like covering on their undersides. All species are equally useable.
DERIVATION OF NAME: Petasites translates as “broad-brimmed hat” and refers, rather imaginatively, to the shape of the leaves.
OTHER NAMES: sweet coltsfoot, qaltaruat and pellukutar (Yup’ik), kipmimanggaun (Iñupiaq, Kotzebue), k’ijeghi ch’da (Dena’ina/Tanaina, “owl’s blanket”), penicillin plant (Iliamna area), son before father.
RANGE: Throughout Alaska. Petasites frigidus and P. hyperboreus can be found from the far north to the end of the Alaska Peninsula and to the Canadian Border. P. palmatus and P. sagittatus are mainly found in the eastern half of the state.
HARVESTING DIRECTIONS: Pick coltsfoot flowers in very early
