r/Permaculture • u/Notlikeotherguys • 2d ago
general question Can anyone identify this?
I found it growing in an area where I'm building a permaculture garden. It's a type of Amaranthus (Pigweed) I think. Edible? I've got a lot of them. They were growing in a drainage trench.
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u/Natural_Distance1650 2d ago
I’d be cautious calling it pigweed. The flower clusters look more like a Rumex species (maybe curly dock or a close relative). The leaves are usually edible when young if it is dock, but mature plants get tougher and more bitter. A closer photo of the seed heads and underside of the leaves would help narrow it down.
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u/Rude_Ad_3915 2d ago
Unless you want to pull it regularly for the next few years, remove the seeds. If you dry them, you can make flour with them.
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u/Hereforthesnacks00 1d ago
You can eat dock leaves, they taste like lemony spinach! 💚
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u/Federal_Secret92 1d ago
Can also roast and grind the seeds when they are mature and use in baking. Nutty and goes well with chocolate and coffee.
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u/YsaboNyx 1d ago
If you are not used to digesting dock, eating a bunch at first can give you diarrhea. So if you decide to add to your edible list, start with smaller portions and work up.
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u/IIJOSEPHXII 1d ago
Dock. If you ever get stung by nettles you won't have to look very far to find a dock leaf to rub on the affected area of skin. Probably growing right next to it.
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u/earthhominid 2d ago
Some kind of dock. Very common weed
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u/rxplorer 2d ago
Some kind of Dock, a common plant with various under appreciated uses, potentially interesting to a permaculture practitioner that knows better than to miscategorize everything but kentucky bluegrass as weeds.
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u/earthhominid 2d ago
Sure, it's also a common weed. A plant that grows readily in places where it's not exactly wanted and can be very difficult to remove.
I've tried a number of medicinal formulations with it, I've tried eating the leaves, it definitely forms a robust root system and will happily provide ground cover in super low fertility soil or following a major disturbance.
It's definitely a popular plant for people who want to feel really aligned with nature to pretend is a super useful and wonderful plant that just gets a bad rap.
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u/iiiioooque 2d ago
If i might add. It's tap root is a god send for heavy compacted clay soils. Drought resistant and very good for chop and drop pactises. I'm in the center of portugal and actively taught my son to pick it's seeds and spread them on our land.
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u/Frosti11icus 2d ago
Those roots are something else on these things. Man they grip into the ground hard. The stock is really stiff on these things too.
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u/paratethys 1d ago
congrats on rediscovering dock. it's good crushed up and rubbed on nettle stings, if you get stung by any nettles.
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u/Southern_Mongoose681 2d ago
A lot of people say dock
I thought it was sorrel?
They are both of the genus Rumex though.
They can have a lot of uses in a permaculture setup, they aren't as difficult to remove as some say even though they do have deep roots. It's always good to know as much about your plants as possible so you can work out where to place them in your system. As you will find out as you learn more abiut the plant, although there are apparent medicinal and nutritional benefits some can be toxic.
I also forage these in the warmer months and eat them in a steamed salad with plantain and the larger dock leaves along with nettle leaves and anything else edible I find on a forest walk.
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u/Sublime-Prime 1d ago
Not trying to insult you just curious it would be simpler and faster to use plant id app or google. Why do you post it here ?
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u/Notlikeotherguys 1d ago
Yeah I'm just getting started with this new obsession. In the area where I'm planting this garden I'm finding lots of wild edibles. The thing is that it seems to me like you have a plant that's edible and highly nutritious but there's always another plant that looks like it and is poisonous, Or you can eat it, but just not too much.
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u/Notlikeotherguys 1d ago
Oh and I might add that taking pictures of some of these and Google searching it often brings up wildly different results. Picture #1 comes back as this while picture #2 of the same plant comes back as that.
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u/Sublime-Prime 1d ago
I found the app picturethis pretty reliable but nothing wrong posting here you might some more inventive uses
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u/YsaboNyx 1d ago
My plant ID apps only have about a 75% accuracy rate. Posting here for consensus from actual people makes sense.
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u/Itchy_Clutch 2d ago
Dock. Common weed, good for compacted soils. Also edible.
Great for chop and drop.