Welcome to Mountain Edibles

I have been wandering the mountains of Utah as an amateur botanist for many years, and I am now trying to share some of what I have learned with those around me. I am a user of many edible and medicinal plants, and I believe the edible plants are the least known area of my expertise. This blog is a way to increase the popular knowledge of edible plants.

I also do plant walks to teach about edible and medicinal plants in person. If you are in the Northern Utah area, and are interested in arranging such a presentation, you can contact me using the contact form at the bottom of the page.

Thank you for coming.

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Cardamine cordifolia

Cardamine cordifolia
Cardamine cordifolia
This is known by the common name of Heartleaf Bittercress, which is a bit of a misnomer, since the flavor of the leaves is more hot than bitter. In fact they taste just like horseradish! I happen to like horseradish a lot, so I really enjoyed finding these leaves.

I have always found this plant in or beside shallow mountain streams. The leaf shape is vaguely heart-shaped, but with several lobes breaking up the heart's outline. One distinctive feature of this plant is that the main veins of the leaf go all the way to the tips of the lobes, where (looking in a microscope) they project slightly as enlarged glands. These glands appear to the unaided eye as white dots at the tips of the lobes.
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