Sharon, I tasted my first chickweed today, it is just starting to grow here and it does taste like spinach!!!

This is going to drive me nuts, Lin. My chickweed is all tossed, too hot for it now. I am really only familiar with Stellaria, not sure about Cerastium since I haven't seen it in years. But I looked for it in my yard yesterday and again just now and there's nothing left.

I cleaned out the bed where it usually grows, so did my yard guy when he weed eated.
I just can't tell from your pictures but does it mat at all? Mine mats, falls over, but Trish said hers grows mostly in clumps, so I don't know for sure.

No help, am I?

Good for you, Margaret; just always be extra careful tasting 'weeds' until you know for sure they are the weed you are looking for. I always think it tastes like cornsilks smell, but it does have a spinach taste too, especially when cooked.

Scares me sometimes when I write articles like this, I'd be horrified if someone tasted the wrong weed and got sick from it.

I'm really wondering if what I have here is chickweed, because it's present throughout the entire growing season here. Heh, heh, not going to taste it any time soon, tho. Not till I know for sure!

Sharon, I am very careful about what I eat, I know dandelions and chickweed!! When they get a little bigger I will take a photo.!! To me in their raw state they tasted like a mild spinach, I have a good palate!

Maybe you don't have 100 degree temps in early May, Woof.

I know you are Margaret, it just occurred to me that I hadn't put that caution into the text of the article and should have. I know how careful you are.

It does taste a little like raw spinach, you're right.

100 degrees?! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha......not even half that today!

Today was cooler here too, maybe 85, but cool is the exception.

You know how badly I froze when I was in Alaska and that was late June. Remember? Thought I was going to shiver to death. Chickweed probably loves it there.

Loves it here too, but not when it gets hot.

85 would feel like a heatwave to me right now!! I think even the chickweed would like it warmer than it was here today, 50 degrees and cloudy!!

Now see, I shiver from November through February, about the time dandelions appear. Then like those weeds, I just perk right up.

Fifty is very cold to me, Margaret, though we do have freezing in January usually.

Big difference in our zones too.

Thanks for trying Sharon, I'm still not sure either. With the many, many weeds we have here in Central Florida we probably have more than one type of Chickweed and I will keep trying to figure out which this is.


Speaking of weather ... it's been in the mid and upper 90's here this week, Hot and Humid! The thermostat showed the outside temperature at 99ºF on Tuesday afternoon which may not have been so bad except for the humidity making it miserable. I can't complain though ... we've also had some much needed rain this week!

Lin- I can't imagine that you would see any chickweed this time of year. You can see that mine is finishing up in Mid March.

There is a similar plant to chickweed (the name escapes me at the moment) but the sap from the stems is a milky white. You do NOT want to eat that one. It isn't horribly toxic, but it is not chickweed either. Chickweed does not have a milky sap.

Trish: After more research I think I've pretty much identified my unknown plant/weed as Richardia brasiliensis, commonly called Tropical Mexican Clover. If you click on Fullscreen Slideshow at the top right of this page there are some photo's that look exactly like my plant. http://florida.plantatlas.usf....

LOL, I'm bad about tasting new food that I've never tried before ... I'd think long and hard before tasting any plant growing wild in the yard without an exact ID.

This is the chickweed that I have in my garden, I will add the photos to the database.

Common chickweed (stellaria media)

Looks like mine looked maybe in March, late February, Margaret.
Nice looking chickweed. Makes me hungry for some fresh.

Thanks Sharon, sorry I can't send you some of those nice greens. ATP sure is a great place to learn!

Sure is a great place!

Well, that looks VERY like what I have trying to take over here.

Yep, looks just like what I have. Are you going to eat them woffie???