Miners Lettuce

Ava, if you do take that course, I hope you'll share your knowledge on your spottings :)

Yes it's edible. I think it's called Miner's Lettuce because the 49ers ate it during the gold rush when food was scarce. i could be making that up of course ;) Actually, lots of things we think of as noxious weeds are edible. I stir-fried up some dandelion leaves I weeded out of my garden a few weeks ago. I want to take a class about local edible weeds so i can start foraging for greens.

Yip although I hope that scenario doesn't happen! Here's what Wikipedia says: "The common name Miner's lettuce refers its use by California Gold Rush miners who ate it to get their vitamin C to prevent scurvy. It can be eaten as a leaf vegetable. Most commonly it is eaten raw in salads, but it is not quite as delicate as other lettuce. Sometimes it is boiled like spinach, which it resembles in taste."

:) I've never had a wild/weed grow in the garden that I could eat!

Hi Emma, it sure is! There are two species that grow in that county. This one is C. perfoliata.