Poisonous Relatives:Portulaca Oleracea - Poisonous to animals such as dogs, cats and horses
General Description: Claytonia perfoliata is a trailing plant, growing to a maximum of 40 cm in length, but mature plants can be as small as 1 cm. The cotyledons are usually bright green (rarely purplish or brownish-green), succulent, long and narrow. The first true leaves form a rosette at the base of the plant, and are 0.5–4 cm long, with an often long petiole.
The small pink or white flowers have five petals 2–6 mm long; they appear from February to May or June, and are grouped 5–40 together above a pair of leaves that are united together around the stem to appear as one circular leaf. Mature plants have numerous erect to spreading stems that branch from the base.
It is common in the spring, and it prefers cool, damp conditions. It first appears in sunlit areas after the first heavy rains. Though, the best stands are found in shaded areas, especially in the uplands, into the early summer. As the days get hotter, the leaves turn a deep red color as they dry out. It was also known to prevent scurvy in pirates because if its high vitamin C content.
General Description: Calandrinia ciliata is a species of flowering plant in the purslane family known by the common name fringed redmaids. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to New Mexico, where it is widespread and common. It can also be found in parts of Central and South America. This is an annual herb which varies greatly in size from a small patch a few centimeters wide to an erect form approaching 40 centimeters tall. The linear or lance-shaped leaves are one to ten centimeters long and slightly succulent in texture. The inflorescence is a raceme bearing flowers on short pedicels. The flower has usually five deep pink to red petals, each up to 1.5 centimeters in length. There are two sepals at the base beneath the petals. This is a hardy plant well adapted to many habitat and climate types which is known as a minor weed.
The plant contains oxalic acid, so it should only be used in moderation. Oxalic acid can lock up certain of the nutrients in food and, if eaten in excess, can lead to nutritional deficiencies. It is, however, perfectly safe in small amounts and its acid taste adds a nice flavour to salads. Cooking the plant will reduce the quantity of oxalic acid. People with a tendency to rheumatism, arthritis, gout, kidney stones and hyperacidity should take especial caution if including this plant in their diet since it can aggravate their condition.
Dudleya edulis (DUD-lee-a ED-yoo-lis)
Common Names: San Diego Dudleya, String bean plant, Fingertips, Lady Fingers
Poisonous Relatives: Some of the plants in the Sedum genus contain high levels of piperidine alkaloids, which can make the plant toxic. Piperidine is also what gives black pepper its spiciness.
General Description: Dudleya edulis is a succulent that gets about one foot wide and tall with round leaves about as thick as a pencil.The white flowers cover the succulent foliage.
Dudleya edulis is made up of an array of fleshy, snakelike leaves growing vertically from a caudex at or just below ground level. The finger-like leaves are pale green, cylindrical and pointed, growing up to 20 centimeters tall.
It also bears a branching inflorescence with several terminal branches each bearing up to 10 or 11 flowers. The flowers have pointed white petals about a centimeter long.
This plant is native to Southern California and Baja California, where it grows in rocky areas of the coastal and the inland Peninsular Ranges mountains.
Dudleya edulis is cultivated as an ornamental plant, for rock gardens and in pots.
Food Relatives: Epilobium angustifolium, O. biennis,
Poisonous Relatives: Based on several online resources the Onagraceae family doesn’t have poisonous plants.
General Description: Oenothera elata is a Biennial/Perennial growing to 0.8 meters. It is in flower from July to October, and the seeds ripen from August to October. The flowers are hermaphrodite and are pollinated by Lepidoptera, and bees. The plant is self-fertile.
In the Onagraceae family, the leaves are opposite or whorled, some are spirally and in most, they are simple and lanceolate in shape. The pollen grains in many genera are loosely held together by viscin threads. Most bees cannot collect it, and only bees with specialized morphologies can effectively pollinate the flowers; nearly all bee taxa that visit the flowers are oligo leges specialized on the Onagraceae family.
Edible Uses: Root - cooked. Boiled and eaten like parsnip. Young shoots - raw or cooked. Added to salads or boiled as a potherb. They are usually blanched before use. A mucilaginous texture. The young pod-like fruits can be eaten when cooked.
The plant has also been used in the treatment of colds. A poultice of the roots or the leaves has been used in the treatment of sores and swellings.
Opuntia littoralis (oh-PUN-tee-a lit-or-AY-lis)
Common Names: Coastal Prickly Pear, Sprawling Prickly Pear, Western Prickly Pear
Poisonous Relatives: Based on online resources, there was no poisonous cacti. There was only talk about how most cacti have sharp spines that stick off the cactus, some even make a microscopic arrow shape making it even more painful to remove.
General Description: Opuntia littoralis is an evergreen Perennial which generally grows in dense clumps spreading several meters wide and up to a meter-3 feet tall. The branches are made up of oval-shaped flat segments up to 22 centimeters long. It is covered in clusters of yellowish spines 2 to 4 centimeters long. The flowers are yellow or red. The fruit is purplish red and up to 5 centimeters long. The flowers are hermaphrodite and are pollinated by Insects.
How to prepare the edible parts of the plant: Fruit - raw, cooked or dried for later use. Sweet and gelatinous. Lean and insipid. The unripe fruits can be added to soups etc, imparting an okra-like mucilaginous quality. The fruit can hang on the plant all year round. Be careful of the plants irritant hairs. The fruit of Opuntia littoralis is about 4cm in diameter and usually free of spines. Pads - cooked or raw. Watery and very mucilaginous. Seed - briefly roasted then ground into a powder. It is also used as a thickener.
Another use is a gum that is obtained from the stem. It is used as a masticatory or mixed with oil to make candles. The juice of the boiled stem segments is very sticky. It is added to plaster, whitewash etc to make it adhere better to walls.
Salvia columbariae (SAL-vee-a kol-um-BAR-ee-ee)
Common Names: Chia, Golden Chia, Desert Chia
Family: Lamiaceae
Plant Community: Coastal Sage Scrub
Type of Food: Seeds
Food Relatives: Ocimum basilicum, Mentha, Rosmarinus officinalis, Salvia officinalis, Marjoram, Salvia hispanica
Poisonous Relatives: No poisonous relatives
General Description: Salvia columbariae is a Annual/Perennial that grows in the west from California to Utah and south to Northern Mexico. It is usually found growing on decomposing granite and grows best in shade. Salvia columbariae grows at many elevations, from coastal scrub up to pine woodlands at 1200 meters.
The seeds from the plant are edible and very healthy. It contains high amounts of vitamin C, carbohydrates, protein, fiber, antioxidants, calcium, iron, and potassium. It is also very healthy for your skin, nails, and hair.
The seeds were especially used by the Chumash messengers who ran perhaps 30 km or more in a day delivering messages between villages. Eating the seeds was supposed to maintain their energy during the run.
Poisonous Relatives:Chenopodium botrys: Also called the Jerusalem Oak Goosefoot, is poisonous to dogs.
General Description: Atriplex lentiformis is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it grows in habitats with saline or alkaline soils, such as salt flats and dry lake beds, coastline, and desert scrub. It can also be found in nonsaline soils on riverbanks and woodland.
Atriplex lentiformis is a spreading, communal shrub reaching one to three meters in height and generally more in width. It is highly branched and bears scaly or scurfy gray-green leaves up to 5 centimeters long and often toothed or rippled along the edges. This species may be dioecious or monoecious, with individuals bearing either male or female flowers, or sometimes both. Male flowers are borne in narrow inflorescences up to 50 centimeters long, while inflorescences of female flowers are smaller and more compact. Plants can change from monoecious to dioecious and from male to female and vice versa.
This saltbush species, A. lentiformis, and Atriplex canescens are the food plants for the saltbush sootywing Hesperopsis alpheus, a butterfly. Atriplex lentiformis is used in restoration of riparian habitats, one of the native plants in riparian zone restoration projects in its native ranges.
Common Names: Blue Dicks, Wild hyacinth, Purpleheads
Family: Liliaceae
Plant Community: Wetland-Riparian
Type of Food: Bulb
Food Relatives: Hemerocallis fulva
Poisonous Relatives:Meadow deathcamas (Zigadenus venenosus) Meadow deathcamas is a native species. It is patchily distributed from British Columbia east to Saskatchewan and south to New Mexico and Baja California. The typical variety occurs from British Columbia east to Alberta and south to Utah and California. Grassy meadow deathcamas occurs from British Columbia east to Saskatchewan and south to Colorado. Both varieties of meadow deathcamas are extremely toxic. This is due to the presence of zygacine, a neurotoxic steroidal alkaloid. Dried meadow deathcamas remains toxic for at least 20 years.
General Description: Dichelostemma capitatum is an herbaceous perennial growing from an underground corm to a height of as much as 60 cm. It has 2–3 leaves which are 10–40 cm long. The inflorescence is head- or umbel-like, and dense. It usually contains 2 to 15 flowers, which have a blue, blue-purple, pink-purple, or white perianth. The flower tube is 3–12 mm and is narrowly cylindrical to campanulate. Flowers have six fertile stamens, deeply notched, lanceolate, white, angled inward, slightly reflexed at tip, with outer filaments wider at the base.
Dichelostemma capitatum occurs from sea level up to 2,300 meters. It inhabits a wide variety of plant communities, including vernal pools, valley grassland, scrub, coniferous forests, and open woodlands. It seems not to colonize after fire by seed, but rather by cormlets. After fire, plants are exposed to unshaded environments with little brush competition, and vigorously flower in open environments with increased soil nutrients.
Grasslands that have been burned may exhibit thousands of plants where none have appeared in recent years. Corms may sit for a decade or more and wait for fire or other favorable environmental conditions before breaking ground. Suppression of fire may cause increased shade and plant competition and decrease population numbers of Dichelostemma capitatum.
Commonly found in Oak woodlands, coastal sage scrub, chaparral, and grassland plant communities in almost every county in our state, it’s bulb was food for many of the state’s native tribes, sometimes eaten raw but also roasted or boiled to make them taste sweeter.
Poisonous Relatives: Poison Hemlock: Poison-hemlock is acutely toxic to people and animals, with symptoms appearing 20 minutes to three hours after ingestion. All parts of the plant are poisonous and even the dead canes remain toxic for up to three years. The amount of toxin varies and tends to be higher in sunny areas. Eating the plant is the main danger, but it is also toxic to the skin and respiratory system. When digging or mowing large amounts of poison-hemlock, it is best to wear gloves and a mask or take frequent breaks to avoid becoming ill. One individual had a severe reaction after pulling plants on a hot day because the toxins were absorbed into her skin. The typical symptoms for humans include dilation of the pupils, dizziness, and trembling followed by slowing of the heartbeat, paralysis of the central nervous system, muscle paralysis, and death due to respiratory failure. For animals, symptoms include nervous trembling, salivation, lack of coordination, pupil dilation, rapid weak pulse, respiratory paralysis, coma, and sometimes death.
General Description: Lomatium californicum, a dicot, is a perennial herb that is native to California and is also found outside of California, but is confined to western North America.
Native to shady banks or brushy slopes, this interesting native forms clumps of beautiful blue-green foliage. The foliage has a pungent celery flavor and grows 1 ft. or so tall. The flowers are yellow-green umbels that rise above the foliage an additional 6 to 8 inches. Good for shady areas that go summer dry. Also it a larval food source for the Anise Swallowtail butterfly.
This plant reaches a height of 30 to 120 centimeters and is anchored with a smooth stout taproot. The stem base is fibrous and leaves are attached with petioles of five to 25 centimeters in length; triangular-ovate leaf blades are ten to thirty centimeters wide. The two to five cm leaflets are arranged as 1–2-ternate-pinnate.
Rhus integrifolia (ROOS in-teg-ri-FO-lee-a)
Common Names: Lemonade Berry, Lemonade Sumac
Family: Anacardiaceae
Plant Community: Coastal Sage Scrub Type of Food: Berries
Poisonous Relatives: Toxicodendron diversilobum: Pacific poison oak leaves and twigs have a surface oil, urushiol, which causes an allergic reaction. It causes contact dermatitis, an immune-mediated skin inflammation, in four-fifths of humans. However, most, if not all, will become sensitized over time with repeated or more concentrated exposure to urushiol.
General Description: Rhus integrifolia is an aromatic, evergreen shrub that usually grows 8 to 10 feet tall, sometimes taller and near the coast shorter, with a stout, short trunk and many spreading branches. The leaves are mid to dark green with a leathery texture, the small flowers, in tightly grouped clusters, are white to rose-pink in color and bloom at the tips of branches from February to May. The fruit is a sticky, flattish drupe that is covered with fine reddish-brown fibers, which encases a seed about 1/4 inch long. Plant in full sun to light, or even dense shade. It is drought tolerant once established and withstands cold up to 10°F. This plant is often much shorter when planted on slopes where it is great for slope stabilization - on coastal slopes this plant grows no taller than 2 feet tall and can be 15 feet or more wide. It can also be kept smaller by regular light pruning and can even be trained as a formal hedge. If this plant becomes too big or too lanky, give it a hard pruning, even to the ground in late winter, and this plant will resprout new shoots rapidly.
Ripe berries of the sugar bush or lemonade berry can be soaked in hot water to produce a tart lemon-tasting beverage. Steeping in almost boiling water produces a stronger drink than steeping in sun-heated water. For a strong drink, you will need a ratio of one-part berries to two parts water. These berries make a tart snack if picked right off of the bush, but only if sucked for their juice; the pulp is not swallowed. The berries have small hairs that can upset your stomach. The dried berries can also be ground into flour and added to soup. The same styles of cooking were used by the Cahuilla and other California native people.
Tea made from the stems can be used to treat coughs. The tea made from the bark, berries, or leaves steeped in cold water can be gargled for sore throats and cold sores, or you can drink it to alleviate diarrhea or urinary problems.