Hi! I'm new here; I recently added this site as a gadget to my Google homepage, and it's one of my favorites. =)

 I'm really into edible and medicinal plants, so identification is crucial for me. But one of the other problems I have is that my mother tells me never to harvest plants on the roadside, and more importantly, in our lawn(or anyone else's, for that matter!). However, I have many routes I take on my outdoors-y trips where the green by the sidewalk is littered with weeds and invasive plants.

 I understand that my life depends on not ingesting weed killer and the like, but it seems obvious to me in places like these that the plants aren't being sprayed. On one route, there is an abundance of wild clover, and I've read that the flowers can be dried and used to make a tea that's both tasty and good for you. =D

Are there any by-the-book ways to tell if a place has been chemically sprayed? If it is infested with cat's ear, dandelion, clover, etc., can I safely assume it's good to eat? I've tried going into safer places to look for these things, but they seem to prefer the more disturbed areas.

Hi,

You're correct that these plants love disturbed areas. Places that are more established will choke out many weeds. To answer your question though, you can't trust any of these plants if they are near where other people or machines or cars travel. You'll be ingesting pollution (oil etc.) at best and possibly dangerous chemicals at worst. If you can find a wide open field of clover or dandylion then I'd say it's safer, but your margin of error is pretty slim.

I have a pet tortoise and have thought many times about picking some weeds for him to eat, but I always stop myself because if I'm wrong, he's dead.

Hope this helps.

Patrick

Thanks! I also have a pet that just adores dandelions, and I enjoy them myself. It's so tempting, since they're everywhere, just to pick them up and start snacking; so thank you for that tip concerning pollution.

 I've been wondering something since my sister brought it up the other day, though. If the plant may have harmful chemicals on it, is it still safe to use its seed and harvest from that?