Sow Thistles - Identification, Description and Some Edible and Medicinal Uses
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- Опубликовано: 5 июл 2024
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Sow-Thistle - Sonchus spp.
Perennial Sow-Thistle - Sonchus arvensis
Annual Sow-Thistle or Commom Sow thistle - Sonchus oleraceus
In this video I identify and describe perennial sow-thistle and annual or common sow-thistle. They can be found pretty much all over North America, they are often mistaken or said to look like dandelion and prickly lettuce, and they have edible and medicinal uses. I also compare sow-thistle to prickly lettuce and offer some tips on how you can tell them apart.
Sow thistles are often mistaken for dandelion and are related to dandelion as another member of the aster or sunflower family, sow-thistles are an introduced plant from Eurasia that have become established pretty much all over North America. There are several species of sow thistles with similar edible and medicinal uses. The two described in this video are perennial sow-thistle and annual sow-thistle.
Identification of Sow Thistles
Perennial Sonchus arvensis have flowerheads that are 2.5 to 5 cm across. The leaves are alternate and lace shaped, and there are prickles along the edges of the leaves. Perennial sow thistles also have a lot of yellow hairs on the upper part of the stem around the flowering heads.
Annual sow thistle Sonchus oleraceus have smaller flowering heads, about 1.5 to 2.5 cm across. The leaves are lighter colored and softer with a terminal triangular lobe. Higher up on the stem the leaves are less lobed.
Sow Thistles Are Edible
The young leaves of sow-thistles are edible but become more tough and bitter with age. Cooking, changing the water and cooking the leaves again will remove some of the bitterness. The flowerheads can also be chewed like gum. Some farmers will give sow thistles to pigs who are not eating their regular food hence the name sow thistle.
Sow Thistles Have Medicinal Uses
Sow-thistles also have some medicinal applications. In the 13th century , sow thistles were recommended to prolong the virility of gentlemen. They were also believed to increase milk flow for nursing mothers. Teas have been made from sow thistle to calm the nerves and to treat asthma, bronchitis and coughs. The leaves of cow thistles have also been used as poultices and to make washes to help relieve swelling and inflammation.
Please consume wild plants at your own risk! Consult multiple reliable sources before consuming any wild plants! This video is for information and entertainment only!
References
Dickinson, Richard. Weeds of Canada and the Northern United States. The University of Alberta Press. 1999.
Kloos, Scott. Pacific Northwest Medicinal Plants. Timber Press, Inc. 2017
MacKinnon, A. Edible and Medicinal Plants of Canada. Lone Pine Media Productions (BC) Ltd. 2014.
Nyerges, Christopher. Guide to Wild Foods and Useful Plants. Chicago Review Press Incorporated. 2014.
Parish, R.; Coupe, R.; and Lloyd, D. Plants of the Inland Northwest and Southern Interior British Columbia. BC Ministry of Forests and Lone Pine Publishing. 2018
Pojar, Jim and MacKinnon, Andy. Plants of Coastal British Columbia including Washington, Oregon & Alaska. BC Ministry of Forests and Lone Pine Publishing. 2004.
Warnock, Caleb. 437 Edible Wild Plants of the Rocky Mountain West. Familius LLC. 2018. 
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Great video; thank you! I purposefully let my "weeds" grow this year in order to see if I can ID them. I've taken screenshots and I've identified that I do have Sow Thislte. Thank you, again!
You're welcome! I'm glad it was helpful! Thank you, too!
Wow. Great to see this video and thanks for sharing. Where I come from we also have sow-thistle and we also prepare and eat. The young leaves are usually the best tasting. This is boiled with fatty meat such as brisket or pork, sweet potatoes or potatoes added last. This to us is a delicacy. The sourness complements the fatty taste of the meat you use.🙂
We also use it as a poultice to keep a wound clean. This allows the wound to heal without issues of infection. The young leaves are best to use for this. I would take a few leaves and crush them in the palm of my hand until the juices start to come out. I would then apply it on the top of the wound and then wrap it with a bandage.
I will also apply if it is already showing infection with pus. By the next morning, the wound is usually clean.
This is done in the morning, and another is applied in the evening until the healing is underway.
Once again, thank you from New Zealand.😊
Great tips! Thank you so much!
I'm saying you are my new go-to herb study presenter. My attention is present as I learn. This is important to me.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that!
I found these growing in my yard I did a Google image search and determined I would keep them❤ and use them for their medicinal uses. Thank you
Excellent! You're welcome and thank you, too!
Interesting! Do they have any dangerous look-a-likes?
Thanks for comparing to prickly lettuce. Very helpful
You're welcome! I think their most common look-alikes are dandelion, chicory, and prickly lettuce, and all of those are also edible. Those are the ones that come to mind for me at least in my area. I hope that helps. Thank you!
Yes, Common Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris) and Texas Groundsel (Senecio ampullaceus)
@@Gotdurtthank you! I’ve never heard of this before, but looked it up thanks to you.
Very thorough video. Thank you. I found one in the yard, gently pulled it up, and potted it. It recovered just fine. I have the annual. Hoping to be able to save the seeds to sow.
Thank you! Good luck. I hope it worked!
very informative, thanks for sharing
You're welcome! Thank you, too!
Thanks for sharing!
@@lenaforeman9044 you're welcome! Thank you, too!
Those flowers look good!
I agree. Thank you!
love this! very good explanations, especially regarding her close relatives. In my coast South Carolina area, I tend to find more of the prickly lettuce. Thanks!
I found a lot more prickly lettuce this year, and last year I thought I saw more sow-thistle. It's interesting the variability region to region and year to year. Thank you!
Good video
Thank you!
This video has helped me a lot🤩 thank you so much for sharing. I was looking for some information because i have this beautiful plant growing in my garden which i never planted and now i realised its Sonchus oleraceus, thanks to your video😊. I love this plant and its so beautiful, sometimes i get worried because i have cats and they like to destroy the plants by chewing them, i just hope its not harmful for them.
You're welcome! Thank you, too!
Was that nightshade near the end of the video mixed in with the sow thistle. Is groundsel a poisonous look alike of sow thistle?
Dear sir
Thanks for your information
Would you please explain different between lettecua and sow thistes ?
Sow thistles are painkiller like lettecua ?
King regards
Do you know how these compare with spiny sow thistle?
My favorite pick me up!!!!
Awesome! What do you like about sow thistle?
Can it be used for pain relief
The leaves have been used as poultices to relieve swelling and inflammation, so I think that could also help with some pain. Thank you!
I saw Okanogan and had to do a double take. Not quite the Okanogan I was hoping for but close enough hahaha I'm right across the border.
Yes, pretty close! Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!
and all this time I thought the weeds infesting my yard were dandelions. They're sow thistles.
Thanks for watching!
I was weeding yesterday and for the first time ever I saved the dandelion weed and cooked it. It was hard to chew, really got stuck in my teeth. But, watching this, it's possible it was a Sow Thistle? I'm not sure. I'm new at this. But what I pulled up was on the ground, no flowers and not a stalk. (But I pulled it pretty early). However, there was another weed in another garden that is a tall, possibly 2 or 3 feet, I went to pull it and quit because it was stabbing me. Is THAT a Sow Thistle? (No flowers yet) If so, it is safe to eat being so prickly? Talk about ROUGHAGE, LOL.
It's hard to say without seeing it. If it had prickles, maybe it was prickly lettuce? Sorry, I'm not sure. Good luck!
I got sow thistle in my yard but it's hard for me to tell if it's the toxic one or not. 😅
I just fried up a stalk, I should have picked a younger one but tasty in olive oil.
Nice. I was eating them out of the garden yesterday while I was weeding.
@@OkanaganGardenerandForager weeding time can also be snack time.
@@godrilla5549 Haha! Yes!
This is very useful information, Thank You!! I'm always curious about eating plants that appeal to me since I was very young and I have tried some without even knowing them but I always chew a little piece and throw it out and if it seems good I eat a little but now I'm trying to learn and be safe and I saw a plant that was growing in one of my pots and first thought was to eat it, it seems so good so I'm trying to find out which is it. It's very similar to this one the only difference is that it doesn't have the milky sap when you cut it, it's hollow. If anybody has information, thanks for sharing
You're welcome! I'm glad it's useful! I'm not sure what the plant is. This video compares sow thistle and prickly lettuce which I think looks similar. Sow thistle as far as I know does have a hollow stem.
ruclips.net/user/shortsFI7ngb92pIo?feature=share
I was looking for wild lettuce but this sow thistle is all i could find. In in NC. This has a lot of purple in it. Idk if its sow thistle. The stem and veins are purple
I often find them growing in similar places. Keep your eyes open and hopefully you will find some soon! Good luck!
There's another comment on this video from somebody in South Carolina who is finding prickly lettuce, so hopefully you can find some in your area, too!
I'm
Does it need disturbed soil to germinate ?
I'm not sure. I see it germinating in all kinds of different places around me, so I think it can tolerate lots of different conditions.
👌👀🌹
🙂
I want to use this plant and leaves and flowers as feed in my poultry farm how reasonable would it be?
I've never tried it myself, but from what I've seen you can tell pretty quickly if chickens like something or not. Sorry, I don't know for sure!
it would have been better if you showed the two differences with the baby plants. those old plants are no good once they flower, good for only birds.
@@chrisgriffin9164 good suggestion! Thanks!
The main thing I know this plant for is pain relief. Why is it being overlooked for that
People get this plant confused with wild lettuce.
I though you were going to talk about what the uses were ?
Some of the uses are discussed starting at about 5:22.
In Asia these types of plants are different than you identifying
That's interesting. I love to see the different plants that grow in other areas! Thank you!
Can you tell us the uses where you are?
Are you married 🤩
Haha! Yes, I am!