Exploring Wild Edibles and Medicinal Plants: A Closer Look at the Chickweed Plant

During the winter season, when much greenery dies back, there are abundant foraging opportunities in hedgerows and unexpected parts of your garden. Christopher guides you in identifying and utilizing Chickweed.

Winter can be a challenging time for food cultivation, so why not take advantage of what nature freely provides? Wild plants, often more nutritious than conventionally grown or store-bought vegetables, can offer us greens for salads or cooking, as well as safe and effective medicinal properties.

Hardy winter greens: During this time of year, wild plants that are typically overlooked in your garden or plot become more noticeable, mainly because there is little other vegetation around. The purpose of this article is to encourage people to think twice before uprooting these gifts and discarding them in the compost pile. Doing so would waste valuable food and medicine, as well as your time and energy, which is not very aligned with permaculture principles.

One plant you will likely encounter is the resilient chickweed, which is considered a common weed but was once a valuable source of food during the darker months.

Getting to know... Chickweed Scientific name: Stellaria media, Family: Caryophyllaceae

Chickweed is one of approximately 120 species of annual and perennial plants in the same genus as stitchwort (Stellaria holostea). It belongs to the same family as the tasty sea campion (Silene maritima) and the valuable cosmetic plant soapwort (Saponaria officinalis).

Chickweed, which you can observe in your garden or plot right now (unless meticulously managed), is a prolific species. There's usually no need to forage for this plant since it's commonly found. As an ephemeral species, it only takes around 13 weeks to flower and set seed. Throughout the year and in various locations, you'll continuously encounter this plant, often forming curved and domed lime-green mats.

Chickweed thrives in moist soils and grows happily at elevations of up to 900 meters. It has slender but tenacious roots. The somewhat brittle, round stems may sometimes have a red tinge and are typically covered in small fine hairs. The growing stems branch and spread quickly, allowing the plant to form distinctive bright mounds of new growth under favorable conditions. When in bloom, this plant reaches a height of around 30-40 cm.

The leaves are relatively small, oval-shaped with a heart-shaped base, typically growing to around 2.5 cm in length. They grow in opposite pairs on the stems and have a prominent mid-vein, often white. Chickweed's flowers arise from the leaf axils, on slender stems and initially pendulous buds, before eventually blooming with small, enticing, star-shaped white flowers. These flowers are known for their sets of joined petals, usually five, and are typically 5-8 mm in diameter.

Chickweed is especially abundant in towns and countryside during spring, autumn, and winter, particularly in the milder climates we were accustomed to until recently. It may occasionally be found in shadier spots during the summer but does not thrive in hot sunshine.

Parts used: Leaves and tops.

Harvest time: Available most of the year, though sometimes difficult to find in hot summers. Harvest just the tops when they are large or plentiful.

Medicinal properties: Contains mucilage, minerals (magnesium, phosphorus, copper), flavonoid (rutin), vitamins C, B6, B12, D, and A.

Medicinal uses: Chickweed was a favorite salad ingredient in the Victorian era for good reason. Its earthy succulence and soft yet crisp textures make it a great addition to any salad. When looking for alternatives to expensive, nitrate-soaked, plastic-packaged salads, this plant, which grows freely, should be considered.

Chickweed also has a long history of traditional use as an emollient for the skin, aiding conditions like eczema, psoriasis, ulcers, boils, and abscesses. It can be applied through poultices, compresses, baths, or even consumed. Internally, chickweed can be used for rheumatic and respiratory conditions, especially when excessive mucus is present.

The renowned Juliette de Bairacli Levy noted that chickweed had global applications and drew similarities between its uses and those of slippery elm, another valuable plant rich in mucilage used for digestion and as an emollient. Therefore, Bairacli Levy considered chickweed one of the most valuable weeds in the garden. Slippery elm does not grow wild in Britain and is endangered due to Dutch elm disease, so chickweed may become even more cherished in a post-peak-oil society.