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Fun with wild waterleaf

May 1, 2015 Erica M. Davis 5 Comments

Fendler's waterleaf covers a hillside east of Boulder, Colorado.

Waterleaf is an interesting edible wild plant that does not get a lot of attention in the wild food media. The local species I know is Fendler’s waterleaf (Hydrophyllum fendleri), a native perennial that grows from Colorado’s Front Range west, in damp to moist soil mostly from the plains to the middle elevations.

The stamens are longer than the 5-part flowers, which can range from white to purplish.
The stamens are longer than the 5-part flowers that emerge from the fuzzy, ball-shaped bud clusters.

This is a fuzzy plant, from leaves to ball-shaped flower heads. The leaves are pinnately divided, which means instead of individual leaflets, they appear as if someone cut them out of a larger leaf with scissors, paring them into deep lobes whose valleys arrive nearly at the leaf stem but not all the way. They are also serrated and irregularly toothed. The leaf stems are succulent and crunchy.

Waterleaf starts in a rosette of long-petioled basal leaves. In our local H. fendleri, there can be quite a few leaves radiating up and out in their arching fashion. The flower stem, when it develops, is also fuzzy and crunchy-good. The plant bears ball-shaped fuzzy green bud clusters, often but not always paired in groups of two. The flowers that emerge from these fuzzy balls range from white to purplish, and are distinctive in that the stamens are longer than the bell-shaped, 5-segmented flowers. They are similar in this regard to Phacelias, to which they are related.

Fendler's waterleaf with fuzzy, ball-shaped flower bud clusters. Notice how many are borne in pairs of two.
Fendler’s waterleaf with fuzzy, ball-shaped flower bud clusters. Notice that many of them are borne in pairs of two.

Fendler’s waterleaf can get several feet tall. This is one of the features that distinguishes it from the related ballhead waterleaf (Hydrophyllum capitatum), also found in Colorado. Ballhead waterleaf is another edible plant. It is shorter, found on the Western Slope, and bears its ball-shaped flowers under its fuzzy foliage.

Sam Thayer provides an overview on other edible species of waterleaf in The Forager’s Harvest (2006). Virginia waterleaf (H. virginianum), of the Northeast and Midwest, has similar, deeply-lobed leaves. When young, it has watermark-like stains on the young leaves; these stains disappear as the plant matures and the leaves turn darker green. He recommends harvesting 1 leaf per rosette of 2-4 leaves so as not to cause undue stress to this perennial plant. Some species are protected, including H. virginianum in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Kentucky, and Tennessee; broad waterleaf (H. canadense) in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Vermont; and large waterleaf (H. macrophyllum) in Maryland and Pennsylvania (USDA). Other Western species include California waterleaf (H. occidentale) and Pacific waterleaf (H. tenuipes).

Tomatoes stuffed and roasted, the stuffing made from waterleaf and sausage, dock and onions, and leftover breadcrumbs.
Tomatoes stuffed and roasted, the stuffing made from waterleaf and sausage, dock and onions, and leftover breadcrumbs.

It’s best to collect waterleaf only where it’s plentiful. I like to gather a couple leaves from robust plants or 1-2 leaves from smaller plants and then move on to the next, spreading out the harvest. I’ve found Fendler’s waterleaf along creeks in Kittredge, Morrison, and Centennial; in one case it was an area a homeowner intended to cut back. In another foothills spot the waterleaf not only thrived creekside but also spread up the side of the steep, muddy hillside, covering at least a half-acre of land if not more as willows and cottonwoods gave way to chokecherry. There it certainly seemed okay to harvest some handfuls for culinary experiments. I often find it thriving in the company of stinging nettles under willows and poison hemlock too.

There’s no getting around the fact that Fendler’s waterleaf is fuzzy. However, the leaves are delicate, so thrown into soup or chopped into quiches, I don’t object to the texture, and instead appreciate how these mild-flavored leafy greens balance the strong flavors of other greens. I once had fun rough-chopping a bunch and tossing it into a pan of Italian sausage just before serving. Later the leftovers found their way—combined with curly dock (Rumex crispus) and onions and bread that I recycled into bread crumbs—into some baked stuffed tomatoes the next night. The wild-goodness-filled stuffing was great with the caramelized tomatoes.

Waterleaf is a fun plant to learn, whether or not it finds its way into your seasonal kitchen. If you have a bunch of it growing by you, why not give it a try?

UPDATED 5.12.20

Fendler’s waterleaf growing neglected near a highway underpass.
Fendlers waterleaf has pinnately divided leaves and a juicy stalk.
Finely fuzzy Fendler’s waterleaf stem.
Finely fuzzy, ball-shaped flower heads.
This picture is to provide some scale. The biggest leaf is behind my hand.
Fendler’s waterleaf, with ball-shaped flower heads.
Rough-chopped waterleaf stirred into pan-fried sausage minutes before serving.
These are the stuffed tomatoes prior to cooking. They were so round it was all I could do not to hurl them across the kitchen.

April, edible, featured, May, spring, useful info Colorado, Denver, foraging, greens, Hydrophyllum, Rocky Mountains, urban foraging, waterleaf

Comments

  1. Mountain Edibles says

    May 30, 2016 at 11:25 pm

    You really should try Hydrophyllum capitatum yourself. It is one of my favorite edibles here in the Rocky Mountains. The roots need 15-20 minutes of boiling, but come out tender and potato-like; very good with butter and salt. The leaves are very furry, but after boiling 3 minutes they taste very much like cooked spinach. The stem is also nice and crisp, and is the only part I enjoy raw.

  2. Erica Marciniec says

    May 31, 2016 at 6:59 am

    Thank you, Mountain Edibles. Awesome info. Actually I just spotted H. capitatum for the first time a month or so again when I traveled to the Western Slope, but it was not in a spot I could forage it. Very interested in trying the roots.

  3. Ellen says

    April 28, 2021 at 3:41 pm

    I harvested Virginia waterleaf earlier this month in PA, and really enjoyed the flavor. I can’t quite describe it, but it was different from many other greens, a rounder, fuller flavor. Must go back for more.

  4. Angela Collins says

    August 13, 2022 at 11:11 pm

    Do you ever have a get together with other foragers? I would love to come and learn the native plants and wild edibles. I’m also interested in primitive living and primitive fire building using a flint and steel and other non traditional methods. I watched a YouTube video about using stinging nettle and waterleaf as fire tinder for for flint and steel. When it is dried and finely processed ( near powder or fine tea like flakes ) it takes a spark easily with flint and steel. I would like to find some to try for eating and drying for tinder.

  5. Erica M. Davis says

    October 15, 2022 at 9:48 am

    Hi Angela, great to hear from you. My foraging classes are over for the season but I will post them here in spring: https://wildfoodgirl.com/wfg-events/

    At the bottom of that page is a sign up form for an email list. If you sign up, I will send an alert when the classes are posted because they tend to sell out fast.

    Best of luck in the meantime!

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Book reviews

Samuel Thayer’s ‘Incredible Wild Edibles’

Hank Shaw’s ‘Buck, Buck, Moose’

Katrina Blair’s ‘Wild Wisdom of Weeds’

Thomas Elpel’s ‘Foraging the Mountain West’

Dina Falconi’s ‘Foraging & Feasting’

Ellen Zachos’ ‘Backyard Foraging’

Rebecca Lerner’s ‘Dandelion Hunter’

John Kallas’ ‘Edible Wild Plants’

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