Sow thistle
Sonchus oleraceus
Family · Asteraceae · Harmless
The verge weed that flowers all year and that almost everyone has pulled up without knowing it is edible. Break the stem and white milk comes out, harmless in this case.
Roadsides and waste ground · Town and roadside · Fields and pasture · Walls and rocks
Also known ascommon sowthistle, smooth sowthistle
How to tell it
Soft, deeply lobed leaves that clasp the stem with two pointed ears. Dandelion-yellow flowers in a cluster, not one per stalk. White latex in the stem.
What it is confused with
Prickly sowthistle
Sonchus asper
Prickly sowthistle has a prickly margin and stiff leaves, and is not worth eating. The smooth one is soft to the touch. Neither is dangerous.
What it is for
Young leaves eaten boiled or in salad across the Peninsula, and universal food for rabbits and hens. Older leaves turn bitter and tough.
Traditionally used as food. This is not permission to eat it.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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