Medicinal, Food Plants in Winter
Healing, Edible Herbs and Greens Under the Snow
Plants that stay green in winter under the snow include a handful of herbs that can be easily harvested for medicinal use; some of them are also edible.
- Chickweed
Chickweed is a creeping plant that grows in low mats in lawns, gardens, and other open spaces. Although common, it’s a difficult plant to meet, since it’s small and lacks immediately distinctive features, except for the tiny white flowers that are present in spring. The five double-pronged petals form a ten-pointed star about 1/4" across. The tiny, pointed, opposite leaves meet in pairs at the stem, with one sharp vein down the middle of each leaf.
Common chickweed, the species used medicinally, flourishes in cool weather but dies out in the dry heat of summer. It is delicious raw or lightly steamed, most succulent and sweet in the fall, and will persist under the snow in winter. Its larger cousin, star chickweed, grows readily in the summer but has a sharp, less pleasant flavor. Mouse-ear chickweed is fuzzy and tough and must be cooked before eating.
Chickweed supplies an outstanding array of nutrients, including Vitamins C, B6, and B12, beta carotene, magnesium, iron, calcium, trace minerals, and more. It is soothing and healing to the digestive and urinary tracts, cools and detoxifies the blood, and can be used externally for skin problems and infections, including pinkeye, which can be treated with compresses of the fresh herb.
- Self-heal or Heal-all
This low-growing plant is found in lawns and fields. Its square stem and opposite leaves place it in the mint family, but it is not aromatic. The leaves are typically about ½ inch wide and one inch long, with smooth edges and rounded tips. In spring and summer, the plant develops a flower head containing small purple, lipped flowers that emerge from green bracts. It often grows in large patches and survives beneath the snow. Although bland-tasting, self-heal is a valuable medicinal, with benefits for the liver and kidneys. It also works externally as a wound healer. It may be tinctured for medicinal use or eaten fresh in salads.
- Pine
The chopped needles of the various pine species, especially white pine, make a delicious, fragrant tea that is high in vitamin C and can prevent and treat colds. Hemlock (the tree, not the poisonous plant) and other evergreen needles can also be used to make tea.
- Mullein
The first-year plant’s thick, fuzzy leaves form a basal rosette that keeps its pale green color year-round. At the end of its second year, this biennial leaves behind a tall (up to 9 feet high) dried-out stalk of seed pods, which may mark the presence of fresh young leaves nearby. The leaves can be used to make tea or tincture for coughs, or boiled up for steam inhalation to treat sinus congestion.
See Edible Green Plants of Winter for other wild edible greens and Winter Survival Foods for information on edible barks, roots, and saps.
For more on identification, see A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants, by Steven Foster and James Duke (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990).
