SOW THISTLE: EAT THEM RATHER THAN SPRAY THEM

A LARGE PATCH OF SOW THISTLE ALONG HWY. 13...

...DANDELION-LIKE FLOWER...

...AND SEED HEAD

Sunday, 9:00 AM.  67 degrees F at both the ferry dock and on the back porch.  Wind variable, with light gusts.  The sky is partly cloudy with thin, high white clouds drifting in from the West.  The humidity is 73%.  The barometer is falling, predicting possible rain and thunderstorms beginning tomorrow; the high temperatures are predicted to be around 70 today and into next week.  It is a very quiet Sunday morning.

   Sow thistles, of which there are several local species in the genus Sonchus, in the Sunflower Family (Compositae), are a common field and garden weed worldwide. That pictured is probably Sonchus oleraceus.  The species name refers to its similarity to edible lettuce, in scientific Latin.
   Sow thistles are pretty plants both in bloom and in seed, and the young leaves of most species are edible and evidently very good, as there is an Italian spaghetti dish made with them.  Sow thistles have been used for food since ancient times.

   Being closely related to the dandelion, sow thistles share many of its herbal qualities,  among which are use as a diuretic and as a treatment for gout and kidney stones.

   The common name comes from the old belief that the milky sap of the sow thistle helped sows to nurse their young. Being exceellent rabbit food, they are often called rabbit thistle.
   So many weeds are edible and have significant herbal medicinal qualities that one wonders which came into use first, the weed or the cultivated crop; anyway, weeds and cultivated crops certainly  often evolved together under the influence of human use and selection.
  Perhaps we should simply eat the weeds, rather than spray them.