Discover over seventy wild food plants you can forage and harvest in July.
Availability should only be seen as a rough guide. Variations in climate and location will make a difference to what’s available.
Annual seablite – Suaeda maritima
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Stalk: Young, raw, cooked.
Ash – Fraxinus excelsior
Leaf: Tea, leaf curd.
Bilberry – Vaccinium myrtillus
Fruit: Raw, cooked.
Bog myrtle – Myrica gale
Leaf: Fresh or dried. Flavouring. Tea.
Fruit: Fresh or dried. Flavouring.
Bramble or blackberry – Rubus spp.
Leaf: Tea
Fruit: Raw, cooked.
Brooklime – Veronica beccabunga
Leaf: Cooked.
Bulrush or cattail – Typha latifolia
Stem: Raw, cooked.
Flower: Spike is steamed or cooked.
Seed: Raw, roasted.
Root: Raw, flour.
Chickweed – Stellaria media
Leaf: Raw.
Stem: Raw.
Seed: Cooked.
Cleavers – Galium aparine
Leaf: Cooked, tea, leaf curd.
Seed: Roasted, sprouted.
Common bistort – Bistorta officinalis
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Common orache – Atriplex patula
Leaf: Cooked.
Common poppy – Papaver rhoeas
Flower: Raw.
Common reed – Phragmites australis
Leaf: Unfolded, dry, grind.
Root: Cooked, flour.
Common scurvygrass – Cochlearia officinalis
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Common sorrel – Rumex acetosa
Leaf: Raw, cooked, juice used as rennet.
Flower: Cooked.
Seed: Dried, flour.
Root: Cooked. Dried, flour.
Couchgrass – Elymus repens
Leaf: Leaf curd.
Root: Cooked. Dried for flour. Roasted as a coffee substitute.
Curley dock – Rumex crispus
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Seed: Raw, roasted, flour.
Daisy – Bellis perennis
Flower: Raw.
Dandelion –Taraxacum spp.
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Flower: Raw, cooked.
Seed: Raw, roasted.
Root: First year roots raw, cooked, roasted.
Darwin’s barberry – Berberis darwinii
Fruit: Raw, cooked.
Douglas fir – Pseudotsuga menziesii
Shoots: Raw, cooked.
Downy birch – Betula pubescens
Leaf: Tea, leaf curd.
Dwarf mallow – Malva neglecta
Leaf: Cooked.
Flower: Raw.
Elder – Sambucus nigra
Flower: Raw, cooked.
Fat hen or lambsquarters – Chenopodium album
Leaf: Cooked.
Ground elder – Aegopodium podagraria
Leaf: Cooked.
Hairy bittercress – Cardamine hirsuta
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Flower: Raw.
Hawthorn – Crataegus monogyna
Leaf: Tea, leaf curd.
Hedge mustard – Sisymbrium officinale
Leaf: Cooked.
Hogweed – Heracleum sphondylium
Seed: Dried, spice.
Hop – Humulus lupulus
Shoots: Cooked.
Rhizomes: Cooked
Horseradish – Armoracia rusticana
Leaf: Young, raw, cooked.
Japanese rose – Rosa rugosa
Flower: Raw, dried, tea, cooked.
Lesser burdock – Arctium minus
Stem: Inner pith eaten raw or cooked.
Root: Raw, cooked.
Lime or linden –Tilia spp.
Flowers: Raw, dried. Tea.
Mallow – Malva sylvestris
Leaf: Cooked.
Flower: Raw.
Marsh samphire or glasswort – Salicornia europaea
Stem: Raw, cooked.
Meadowsweet – Filipendula ulmaria
Leaf: Young, cooked. Tea.
Flower: Cooked.
Root: Young, cooked.
Mugwort – Artemisia vulgaris
Leaf: Cooked. Tea.
Navelwort – Umbilicus rupestris
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Nipplewort – Lapsana communis
Leaf: Cooked.
Oregon grape – Mahonia aquifolium
Fruit: Raw, cooked.
Oxeye Daisy – Leucanthemum vulgare
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Flower: Raw, candied.
Pignut – Conopodium majus
Root: Raw.
Pineappleweed – Matricaria discoidea
Flowers/buds: Raw.
Purple dew plant – Disphyma crassifolium
Leaf: Raw.
Raspberry – Rubus idaeus
Leaf: Tea.
Red clover – Trifolium pratense
Leaf: Young, raw, cooked.
Flower: Young, raw.
Seed: Raw, sprouted, cooked.
Red deadnettle – Lamium purpureum
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Stem: Raw, cooked.
Ribwort plantain – Plantago lanceolata
Leaf: Cooked.
Buds: Raw, cooked.
Root: Cooked.
Rock samphire – Crithmum maritimum
Leaf: Tips raw, cooked.
Stalk: Raw, cooked.
Rosebay willowherb – Epilobium angustifolium
Leaf: Young, raw, cooked. Fermented, tea.
Stalk: Young, peeled, raw, cooked.
Flower: Raw.
Root: Raw. Dried, beverage, flour.
Sea sandwort – Honckenya peploides
Leaf: Cooked.
Sea arrowgrass – Triglochin maritima
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Stalk: Raw, cooked.
Stem: Raw, cooked.
Sea beet – Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Sea kale – Crambe maritima
Leaf: Young, raw. Older, cooked.
Seedpod: Young, raw. Mature, cooked.
Sea purslane – Atriplex portulacoides
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Sea rocket – Cakile maritima
Leaf: Young, raw. Mature, cooked.
Buds: Raw, cooked.
Flower: Raw, cooked.
Stem: Raw, cooked.
Seedpod: Young, raw, cooked.
Root: Dried, flour.
Shepherd’s purse – Capsella bursa-pastoris
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Silverweed – Potentilla anserina
Leaf: Raw, tea.
Shoots: Young, raw.
Root: Cooked.
Spear leaved orache – Atriplex prostrata
Leaf: Cooked.
Spruce – Picea spp.
Leaf: Tea.
Stinging nettle – Urtica dioica
Seed: Dried, raw.
Stonecrop – Sedum spp.
Leaf: Raw.
Sweet cicely – Myrrhis odorata
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Seedpod: Raw.
Sweet vernal grass – Anthoxanthum odoratum
Leaf: Fresh, dry. Flavouring.
Warning: Make sure it is free of ergot fungus.
Tree mallow – Lavatera arborea
Leaf: Cooked.
Flower: Raw.
Walnut – Juglans regia
Seed: Raw, pickled.
Watercress – Nasturtium officinale
Leaf: Cooked.
Stem: Cooked.
Water mint – Mentha aquatica
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Wild carrot – Daucus carota
Flowers: Raw, cooked.
Seed: Seasoning.
Wild fennel – Foeniculum vulgare
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Wild garlic or ramsons – Allium ursinum
Leaf: Cooked
Flower: Raw.
Seed: Raw.
Root: Raw.
Wild marjoram – Origanum vulgare
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Wild onion – Allium vineale
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Bulbils/flowers: Raw, cooked.
Wood sorrel – Oxalis acetosella
Leaf: Raw.
Flower: Raw.
Wild strawberry – Fragaria vesca
Leaf: Tea.
Fruit: Raw.
Wild thyme – Thymus polytrichus
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Yarrow – Achillea millefolium
Leaf: Raw, cooked.
Wow! That’s a LOT – and how nice my mum taught me to identify a lot of them as a child! I shall be scouring my 10 acres to see what grows there already, and be checking them out next year when I live there! Moving house it taking all my time at present! Thank you fir all the hard work! ?
Thank you this is so helpful.
Thank you for this list! Please advise what ‘leaf curd’ is.
Click here for more about leaf protein/curd.
Fantastic as always. Some I am aware of from my mum telling me others are new to me. Can’t wait to look and gather some. Thank you as always ?
A long list. Thank you. We used to eat the hawthorn leaves too – ‘bread and cheese’.
Thanks Robin what a great list, when the rain stops I’ll be out looking again in the surrounding fields and hills.
Thank you for such a comprehensive list for July. I have written out the list and done a drawing next to each of the herbs I am ensure of to help me to identify while foraging.
Thank you, a wonderful list of plants I’m already planning a more in depth forage with this as a guide. The Elder trees are still flowering in my village, current plans have been to make an Elderflower cordial this weekend- will hopefully be able to expand that now
Thank you for this extensive list Robin. It is very appreciated by many, i feel sure. Fascinated by the plants i haver heard of and keen to get out and scour the landscape for them
Hello..these are very informative reads but pictures of the plants would be useful too?
You need multiple photos to ID positively. I give you the botanical name. Get some wildflower id books and keys, and… DO.THE.WORK.
Excellent list thank you Robin: Lots of variety and valuable pointers. Yes, you do need to study several key identification features to be sure of not making a horrific mistake. And also beware of accidentally gathering poisonous neighbours (plants, that is – can’t help with human variety).