Welcome to the Celtnet guide to wild foods. As this recipe site has grown it has become obvious that to allow people to replicate some of the more ancient recipes on this site (especially from the Ancient, Roman and Medieval periods it is necessary to list modern alternatives but also to produce a guide so that the curious can find the original (often wild) ingredients for themselves. These pages are an attempt at bringing all these potentially useful and often forgotten wild foods together into one place. To use this guide simply click on the first letter of your term above or below. Alternativey why not just browse through the terms. You may well find something that surprises you!

This page covers wild foods beginning with the letter 'Z' and includes both common and scientific names.

This is the description page for Lungwort (Pulmonaria officinalis) and includes a description as well as an image, if available and a selection of recipes from this site that relates to the wild foodstuff: Lungwort.

Lungwort, Pulmonaria officinalis, (also known as Soldiers and Sailors, Spotted dog, Joseph and Mary and Jerusalem Cowslip) is an evergreen, perennial herbaceous flowering plant that's a member of the Boraginaceae (borage family). The plants are native to a wide area of Europe, and they are distributed west in the Ardennes up to the Netherlands, Denmark and central Sweden. It reaches east to central Russaia and the Cucuses and south as far as the Balkans and central Italy. It has been naturalized in Britain. Typically it prefers light soils and dappled shades. Being evergreen and having pretty leaves and flowers means that it is becoming a more common garden pant.

The plants can grow up to 30cm tall and 30cm across, with the leaves being in rosettes. Basal leaves are green, cordate, more or less elongated and pointed and always with rounded and often sharply defined white or pale green patches. The upper surface of the leaves has tiny bumps and it is quite hairy. The surface of the leaves Stem leaves are smaller and often narrower, and are unstalked or clasping the stem. All leaves are covered with hairs that are usually bristly, or occasionally soft. The leaves are often prominently spotted in pale green.

The inflorescence is a terminal scorpioid cyme, with bracts. Lungwort flowers are heterostylous, with two distinct forms of flower within each species; those with short stamens and long styles ("pin" flowers) and those with long stamens and short styles ("thrum" flowers), with the former usually being larger and more showy. The calyx is hairy, 5-lobed, tubular or funnel-shaped, enlarging as the fruit ripens. The corolla is funnel-shaped and consists of a long, cylindrical tube and a limb with five shallow lobes. Within the corolla throat, five tufts of hairs alternate with the stamens to form a ring. The flowers (which are borne from March to May are red or pink at first, later turn to blue-purple during the anthesis, by changing the pH value inside of the petals (they contain a dye that belongs to the anthocyanins and change the color from red (acidic) to blue (alkaline)).

The plant has been cultivated for centuries as a medicinal herb, as the ovate spotted leaves, following the Doctrine of Signatures were held to be representative of diseased lungs. The leaves are also mucilaginous, which adds to the similarities between the leaves and lungs.

The leaves are edible, though the hairiness means that they are disliked by many. The can be added to salads in small quantities. They can also be cooked at a potherb and the hairiness disappears on cooking. But the leaves do not have a very pronounced flavour. They can be substituted for spinach in some dishes, but as a vegetable the cooked leaves tend to be a bit slimy. Due to the mucilage, the best use of these leaves is as a thickening agent. Use them as a substitute for okra in West African and cajun cookery.

Lungwort and Greens
Lungwort Stew
Lungwort Leaf Salad
Fish and Dried Lungwort Leaf Stew
Lungwort Leaf Powder
Lungwort Leaf Gumbo
Lungwort, Elderberry and Liquorice Cough Syrup
Creamed Horseradish with Lungwort
Lungwort Tea
Lungwort and Egg Salad with Spring Onions