Find a plant by how you feel

Aloe

Aloe vera

A windowsill succulent: clear inner gel for burns — yellow latex is a harsh purgative.

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Apple

Malus domestica

The temperate orchard fruit — cider, pie, a pocket, and a folklore about doctors that is older than the clinic.

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Asparagus

Asparagus officinalis

A patient perennial — you wait two years, then eat the spears for a month each spring for twenty more.

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Banana

Musa acuminata

The tropical berry we treat as a fruit — a seedless clone that travels green and ripens in the bowl.

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Beet

Beta vulgaris

A magenta kitchen root that stains the board — leaf and globe both food, with a folklore as a blood builder that is mostly the color talking.

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Blueberry

Vaccinium corymbosum

An eastern acid-soil berry with a bloom on the skin — a pie fruit that will not grow in lime.

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Broccoli

Brassica oleracea var. italica

An Italian selection of cabbage grown for its unopened flower — a green you eat before it becomes a yellow bouquet.

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Cabbage

Brassica oleracea var. capitata

The headed brassica of winter tables — a fermented folklore as much as a boiled one.

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Carrot

Daucus carota subsp. sativus

The orange kitchen root — a biennial you pull in year one, with a folklore about eyesight that outran the soup.

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Castor bean

Ricinus communis

A tropical star-leaf with beautiful poisonous seeds — oil is a laxative, the mash is a biotoxin.

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Cherimoya

Annona cherimola

An Andean custard apple — spoon the ripe white flesh, spit every black seed, and leave the leaf off the kettle.

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Corn

Zea mays

Maize — the American grass that became a continent’s grain, and a sweet summer cob if you pick it the day the silk browns.

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Dragon fruit

Selenicereus undatus

A night-blooming cactus that fruits in neon — mild white or red flesh speckled with seed, more show than perfume.

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Fig

Ficus carica

A Mediterranean hollow fruit that is not a fruit in the usual way — an inside-out flower you eat when it droops.

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Flax

Linum usitatissimum

Blue flower, brown seed, linen in the stem — a cool-season crop for porridge, oil, and cloth.

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Grape

Vitis vinifera

The vine that made wine, raisins, and a table cluster — food first, and a very old human partnership.

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Green bean

Phaseolus vulgaris

The snap pod of the common bean — pick young, cook, and do not confuse a tender filet with a raw red kidney.

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Guava

Psidium guajava

A tropical myrtle fruit that smells like someone opened a perfume in a fruit stand — pink or white flesh, seedy, and a jelly classic.

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Jackfruit

Artocarpus heterophyllus

The giant mulberry-family fruit of South Asia — a ripe dessert of yellow bulbs, or an unripe savory that happens to shred.

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Kale

Brassica oleracea var. acephala

The unheaded cabbage — a winter green that smoothie culture rediscovered and cottage gardens never forgot.

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Kiwi

Actinidia deliciosa

A Chinese vine fruit that New Zealand renamed — emerald flesh, black seeds, and a fuzzy coat you can eat or not.

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Mango

Mangifera indica

The stone fruit of South Asia — a ripe cheek of orange flesh, and a cashew-family sap that some skins refuse.

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Okra

Abelmoschus esculentus

A West African mallow whose young pods silk a stew — the Southern pot crop that hates the cold.

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Pea

Pisum sativum

A cool-season vine you eat as pod or seed — plant early, pick often, and never confuse it with a sweet pea.

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Peach

Prunus persica

A fuzzy Chinese fruit that Persia only forwarded — ripe flesh is the plate, and the pit is not a supplement.

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Persimmon

Diospyros kaki

An East Asian ebony fruit — jelly when an astringent type is truly ripe, or crisp if it is a Fuyu, and a mistake if you guess wrong.

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Pumpkin

Cucurbita pepo

A Mesoamerican winter squash we carved into a face — the food is the dry, sweet flesh and the seed.

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Spinach

Spinacia oleracea

A Persian green that bolts when the days lengthen — cook a pile, because it vanishes in the pan.

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Strawberry

Fragaria × ananassa

The garden berry that is not a true berry — a swollen receptacle wearing seeds on the outside, and a June that does not keep.

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Sweet potato

Ipomoea batatas

A tropical morning-glory grown for its sweet orange (or white, or purple) storage root — not a yam, not a potato.

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Tamarind

Tamarindus indica

A brittle brown pod of sour-sweet pulp — the acid in a chutney, a agua fresca, and a pad thai, from a tree that looks like a mimosa.

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Zucchini

Cucurbita pepo

The summer squash that becomes a club overnight — pick small, cook often, give the rest away.

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