Herbs of the Field - DayLilies

Daylilies are the unharvested tragedy just like the waste of pumpkins during the Autumn. Daylilies can be grown with your organic vegetables each summer. They don’t need sprayed, fertilized or watered! Be sure the daylily is the HEMEROCALLIS variety and not the Asiatic lily, as they are not edible.

Daylilies can help to prevent blindness and malnutrition. They contain protein and vitamin C, more than green beans or asparagus plus vitamin A like asparagus. The orange color in the wild daylily comes from two carotenoids that are great for your eyes, to help reduce macular degeneration and cataracts. As an extract it can be used as a blood purifier. Other medicinal uses include: diuretic, laxative, anodyne, antiemetic, antispasmodic, depurative, and sedative. It also has been used as a dewormer for parasitic worms which cause filariasis. It has been used in Korea for jaundice, constipation and pneumonia. They believe it helps prevent or treat cancer.

Identification: This plant is a root plant, not a bulb. The flowers can have just six petals (or two layers of three), but the bottom layer is actually sepals, not petals. Some flowers appear like a rose, put does not have a strong fragrance. The foliage leaf’s blade is long and flat, growing in cups. The stalk is thin and can have multiple branches.

Harvesting: Harvest a dusk, after flower how bloomed all day. Break off the colorful flower, down to where it connects to the stalk, include the rounded bulb at the flower’s base. The petals are tender, like a velvety lettuce. The stamens and pistils have a crunch.

Usage: Eat as a snack, add to salads. Sauce or stirfry for summer recipes. Great in Asian dishes. Boiled for a tea.

Cautions:  Some people are allergic to or respond to the medicinal quantities at low doses. Young shoots may be toxic. Don’t eat sprayed plants.