04/29/2026
Here is a spring flower you will be seeing around...the Spring Beauty. The leaves and the underground tubers are edible.
The starchy tubers can be eaten raw or cooked. If eaten raw, they will taste like radishes. If cooked, they will taste like baked potatoes or roasted chestnuts.
Before eating, the tubers should be thoroughly washed and brushed. If cooked, their outer layer jacket should remain until ready to eat.
If boiled, the tuber should be boiled in salt water for about 10-15 minutes. If roasted, the tuber should be heated until it is warm. After cooking these tubers, their outer layer jacket may be peeled.
The Spring Beauty does have some nutrition value. It contains vitamins A and C
There is a Chippewa Indian story about how the Spring Beauty was created. The Chippewa Tribe, resided in the northern Great Lakes region in northwestern Ohio
The Chippewa Legend of the Spring Beauty The Spring Beauty An old man was sitting in his lodge by the side of a frozen stream. It was the end of winter, the air was not so cold, and his fire was nearly out. He was old and alone. His locks were white with age, and he trembled in every joint. Day after day passed, and he heard nothing but the sound of the storm sweeping before it the new-fallen snow.
One day while his fire was dying, a handsome young man approached and entered his lodge. His cheeks were red, his eyes sparkled. He walked with a quick, light step. His forehead was bound with a wreath of sweet-grass, and he carried a bunch of fragrant flowers in his hand “Ah, my son,” said the old man, “I am happy to see you. Come in! Tell me your adventures, and what strange lands you have seen. I will tell you of my wonderful deeds and what I can perform. You shall do the same, and we will amuse each other.
The old man then drew from a bag a curiously wrought pipe. He filled it with mild to***co, and handed it to his guest. They each smoked from the pipe and then began their stories. “I am Peboan, the Spirit of Winter,” said the old man. “I blow my breath, and the streams become still. The water becomes stiff and hard as clear stone.”
“ I am Seegwun, the Spirit of Spring,” answered the youth. “I breathe, and the flowers spring up in the meadows and woods.” “I shake my locks,” said the old man, “and snow covers the land. The leaves fall from trees, and my breath blows them away. The birds fly to a distant land, and the animals hide themselves from the cold.” “I shake my ringlets,” said the young man, “and warm showers of soft rain fall upon the earth. The flowers lift their heads from the ground, the grass grows thick and green. My voice recalls the birds and they come flying joyfully from the Southland. The warmth of my breath unbinds the streams, and they sing the songs of summer. Music fills the groves where-ever I walk, and all nature rejoices.”
And while they were talking thus a wonderful change took place. The sun began to rise. A gentle warmth stole over the place. Peboan, the Spirit of Winter, became silent. His head drooped, and the snow outside melted away. Seegwun, the Spirit of Spring, grew more radiant, and rose joyfully to his feet. The robin and the bluebird began to sing on the top of the lodge. The stream began to murmur at the door, and the fragrance of opening flowers came softly on the breeze.
The lodge faded away, and Peboan sank down and dissolved into tiny streams of water, that vanished under the brown leaves of the forest. Thus the Spirit of Winter departed, and where he had melted away, there the Indian children gathered the first blossoms, fragrant and delicately pink---the modest Spring Beauty.
