The flowers of some species are edible and are used in Chinese cuisine. They are sold (fresh or dried) in Asian markets as gum jum or golden needles (金针 in Chinese; pinyin: jīn zhēn) or yellow flower vegetables (黃花菜 in Chinese; pinyin: huáng huā cài). They are used in hot and sour soup, daylily soup (金針花湯), Buddha's delight, and moo shu pork. The young green leaves and the rhizomes of some species are also edible.
Only with the original daylily, Hemerocallis fulva, can you be truly confident that the plant is edible. That's the one you see growing wild, with long necks and orange non-spotted petals. There's no shortage of it in these parts.
However, some cultivars (but not most) are not safe to eat. You either have to experiment on yourself, or have a source you really really trust. The potential negative effects would be relatively mild - passing nausea, diuresis, or purgative effect.
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Oh, btw, it is claimed that the young spring shoots and leaves of the original, while delicious and non-poisonous (with a shallot-like taste) also have mild hallucenegenic properties when eaten in large quantities. However, I've never seen any scientific analysis that identified a specific compound. Whether this is a plus or minus depends on the consumer I guess.
Comments
Day lily time
They are a fine food ingredient too. I've cooked with the common orange ones.
https://youtu.be/vrs9Od5DfVo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylily
Be careful about cultivars
Only with the original daylily, Hemerocallis fulva, can you be truly confident that the plant is edible. That's the one you see growing wild, with long necks and orange non-spotted petals. There's no shortage of it in these parts.
However, some cultivars (but not most) are not safe to eat. You either have to experiment on yourself, or have a source you really really trust. The potential negative effects would be relatively mild - passing nausea, diuresis, or purgative effect.
...
Oh, btw, it is claimed that the young spring shoots and leaves of the original, while delicious and non-poisonous (with a shallot-like taste) also have mild hallucenegenic properties when eaten in large quantities. However, I've never seen any scientific analysis that identified a specific compound. Whether this is a plus or minus depends on the consumer I guess.
So caveat cenator.
Pretty!
Pretty!