Podocarpus arils are edible. The seeds are not.
Podocarpus arils can be used like grapes. Photo by Green Deane
Starting to ripen are Podocarpus arils, in fact we found some last week in Sarasota. The Podocarpus is a very common hedge plant which if ignored will grow into a pine-sized tree. The seeds are mildly toxic (and on the end) but the ripe arils are very grape-like and can be used like grapes, eaten off the bush or made into jelly and wine et cetera. The seeds are listed as toxic but I know of an adult who ate two at one time and had no issue. That said, don’t eat the seeds. When the Podocarpus fruits can be something of a guess. Locally I look for them in August but you can find them in July sometimes. The fruit can last several weeks and are edible even when they begin to dry and look like raisins. Oddly, in a park in downtown Winter Park, a few Podocarpus have escaped trimming and have grown into moderate-size trees. I have seen those fruit in December. You can read more about Podocarpus here.
Ripe Pandanus is easy to spot.
The question every time you see one of these is which species is it? There are some 600 of them in the genus and several are edible one way or another. The one we see regularly in Dreher Park has a little bit of calcium oxalate in the fruit and sometimes doesn’t. So one has to taste it carefully. What you do is take a section, which is a cluster of smaller parts, and chew it. The goal is to get the juice out of it more than anything else though some pulp is edible. Last year this particular growth lightly burned my lips enough to notice but not bothersome. Three species are commonly known as edible: Pandamus amaryllifolius, which it probably was not, Pandanus fascicularis, a good possibility as is Pandanus tectorius. The latter is the most consumed of all and it would be a good find. One of the more interesting things about the Pandanus is how it burns when lit. A dried Pandanus stalk can smolder for days like a baseball bat-sized cigarette. It was how some of the Aboriginals of Australia carried fire from one place to another. Among other sighting in the park are Coco-plums and Simpson Stoppers both should be starting their seasonal run. The Sea-grapes are still green. They ripen around the first of September. Mahoes were not yet in blossom though we did find one last time there. They are unusual in that their blossom is yellow in the morning then turn red in the afternoon. Botanist tell us that is to attract different pollinators. The blossoms also have more antioxidants in the afternoon.
The red berries of Smilax walteri. Photo by Green Deane
Smilax has moved into its lesser time of year. Considered by many to be one of the best spring time greens the tips this time of year can be bitter and or peppery. Cooking moderates that. Interestingly Smilax is not a vine, at least not botanically. It is considered a climbing shrub. There are two groups with that classification in Florida, the Smilax and the Nickerbean. Apparently they have multiple trunks and grow about 12 feet long. This qualifies them as a shrub by some botanical thinking. The ripe berries are marginally edible and I have not heard of any non-edible Smilax. That said I don’t eat red-berried Smilax because they are rather singular locally (and it has to have red berries for a reason even if I don’t know it.) I just don’t see Smilax walteri too often so I tend to let it be. There is a different red-berried Smilax species on Crete — S. aspera — and those berries are eaten. S. aspera also has male and female plants. To read more about Smilax go here.
Foraging Classes: My move from Altamonte Springs to Lithia is almost done, three more trrips or five traffic jam, depending on how one counts. Classes in June were irregular and my answers sporadic as internet service was not disconnected and connected as promised or as fast as promised. As a result Sprctrum lost a customer. Let’s try two classes this weekend. Mead Garden Saturday, Port Charlotte Sunday.
Saturday, July 9th Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789. 9 a.m. Meet at the bathrooms.
Saturday, July 10th Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive at Ganyard St. Port Charlotte. 9 a.m.
Saturday, July 16th, Wickham Park: 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL 32935-2335. 9 a.m. Meet at the “dog park” inside the park
Saturday, July 17th Colby-Alderman Park: 1099 Massachusetts Street, Cassadaga. 9 a.m.. Meet at the bathrooms.
For more information, the pre-pay for a class, or sign up go here.
Japanese Knotweed. Photo by Green Deane
I am not sure it was with interest or amusement when I read about the Olympic Knotweed Working Group in Port Hadlock, Washington state. They have a knotweed problem that requires organization to combat it. That reminded me of the the Olympic stadium virtually half way around the world in London. It was a site of knotweed infestation and under British law the soil had to be removed and dealt with severely. That added 70 million pounds to the cost of building that stadium. That’s way in excess of $100 million dollars. Knotweed can break up concrete so it really had to be removed completely where the stadium was built. In Washington state there’s was an on-going study of how various herbicides and their application can kill of this edible weed. It’s fairly common in cooler climates and I’ve see a lot of it in the Carolinas. If I remember correctly it is also a commercial source of the anti-oxidant resveratrol. If you want to know more about knotweed click here.
Driveway loving Pineapple Weed
I was given cause recently to reminisce about Pineapple Weed. The first thing is what did they call it before everyone knew what pineapples smelled like? (Pineapples, by the way, are native to South America, not Hawaii.) Pineapple Weed was once called “Disc Mayweed” but that appears to be of botanical extraction. “Wild Chamomile” is another name and more accurate but at one time all Chamomile was wild. “Rayless Chamomile” was also used though I’m sure the locals called it something else. And the botanists are still in flux with some calling it Marticaria discodea instead of Matricaria matricarioides. Personally I would go with M. discodea than M. matricatioides because the latter is not at all descriptive, inventive nor imaginative. In fact it is rather lazy. It’s Dead Latin that means it looks like itself. It would be as if my official botanical name was Green Deane Who Looks Like Green Deane. At any rate Pineapple Weed should be sprouting up in all of North America except for four states, Texas, Georgia, Alabama and Florida. I personally know this tea-making plant will not grow in Florida. I have smuggled it in from Maine and tried to keep a pot of it growing, much to the horror of Native Plant Society folks. Have no fear: It did not escape. It died from the heat. Back home it struggled every year to grow in our glacial dirt driveway. Tenacious, tough, small and yes smelling of pineapples. It will be growing near you. Look around foot paths, driveway, and bare ground. To read more about the Pineapple Weed go here.
Toe Biter and a 2.5 inch car key. Photo By Green Deane
You couldn’t tell by its drying body on the sidewalk that it is a delicacy in Thailand. In fact that’s what confusing. Toe Biters are an aquatic insect and this not only was on dry land (so to speak) but had wings… When you eat them in a Thai snack shop they come all cooked and one doesn’t notice much about their anatomy except they are insects. So I sent a photo of the deceased to an entomologist friend who confirmed it is what locals call a Toe Biter (so called because they sometimes nip at the toes of bathers.) She wrote: “You are exactly right, it is a Belostomatid. They fly well, so you can find them in dry areas. They breath air even if they are aquatic bugs. They have the means to bite (piercing style) since they are totally carnivorous. They may eat other insects but can go for vertebrates as well such as fish and tadpoles.” Seems to me eating a Toe Biter is the best revenge … on par with eating sand spurs. If you want to read more about edible insects including the Toe Biter click here.
You get the USB, not the key.
Changing foraging videos: As my WordPress pages are being updated the video set will go away. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been selling for seven years. They are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have a separate copy. The DVD format, however, is becoming outdated. Those 135 videos plus 15 more are now available on a 16-gig USB drive. While the videos can be run from the DVDs the videos on the USB have to be copied to your computer to play. They are MP4 files. The150-video USB is $99 and the 135-video DVD set is now $99. The DVDs will be sold until they run out then will be exclusively replaced by the USB. This is a change I’ve been trying to make for several years. So if you have been wanting the 135-video DVD set order it now as the price is reduced and the supply limited. Or you can order the USB. My headache is getting my WordPress Order page changed to reflect these changes. We’ve been working on it for over three weeks. However, if you want to order now either the USB or the DVD set make a $99 “donation” using the link at the bottom of this page or here. That order form provides me with your address, the amount — $99 — tells me it is not a donation and in the note say if you want the DVD set or the USB.
Green Deane Forum
Want to identify a plant? Perhaps you’re looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk. There’s also more than weeds. The reference section has information for foraging around the world. There are also articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills from making bows to fermenting food.
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