Original White Blossomed Sesbania Grandiflora

Any plant called the Vegetable Hummingbird has to be written about.

Red Blossomed Variety

Sesbania grandiflora, has managed to work its way into warmer areas of the world from its native India or southeast Asia. If you have a frost you might be able to pot it and take it inside but it won’t survive in the yard or field. It grows best in hot, humid areas including south Florida where it’s naturalized.

It has at least five dozen common names. Among them in English are: Sesbania, August Flower, Australian Corkwood Tree, Flamingo Bill, Grandiflora, Sesban, Swamp Pea, Tiger Tongue, Scarlet Wistaria, Vegetable Hummingbird, West Indian Pea, Parrot Flower, and White Dragon.

Fruit is used like string beans

The shrub’s long narrow pods are eaten as a vegetable, similar in use to string beans. The seeds are fermented into a tempeh turi. Young leaves and shoots are eaten in salads or as a pot herb or in soups and stews. Its flowers are eaten raw in salads, boiled, fried or use in curries, stews and soups. They taste like mushrooms and are rich in iron and sugar, read sweet.

The Sesbania is a fast-growing tree with a typical adult height of between 3 and 15 feet. The leaves are regular and rounded and the flowers white and large, a cultivar is red blossomed. The tree thrives under full exposure to sunshine and is extremely frost sensitive. Pollinated by birds. A gum from tree wounds is called katurai and is red when fresh, nearly black after exposure. It’s an astringent gum, partially soluble in water and in alcohol, and is applied to fishing cord  to make it more durable.

Blossoms cooked and plated

Sesbania (ses-BAN-nee-uh)  is from the word Sesban which is derived from an Arab word for one of the species, S. sesban. Grandiflora (grand-dee-FLORL-uh) is much easier. It means large flowered. Other Sesbanias with edible parts include Sesbania coccinea, a cultivar of S. grandiflora, and the Sesbania sesban (the latter is also a forage crop for livestock.)  The roasted seeds of the Sesbania canavillesii has been used as a coffee substitute. All other parts are toxic. Sesbania grandiflora‘s seeds are toxic to fish. An water extract of the bark is toxic to cockroaches.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile: Sesbania Grandiflora

IDENTIFICATION:  Sesbania grandifolia: Tree to 40 feet, but usually smaller, thick, furrowed bark, and soft wood; leaves linate, six inches to a foot long, with 20 to 60 oblong leaflets one inch in length. Flowers pea-like, white, rose or maroon, 4″ long, fruit a pod half inch wide to two feet long.

TIME OF YEAR: Planted at beginning of your rainy season. Flowers and fruits second year though under good conditions can develop pods in nine months.  Grows fast enough to be an annual fodder crop.

ENVIRONMENT: Full sun, no frost, fast growing, short lived, raised from seed. Salt tolerant. Easily damaged by wind. Very susceptible to nematodes,

METHOD OF PREPARATION: Young fruit, foliage and flowers edible, mature seeds not eaten, bark medicinal. Leaf protein amount ranges from 25 to 36%, flowers 14.5%.

Nutrition Analysis

Leaves contain per 100 g, 321 calories; 36.3 g protein; 7.5 g fat; 47.1 g carbohydrate; 9.2 g fiber; 9.2 g ash; 1684 mg Ca; 258 mg P; 21 mg Na; 2,005 mg K; 25,679 mg b-carotene equivalent; 1.00 mg thiamine; 1.04 mg riboflavin; 9.17 mg niacin and 242 mg ascorbic acid. The flowers contain per 100 g; 345 calories; 14.5 g protein; 3.6 g fat; 77.3 g carbohydrate; 10.9 g fiber; 4.5 g ash; 145 mg Ca; 290 mg P; 5.4 mg Fe; 291 mg Na; 1,400 mg K; 636 mg b-carotene equivalent; 0.91 mg thiamine; 0.72 mg riboflavin; 14.54 mg niacin; and 473 mg ascorbic acid.

Torchwood, Sea Torchwood, Sea Amyris

One reason to write about the Torchwood is very few people know about it these days yet it was once an esteemed wood and produces an edible, citrusy fruit.

Torchwood has aromatic flowers

Torchwood, also called Sea Amyris and Sea Torchwood, is a large shrub or small tree found in the coastal hammocks of Florida and the Keys. It is also native to the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, the West Indies and Central America. Torchwood doesn’t reach up the west coast of Florida but on the east side manages to populate up to about St. Augustine but only on the coast. Makes one wonder why? Northward gulf stream perhaps? Botanically it is Amyris elemifera (AM-irr-iss, el-em-IF-er ah.) Remember, in dead Latin “ifera” and its various forms means “bearing” or “producing.” Bulbifera bulb bearing, papyifera, paper bearing, cerifera, wax bearing et cetera. In in this case the Torchwood is packed with resin, elemifera means resin bearing. It’s in the Rutaceae family which includes Citrus also known for its resinous qualities.

Ripening fruit

Torchwood’s very oil-ladened wood has been used or fuel and the branches make excellent torches, hence the name. In fact, it burns so brightly it was used for night fishing to capture species attracted to light. Torchwood has also been used medicinally.  In Florida Torchwood is highly  valued for different reasons these day. It is the food source for the rare and endangered Schaus Swallowtail Butterfly. And besides humans, many birds eat the small, fleshy aromatic fruit.

Tight grained, light orange heartwood

The mature wood is hard, close-grained, and light tan to orange colored. It’s used to make torches, posts and furniture, and is resistant to dry termite rot. In one study Torchwood fence posts were still in good shape after 13 years in the tropical ground.

Amyris is from the Greek word αμυρων (amiron, AH-mee-ron), which means “intensely scented.” It was also the name of a Greek in Sybaris (now Italy) who was surnamed “The Wise.” Amyris was sent by his fellow citizens to consult the famous oracle at Delphi. His reputation for wisdom gave rise to the Greek proverb Άμυρις μαίνεται, “the wise man is mad.”

Green Deane’s “Itemize” Plant Profile: Torchwood

The rare and endangered Schaus Swallowtail Butterfly

IDENTIFICATION: Amyris elemifera: Torchwood is a medium sized tree that can grow as tall as 40′ to 50′ but most often is never larger than a bushy shrub. It has a slender trunk, 10″ to 15″ in diameter. The leaves are opposite, evergreen, and compound. They are 2″ to 4½” long and composed of three leaflets. Each leaflet is 1″ to 2½” long and ovate to ovate to lanceolate in shape. The leaflets have a long, tapered end, a rounded or wedge-shaped base, and smooth or finely toothed margins. That means the leaves are pointed and drooping. The widest area of the leaves is usually in the middle. They may be medium-sized to somewhat narrow. The leathery leaflets are lustrous bright green above and dull green with glandular dots below. The bark is thin, smooth, and brownish gray. On large trunks the bark has shallow furrows roughened by small patches of exfoliating bark. Twigs, leaves, and fruits have slight citrus odor when crushed.

TIME OF YEAR: Flowering and fruiting irregularly during the year but favors March to October.

ENVIRONMENT: Torchwood grows on sandy, rocky soils near the ocean and high, rich hammocks farther inland. Does well on moist, well-drained sandy or limestone soils, with humus top layer. Salt tolerant.

METHOD OF PREPARATION: White flowers lead to purple to black, round, cherry-like drupe covered by a bluish, waxy bloom. The flesh is thin, fragrant and edible. One seed, pale brown. Don’t eat the seed.

HERB BLURB

From a report 5 May 1966: “An alcoholic extract of this plant was made and an acidified aqueous solution was purified with ether and chloroform. This aqueous extract was fractionated on an ion exchange column and the spectra of the eluates were investigated. From the spectra it appears that pteridine and purine structures are indicated for the alkaloids.”

Wild Spider Flower, Cleome gynandra

The spiderwisp looks like a mustard that lost its way or got some psychedelic-laced fertilizer. It has four-petaled flowers as the mustards do, seed pods similar to mustards, and its cooked leaves taste similar to radishes, closely related to mustard. The Spiderwisp’s oil however, is closer to garlic in taste making the species quite usable all around.

Four petal blossoms

The Cleome clan is some 170 species growing in nearly every mild, subtropical or tropical climate in the world. With their unique flower clusters they got dubbed “spiderwisp” though they’re also called Cat’s Whiskers, Spider Flower and, off theme, African Cabbage. The aromatic five lobed leaves are prickly growing on strong stems. The flower heads are delicate pink, purple or white racemes with very long stamens. Spiderwisp is easy to grow and generally free of pests.

Spiderwisp seed up close

Spiderwisp is also something of an heirloom species. Thomas Jefferson grew them at Monticello. DNA testing reduced the family by some 75 species and show that they are closely related to the brassica family, which includes mustards. Despite family issues the Spiderwisp is considered good eats. Besides flavor it’s high in calcium, iron, and vitamins A and C. Often Spiderwisp is mixed with other greens to add flavor. In its native Africa Spiderwisp is also used to make relishes, side dishes, stews, is pickled with salt and added to rice for flavor. Leaves are dried, ground, mixed with fresh leaves and used to ween children.

Strong stems, thin leaves

Botanically Spiderwisp is currently Cleome gynandra (Klee-OH-may  yin-ANN-dra ) though it has also been Gynandropsis gynandra, Cleome pentaphylla and a dozen other botanical names. Cleome is dead Latin for the Greek word κλέος (KLEE-ohs) meaning  “renown” and was a name philosopher Theophrastus gave to a plant that resembled mustards. Gynandra is Greek for “female/male, combining yin and andros though I am sure someone will say gin-AN-dra or ghine-AN-dra. In Greek the “gamma” before certain sounds is soft, yin not gin or ghine. Anyway, Gynandra usually refers to the union of the pistil and stamens, the male and female parts of the flower.

In the unspoken language of flowers giving Spiderwisps says you want the recipient to elope with you.

Green Deane’s “Itemized Plant Profile” Spiderwisp

Don't confuse with Cleome spinosa

IDENTIFICATION: Cleome gynandra: Spiderwisp is a branched, hairy herb, growing to three feet or so with purplish stems that have  longitudinal parallel lines. The leaves have very long petioles and five leaflets. Leaflets are obovate or oblong obvate, pointed at the base, abruptly pointed at the tip. Flowers are racemes terminating in showy flowers somewhat spiderish in appearance. The sepals are lancelolate, green. Petals are white or tinged with purple to a half-inch, fruit a cylindrical capsule to four inches (10 c.) with many small, dark brown seeds.

TIME OF YEAR: In the wild nearly year round depending upon climate, under cultivation plant as you would okra, read after any possible frost. Slow growing in the spring. Can be planted in May, in flower from July to August, seeds September on.

ENVIRONMENT: Drought tolerant but they grow their best in moist well-drained soil and full sunlight. It is pollinated by ants.

METHOD OF PREPARATION:  Numerous. Tender leaves, young shoots and flowers eaten boiled as potherb or used as in relish, stew or as a side dish. The leaves are used fresh or dried as powder. Very bitter leaves are cooked in milk. The leaves can be blanched, shaped into small balls and dried. Dried it can be stored up to a year. Soak in water before using. Ground seeds are a mustard substitute.

Herb Blurb

Abstract
The repellency of the essential oil of the previously reported anti-tick pasture shrub Gynandropsis gynandra and identified constituents of the oil were evaluated against the livestock tick, Rhipicephalus appendiculatus. In a tick-climbing repellency bioassay, the oil of G. gynandra exhibited a repellency effect which at the highest treatment levels was higher than that of the commercial arthropod repellent N,N-diethyltoluamide. Twenty eight compounds were identified in the G. gynandra oil by GC, GC-MS and coinjection with authentic samples. Carvacrol was found to occur in largest quantity (29.2%), followed by trans-phytol (24.0%), linalool (13.3%), trans-2-methylcyclopentanol (7.2%) and β-caryophyllene (4.4%). m-Cymene, nonanal, 1-α-terpineol, β-cyclocitral, nerol, trans-geraniol, carvacrol, β-ionone, trans-geranylacetone, and nerolidol were the most repellent components against R. appendiculatus. Methyl isothiocyanate which occurred in the G. gynandra oil at a relative percentage of 2.1 and which was not tested in the bioassay due to its toxicity may also contribute significantly to the repellency of the oil. The repellency of the oil of G. gynandra supported earlier findings by other workers that G. gynandra repelled R. appendiculatus ticks.

Tick Clover, Desmodium trifolum

Tick Clover barely makes it into our foraging realm.

Tick Clover Flower

I have found only one reference to its edibility. In the 47th volume of the Journal of Economic Botany (1993) there is an article called “Ethnobiological Notes On The Khasi And Garo Tribes of Meghalaya, Northeast India.” The 16th entry on page 349 says of Desmodium triflorum* “Cooked preferably mixed with dry fish.” That should give you an idea regarding its flavor. Also called Three Flower Beggarweed, Creeping Tickfoil, Sagotia Beggarweed, and Threeflower, it’s a common weed locally found matting in lawns and parks. Tick Clover blooms in the warmer months and has blue or purplish-pink flowers. You usually find its seeds on your socks or pant legs. More on that in a moment. Some of the members of this genus have edible seeds. I don’t know if this one has edible seeds or not. When I get better health insurance I’ll find out. (*They misspelled the Latin name of the plant in the article using an extra “i” writing it triflorium rather than triflorum.)

Young Tick Clover Pod

Available most of the year and drought resistant Tick Clover is found in Florida, Louisiana, Hawaii, the West Indies, Mexico, Central America, South America, Asia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Burma) Thailand, Malaysia, Indo-China, Pacific Islands, Africa and Australia. It’s essentially pantropical. According to the above article in India harvested in March and April.

Desmodium (dez-MOH-dee-um) comes from the Greek word desmos which means a bond or chain, a reference to its jointed fruit, that sticky green loment to the right. Triflorum(TRY-flor-um) refers to its blossom with three petals, some say refers to three blossoms per stem.

Tick Clover forms dense mats in lawns.

It has at least five other botanical names. Botany is not a settled science. It’s called Tick Clover not because of an insect but because it forms a thick mat and looks like clover. A similar thick cloth is called ticking. That  “tick” can be traced to tikke in Middle English, tijk in Dutch, theca in Dead Latin to the original Greek theke meaning a case. In modern Greek it is said Θήκη (THEE-kee) a box, case or receptacle. And for edification the insect called a tick gets its name from a different Greek word. It goes from tick to Middle English “teke” to low German “teke” to the Greek word “Zeche.”

The pea family is an interesting one with edible species and toxic species and not much rhyme or reason to that. Edible leaves in the family are usually high in protein — this one is 18%, according to Bermudez et al. 1968 — but low in taste, more a famine food than table fare. This is also why they are usually cooked and mixed with something else. Every morsel helps to fill an empty tummy. Incidentally, poultry really like Tick Clover, particularly baby chicks.

Bullfrog and Desmodium in China, photo by lz in the UK

This brings me to the nice Greek word zoochorous, which should be said zoe-oh-CHOR-us, which is having the spores or seeds dispersed by animals. Life and animals et cetera in Greek are zoe-OH, which got mangled through Dead Latin into the English word zoo. When seeds like the Tick Clover are carried on the fur it is called epizoochory. When carried inside for later deployment it is endozoochory. Now you know.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile: Tick Clover

IDENTIFICATION: Desmodium triflorum: A small prostrate legume with a woody taproot. Strongly branched stems covered with yellow-brown hairs. The plant can form roots at the nodes of the stem. Trifoliate leaves with heart-shaped leaflets to a 3/8 of  an inch long (10-12 mm.)  Pink to purple flowers. Pods flat, two to four rounded segments which are straight across the back when hooked together. They break easily and cling to clothes. It’s also much smaller than a common relative Creeping Beggarweed, Desmodium incanum, which also grows locally. D. incanum has much larger leaves, two inches long or more.

TIME OF YEAR: Available most of the year.

ENVIRONMENT: Pastures, truck farms, roadsides, lawns, open pinewoods. Very shade tolerant, frost intolerant. Found on a wide variety of soils.

METHOD OF PREPARATION: Leaves boiled. This a plant that has many medicinal applications as well.

HERB BLURB

This study evaluated the antioxidant and antiproliferative activities of the crude extract and fractions of Desmodium triflorum (L.) DC. The total phenolic content, 1,1-diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazyl hydrate (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity, trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), reducing power, total flavonoid content of D. triflorum were evaluated for the exploration of its antioxidant activities. Furthermore, its antiproliferative activities were investigated through the MTT method. It was compared with the antioxidant capacities of known antioxidants, including catechin, α-tocopherol, trolox and ascorbic acid. Among all fractions, ethyl acetate fraction was the most active in scavenging DPPH and TEAC radicals, of which 0.4 mg was equivalent to 186.6 ± 2.5 μg and 82.5 ± 2.1 μg of α-tocopherol and trolox respectively. The total phenolic and flavonoid contents of the crude extract were equivalent to 36.60 ± 0.1 mg catechin and 45.6 ± 0.6 mg rutin per gram respectively. In the reducing power assay, 1.25 mg of crude extract was similar to 61.2 ± 0.3 μg of ascorbic acid. For the assessment of the safety and toxicity of D. triflorum, LD50 of the crude extract was greater than 10 g/kg when administered to mice through gastric intubation. The above experimental data indicated that D. triflorum was a potent antioxidant medicinal plant, and such efficacy may be mainly attributed to its polyphenolic compounds.