View Full Version : Plant ID Please
Hi,
Can anyone id these two plants - seen whislt out today testing the new Magikelly GB Hammocks ?
1 - each leave was forked towards the stem,
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u284/loz_jm/park%20-%2025%20Mar%2007/S7000250.jpg
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u284/loz_jm/park%20-%2025%20Mar%2007/S7000249.jpg
2 - strong onion smell
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u284/loz_jm/park%20-%2025%20Mar%2007/S7000258.jpg
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u284/loz_jm/park%20-%2025%20Mar%2007/S7000257.jpg
Want to know because i did a very silly thing. - I tasted :nono: :nono: number 1 - and tasted nice for about 10 seconds - like spinach - but then it burnt my mouth like hell !!!
leason learn't - and now to purchase a good flora id book.
The first one looks like lords and ladies or cuckoo pint (Arum maculatum (http://www.wschowa.com/abrimaal/araceum/arum/amaculatum.htm) ) to me.
http://www.wschowa.com/abrimaal/araceum/arum/macul04.jpg
billycan
25-03-2007, 18:53
The first one is Lords and Ladies/Cuckoo pint/ wild arrum - all the same plant, and its POISONOUS. cant remember the latin?? I've got a feeling you can do something with the root, roast or boil as its full of carbs...?
The second is ramsons or wild garlic, Allilaria petiolata i think...
the second could be Lily of the valley but Im not sure. what was the habitat like.
Deciduous woodland - the local park !
Mouth stopped burning now - but concerned about how silly that was..
ok link to buring sensation (http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Arum+maculatum)
quote - The plant contains calcium oxylate crystals. These cause an extremely unpleasant sensation similar to needles being stuck into the mouth and tongue if they are eaten, but they are easily neutralized by thoroughly drying or cooking the plant or by steeping it in water[65].
And yes - they do !!!!!
:( :(
The first one is Lords and Ladies/Cuckoo pint/ wild arrum - all the same plant, and its POISONOUS. cant remember the latin?? I've got a feeling you can do something with the root, roast or boil as its full of carbs...?
The second is ramsons or wild garlic, Allilaria petiolata i think...
Spot on........
You can use the roots for eating, but you need to get it right as the plant (as you say) is poisonous.
Loz....First of all you get the burning sensation in the mouth, then that goes, and you feel ok, but the next day warts will appear on the roof of your mouth and the throat closes up some, you then start to shivver, the body goes into uncontrolable fits, the hallucinations will be starting at this point, you will start to froth at the mouth. The poison is just starting to get into your system now and the effects really get going, your skin errupts with weeping boils, your brain starts to swell and compresses itself onto your skull, your tongue hangs out and your eyes feel like they are going to pop out....I could go on, but I think you get the picture.....I am afraid there is nothing modern medicine can do for you....
Its been nice knowing you......
:yikes: sounds real bad Jon
I have wondered for a while what the plant that is wild arrum actually is. There is loads of it in the local woods. I was going to post it myself once I got a pic but looks likes you beat me to it loz.
Spark
The wild arrum can be hard to identify from books I think as generally the books show it with black spots on the leaves, and sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't, even on the same plant.
:yikes: sounds real bad Jon
I have wondered for a while what the plant that is wild arrum actually is. There is loads of it in the local woods. I was going to post it myself once I got a pic but looks likes you beat me to it loz.
Spark
Yep, tis really bad, you never even want to just taste it....Lethal....
It does look pretty when the fruits come out on them.....Don't try eating them either Loz......
bushtank
25-03-2007, 22:41
Hi,
Can anyone id these two plants - seen whislt out today testing the new Magikelly GB Hammocks ?
1 - each leave was forked towards the stem,
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u284/loz_jm/park%20-%2025%20Mar%2007/S7000250.jpg
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u284/loz_jm/park%20-%2025%20Mar%2007/S7000249.jpg
2 - strong onion smell
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u284/loz_jm/park%20-%2025%20Mar%2007/S7000258.jpg
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u284/loz_jm/park%20-%2025%20Mar%2007/S7000257.jpg
Want to know because i did a very silly thing. - I tasted :nono: :nono: number 1 - and tasted nice for about 10 seconds - like spinach - but then it burnt my mouth like hell !!!
leason learn't - and now to purchase a good flora id book.
The ransoms in the second pic are very good i have found loads in my local woods i have been using them in stir frys lovely:beerchug:hope you didnt swollow the lord and ladies :eek:
OzaawaaMigiziNini
26-03-2007, 01:45
...Is Loz gonna be okay?
I'm Grand !!!!
Ok so still alive, but have some small blisters on the side of my tongue and inner cheek.
Nature 1 Loz 0
Matt Weir
26-03-2007, 12:05
A nice mistletoe and hemlock salad today is it Loz? :lmao:
I can see a new BBC series here - Extreme Foraging With Loz, BBC2, Tuesdays 21:00.
Sorry mate ;) I was actually a bit concerned earlier. Glad to see you're alive and well(ish).
OzaawaaMigiziNini
26-03-2007, 18:47
I'm Grand !!!!
Ok so still alive, but have some small blisters on the side of my tongue and inner cheek.
Nature 1 Loz 0
I'm glad you're okay.. but seriously... no more tasting strange plants ok? Last thing we need, is a long topic going "the reason you should never eat this plant, is because it killed one of our members... he really should've listenned to Oz" :D :lmao:
My father identifys plants by tasting them, and by knowing which ones not to taste. I have never seen him use a field guide dispite me buying him a library of them. He will flick through them if he cant get out, but when he is out he eats nearly anything. His mother taught him as child what to avoid and how to taste plants. My dad does do alot crushing the leaf and sniffing before he puts it in his mouth, and seems to instinctivly know if a plant is dodgy or not before hand.
My dad NEVER TASTES ANY MEMBER THE CARROT FAMILY WITHOUT KNOWING EXACTLY WHAT IT IS. But I have seen him eat knowingly laburnum seeds, he likes the taste but only eats a small amount. I am a bit more cautious but IMHO tasting plants is by far the fastest way of learning them thoroughly.
Tasting a plant is not the same as eating one. I mean I like the the taste of woody nightshade berries but I wouldn't eat them.
LOZ Avoid tasting anything thing from arums, iris, buttercups, spruges, carrots and lily families please. Other poisonious plants can be tasted. But there are always exceptions.
[QUOTE=matt-w]A nice mistletoe and hemlock salad today is it Loz? :lmao:
I can see a new BBC series here - Extreme Foraging With Loz, BBC2, Tuesdays 21:00.
[QUOTE]
LOL - It would be a very short series - mainly filmed in A&E
Hope you're feeling better now loz...
Here's a quote about eating different parts of Wild Arum from the book From Agar to Zenry by Ron Freethy:
"It was suggested in a seventeenth century herbal that the berries should be served to a 'sawcey guest' for 'within a while after the taking thereof, it will so burn and pinch his mouth and throat that he shall not be able to eat any more or scarce to speak for pain.' Which seems a somewhat drastic way to get rid of a bore! ... Should the rhizome be eaten raw the taste is most unpleasant, but in times gone by it was carefully dried and found not only to be harmless but so nutritious that it could be used as a substitute for cornflour."
harryhaller
03-04-2009, 00:50
The second is ramsons or wild garlic, Allilaria petiolata i think...
I love these "what's this" threads:)
A good test of the field guides and trying to identify from photos with limited info.
The second one looks like ransoms - which is Allium ursinum (http://www.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/engl/Alli_urs.html) which must not be confused with lily-of-the-valley or autumn crocus, as the article points out.
Jumbalaya
02-05-2009, 15:26
In your upper 2 pix you've got Arum maculatum - Lords and Ladies or Cuckoopint are the two common names given to the plant. Leave the plant alone it's all toxic, though the roots can be processed to extract starch. They are not really fit to be eaten cooked as the oxalate crystals don't de-nature enough on heating. I have some details on starch extraction at: http://www.countrylovers.co.uk/wfs/arum.htm. This was the process that Gordon Hillman borrowed from me to get his starch in the Mears' wild food book.
The bottom photographs are of Allium ursinum - Ramsons. Very well known as a wild veggie. There are lots of references to using it on the Lovely Grub area.
Best
M
According to Ernest Thompson Seton (whose writings you _all_ should be aware of!), the native Americans ate cuckoo pint roots after boiling them. They were a very valuable food resource. They had a special name for them, but I don't have my copy of his 'The Book of Woodcraft' to hand, and can't remember it.
Jim
silvergirl
06-05-2009, 10:59
My dad NEVER TASTES ANY MEMBER THE CARROT FAMILY WITHOUT KNOWING EXACTLY WHAT IT IS.
I once horrified a collegue when we were doing some plant ID, he had found a plant which was a member of the carrot family and was struggling to identify it as it didn't exactly match any of the descriptions in his books.
I had a quick look, took a piece and stuck it in my mouth. I was 95% sure it was just cow parsley, but the look on his face was sheer horror and he kept expecting me to drop dead any moment. I could easily have been 5% wrong.
I now always think of that whenever I'm about to try something I'm not sure about.
Glad you surrvived.
I once horrified a collegue when we were doing some plant ID, he had found a plant which was a member of the carrot family and was struggling to identify it as it didn't exactly match any of the descriptions in his books.
I had a quick look, took a piece and stuck it in my mouth. I was 95% sure it was just cow parsley, but the look on his face was sheer horror and he kept expecting me to drop dead any moment. I could easily have been 5% wrong.
I now always think of that whenever I'm about to try something I'm not sure about.
Glad you surrvived.
I don't taste any member of the carrot family ever. My dad has a way of aproaching plants and IDing them that I have only ever seen in some Irish people, it is very tactile. It took me years to work out it was a skill passed down from a seditious granny. Loz's original post reminded me of my dad's behaviour, of course I am not suggesting anything about his granny's past, but it is the type of thing he would do and say "well at least I know what to use if I want to burn someones tongue off:D ". The smell of the crushed leaves of both arum and poisonous carrots is quite distinctive and should warn against tasting.
The reason i don't like discussing taste testing is that it takes a lot instruction and wisdom. Quite a few people only read half a post, misunderstand that it is the type of thing that shouldn't really be done unless you already know a lot, and understand the risks involved. Like tasting and spitting out cowparsley when you are on dry soil that never floods, and it doesn't smell of mice is quite a good educated risk [I still wouldn't do it], but randomly eating plants is the root to a darwin award.
Guys !!!1
"2 years ago !
I thought this was forgotten ! -
silvergirl
06-05-2009, 13:45
Sorry Loz, I hadn't seen the original date :o
But I'm sure a fair few of us have been there.
I have real difficulty ID'ing plants or anything else for that matter from a book. I need to Know the plant, in the flesh as it were, the way it feels, smells, the way it catches the breeze, what other plants it hangs about with.
Of course that means I really need someone there to tell me its a 'whatever' so I can then go and read up more about it.
That time of year again though lots of stuff coming up that I haven't seen since this time last year.