Wild Food Foragers - Spiderwort

Vol 1, No 3
Page 1

Spiderwort (Tradescantia)
Family: Dayflower (Commelinaceae)

June 2003

My entire back yard at my old house was covered with Spiderwort, and for 15 years we wouldn't mow the grass until mid-May because the sea of Spiderwort flowers from April til then (Zone 8) was so lovely to behold. This also gave me time to harvest the wild green onions (next issue). I fancied that my yard looked like an English country garden, but visitors probably saw it as an abandoned yard, and teenagers who passed by asking if they could cut the grass were obviously surprised when I said I had a working lawnmower but was enjoying my weeds a while longer (not to mention watching the bees and butterflies they attracted).

Even so, it never occurred to me I could eat Spiderwort until long after I had moved from there, and met Miss Jane Dunn, an accomplished local wild food forager who became my mentor, is still my advisor, and whose photos and favorite Spiderwort recipe appear in this issue (Page 3).

It's hard to find much information on eating Spiderwort. A few of my weed books say it's edible, but say scant little else on the subject. I can't imagine how this attractive plant, whose stems are so crunchy and succulent and cook up just about like asparagus, and whose upper leaves and buds and flowers go so great in salads, could be attracting so little notice. Again, I see my niche!

Spiderwort likes partial shade and cooler weather so can be found in wooded areas, along hedgerows and fence lines, and also grows right out in a semi-shaded lawn. It isn't particularly invasive (around here at least) and makes a lovely garden flower, and it transplants easily from the wild by seed, cutting, and root. Sometimes it grows solitary, one here, another 3 feet away, and eventually it can spread into a self-contained clump a yard across. The flowers come in purple, pink, lavendar and white. There are said to be 600 varieties, spread across the Eastern US and on other continents. Each variety blooms at different times, and some have two blooming seasons, spring and fall. Some of the links on Page 3 will tell you more about this.

Also known as: Dayflower, Ohio Spiderwort, Reflexed Spiderwort, Bluejacket, Cow Slobber, Radiation Flower (since 1974, Spiderwort has been successfully and repeated tested in Japan as as a reliable indicator of radiation). Reasons for these names are explained in the links on Page 3. Be sure and read them--there's a wealth of information there that I shall not repeat herein but consider the links an essential part of this newsletter to give you a full picture of the plants we discuss. Don't miss out! Explore my carefully selected links.

Only 9,690 internet pages on Spiderwort, (and I couldn't find a word on eating it). Compared to 68,000 pages on last month's featured Chickweed, it's a poor showing. But if Miss Jane's been eating Spiderwort for years and survived, that's good enough for me. See how spry she looked this past cold rainy February morning as she held 75 adults in rapt attention on a local weed walk. Not bad for an 86 years young forager! I was the unofficial photographer, and it was on this very weed walk that I conceived of doing this newsletter. I could see how eager people were to learn the information, and she imparted a wealth of it, but I'm convinced most went home without retaining enough knowledge to safely apply what she taught them. Transferring such knowledge is a one-on-one graphics intensive labor. One has to "see" and "do" (not just "hear" and "watch") in order to know one's weeds. Voila, my passion for foraging came together with my photo, writing and web design capabilities, because I truly believe this knowledge must be preserved and passed on. We ought to know the planet we're on!

Identification, Harvest and Preparation:
ID tips, slide show and colorful photos are on Page 2, linked to below.
Please note the following language has been added to the disclaimer below: To avoid poisonous look-alikes, foragers should always identify by SEVERAL indicators (leaf, flower, seed pod, root and stem, by shape, texture, veination, color, hairiness, growth pattern, season, etc.) before eating from the wild. Different plants might look very similar to the untrained eye.

History, Botanical info, and Recipes: on Page 3, linked to below.

Information Exchange : Subscribers and visitors, please add your knowledge of this weed here--recipes, experiences, anecdotes, questions, opinions. (A unique thread is posted with every issue to gather more information. Please do check out our Wild Edibles Info Exchange.

Poll #1 results: 75% of respondants preferred the manual slide show.
Poll #2 results: "There were not enough respondants for a meaningful answer", so I included the same poll again in this issue. I urge you all to answer the question that will help me determine future content. (It's on Page 3).

"What's this Weed For?" As I postulated in the last issue, if you buy into the macrobiotic theory that you become what you eat, (i.e. you take on the energetic characteristics of the food you eat), what do you become if you eat Spiderwort? Next chance you get to crunch on a succulent stalk of Spiderwort or Thistle, think on that. I've posted guidelines for this "Plant Intuition" game on the Spiderwort Chat Board , with an explanation of how to psychically connect to any plant. This method might be how indigineous peoples first determined whether a plant was safe to eat, what parts were medicinal and how to apply them, etc. Please do check out the Chat Board.

Archived issues: Thistles, Chickweed, Spiderwort, Wild Green Onions , Plantain, Elder, Hawksbeard, Wild Green Onion, Wood Sorrell. Dock, Hedge Nettle are in progress. Sign up for notice when the next issue comes out.

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Thanks, and enjoy!

Standing knee deep in abundance!

Wonderful things to enhance your outdoor living space.

P.S. While this newsletter is free, your donations help keep it coming. It's a gosh awful lot of effort. Suggested donation per household is $15/year. 4 major credit cards, Visa, MC, Discover, and American Express are accepted. You may also send a check to: Wild Food Foragers of America, P.O.Box 41621, Baton Rouge, LA. 70835-1621
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Disclaimer:

Information given in the newsletter is educational but should not be considered definitive. Every effort is made to present clear testimonials from personal experience, however, different people may have different reactions than the author's experience. The author makes no attempt to identify every plant. If you choose to eat weeds, start out with a small amount and notice your reaction. Considerable effort is made to provide readers access to additional materials for the positive identification, harvesting and preparation of wild edible weeds, BUT you are ultimately responsibe for your own education, actions and diet.
To avoid poisonous look-alikes, foragers should always identify by SEVERAL indicators (by leaf, flower, seed pod, root and stem, by shape, texture, veination, color, hairiness, growth pattern, season, etc.) before eating from the wild. Different plants might look very similar to the untrained eye.
You should not pick weeds in polluted areas--along roadsides, near trash dumps, in fields or gardens likely to have been sprayed with pesticides or commercial fertilizers, etc.
You should not over-pick. The general rule of thumb is to harvest no more than 20% of an area, leaving the plants ample opportunity to regenerate for the next year, the next generation, and leaving something behind for the next forager. Becoming familiar with propagation methods can assist you in determining the most prudent conservation techniques for each plant.
You should always wash weeds before eating them. Dust is everywhere, insects and slugs naturally make their homes in vegetation, and birds do fly overhead! Let common sense be your guide.
Do not hesitate to call a doctor if you should have an adverse reaction to anything you touch or ingest in the wild. If you can bring the physician a sample, or identify the offending plant by name, all the better.