Cogongrass in blossom in winter. Photo by Green Deane

Cogongraass blossoms. Photo by Green Deane

It is perhaps the most invasive grass species in the world, Cogongrass, Imperata cylindrica, and is on the list of the top ten most invasive plants on the planet. Where I live there are fields of the stuff. Florida has a million acres of cogongrass. It infests a billion acres worldwide. Spreading by seed and rhizomes Cogongrass invades 35 different crops including rice, cotton, coffee, tea, oil palm, coconut and rubber plantations. Some animals will eat it but don’t like to because it’s edges are cutting sharp, like saw grass.  Cogongrass is hostile to man and animal alike. Even goats, the garbage disposals of the animal kingdom won’t eat it. Starving cattle will but only when it is young before it develops sharp edges. Pigs, however, relish its roots (60% of its biomass is underground.) Humans can tackle it in various ways. As Cornucopia II says on page 177:

“Immature flower spikes are sucked or eaten They are sometime cooked as a potherb, fried, or put into soups. The slightly sweet rhizomes are chewed or eaten and yield a starch used in making beer. They are often mixed with a purple variety of sugar cane to form a cooling thirst-quenching, digestive beverage which is occasionally available in Asian markets.”

I would add a warning: The blades have small silica crystals which as dust could injure your lungs. Thus if harvesting or destroying a lot of it a mask might be appropriate.

Orseolia javanica, female left, male right.

How Cogongrass got from Eastern Asia to America is a bit of an argument.  Some say by accident in 1912 via Louisiana, others say through Grand Bay, Alabama, that same year as packing material for Satsuma oranges from Japan. What we do know for certain is that the U.S. government imported it intentionally in the 1930s and 1940’s, for fodder and erosion control (like Kudzu). It now infests Florida, Alabama and Mississippi, with pockets from Virginia to Texas. Thus Imperata cylindrica is a Federal Noxious Weed under the Plant Protection Act.  It cannot not be imported or transported between States without first getting a federal permit. It is classified as a noxious weed in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Hawaii. Seventy-five percent of the land in Alabama is infested with it. Around 2017 researchers imported an Indonesian gall-making midge, Orseolia javanica that destroys cogongrass but was a failure. The fly refused to have sex so far from home, and is also food for other insects.

Imperata cylindrica Rubra, aka Rubra. It can revert back to the invasive species.

An ornamental variety,  Rubra (Red Baron, Japanese Blood Grass) left, is shorter and less invasive.  The upper part of each blade of that variety turns dark red in summer, growing darker as the season progresses. ‘Rubra’ may not be legally grown, sold or given away in the State of Alabama.

An aggressive colony-forming perennial grass two to six feet tall, Cogongrass is Round Up resistant. Oddly this invasive species will grow near Black Walnut which chemically usually discourages other plants from growing near it. And like Black Walnut, Australian Pines and Brazilian pepper, Cogongrass has an allelopathic effect on the germination and growth of other plants, readily killing pine seedlings. Cogongrass does not survive deep tilling.

Acres of cogongrass in winter. Photo by Green Deane

Other countries the species is found in include Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Cyprus, Egypt (Sinai), Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russian Federation (Dagestan), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, China, Korea, Japan (Hokkaidô, Honshu, Kyushu, Ryukyu Islands, Shikoku)  Bhutan, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Australia (Tasmania, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia (northeast), Northern Territory) Albania, Bulgaria, Greece (including Crete), Croatia, Italy (including Sardinia, Sicily), Slovenia, Spain (including Baleares), France (Corsica), Portugal, Spain (Canarias), Portugal (Madeira Islands), Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Chad, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo, Gabon, Rwanda, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte D‘Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Angola, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Eswatini, South Africa (Cape Province, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, and Transvaal.)

Other names include Chinese Silver Grass, Nut Grass, India Goosegrass, and pay mao. Speargrass, imperata, cogon grass, alang-alang, kunai grass, lalang, blade grass, blady grass, cottonwool grass, woolly grass, thatch grass, silver spike, Herbe à paillotte, paillotte, impérate, chiendent, paille de dys, Sapé, caminhadora, capin and seno,

Blossom with seeds and blade, the blade has an offset whitish midrib. Photo by Green Deane

Nutrients in Cogongrass include crude fiber, carbohydrates, sugars, fatty acid, and trace elements. The carbohydrates and sugars provide energy and add flavor to plants, revealing the potential of the species as functional food. Calcium, Sodium, Magnesium, Iron, and Potassium are the main trace elements in the plant [3].There also are some coumarins. While food uses for humans are rather limited, that plant has a long history in folk medicine. (Note: I am not an herbalist.) 

Modern pharmacology reports that several substances from I. cylindrica. exhibit a wide range of biological activities such as hemostasis, improvement of urination, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, anticancer, and enhancement of the immune system. The flowers and the roots are antibacterial, diuretic, febrifuge, typic and sialagogic (promotes the secretion of saliva.). It is often used in traditional Chinese and African medicine for its diuretic and anti-inflammatory properties.

Cogongrass roots. Photo by Green Deane

The root is astringent, antifebrile, antivinous, diuretic, emollient, haemostatic, and  restorative. It is used in the treatment of nose bleeds, haematuria, haematemesis, oedema and jaundice. The root has antibacterial action against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus dysenteriae et cetera. A decoction of the root is used as an anthelmintic and also to treat digestive disorders such as indigestion, diarrhea and dysentery. The root bark is febrifuge, and restorative. Extracts of the plant have shown viricidal and anticancer activity. A water  extract of stem and leaves has shown some anti-tumor activity against sarcoma and adenocarcinoma in mice. Rhizome extracts significantly inhibited urination in rats. Antiviral, antihepatotoxic, antihypertensive, antihistamine and larvicidal activities are also reported.

Ferrante Imperato

In dead Latin Imperata means imperial, commanding and cylindrica means cylindrical, tubular. The species was named for a 16th century pharmacist in Naples, “Ferrante Imperato” (1550-1625) who wrote an early book on nature, Dell’Historia Naturala, 1599. His motto was. “In dies auctior” (“I improve day by day.”) Among his accomplishments was to be the first to identify how fossils are created.

GREEN DEANE’S ITEMIZATION

Identification

Imperata cylindrica is a perennial growing to six feet at a slow rate.

It is hardy to USA zones 6-9  though is frost tender. The species is hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs) and is pollinated by Wind. The leaf blades have a  whitish midvein that is clearly offset to one side, and serrated (toothed) edges. The roots, actually rhizomes, are hard, scaly and cream-colored with sharply pointed tips. Pigs like to eat them. The seed head is fuzzy, white and plume-like 2-8 inches long. The plant does not appear to have a stem, with leaves appearing to rise directly from the ground. Overlapping sheaths give the plant base a rounded appearance. A related species, Brazilian satintail, is native to southern North America, Central America, and South America.

Time of year

In flower from March to mid-June in some areas, August to September in other places, seeds  — some 3,000 per plants — ripen from September to October, usually germinating within three to four weeks after ripening. 

Environment

Can grow in sandy, loamy and heavy clay soils, prefers to be well-drained and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. Prefers mildly acidic, neutral and mildly alkaline soils. It cannot grow in the shade and prefers dry or moist soil. It is drought tolerant and can tolerate sea exposure. The species is resistant to fire. Burning while affecting the above-ground parts of the plant, usually does not damage the rhizomes. Will grow up to an elevation of 20,000 feet.

Method of preparation

Young blossoms eaten raw or cooked, rhizomes (roots) boiled or chewed. There can be 17 tons of roots per acre (perhaps a way to fatten hogs.) Seeds edible but tiny. Plant ash is used for a salt substitute.

Also the leaves are woven to make mats, bags and raincoats. Inflorescences are valued for stuffing pillows and cushions,  Stems are used in thatching roofs, fiber from the leaves is used in making paper, brushes and rope.

False Mastic. Photo by Trade Wind Fruits

On a chance wander this week in south Florida — Pine Island — we happened upon a False Mastic tree (Sideroxylon foetidissimum, Sy-der-oh ZY Lon fet-uh, DISS ih mum) which means “very bad smelling iron wood.” Downwind from a blossoming tree smells like rotting cadavers or intense cheese (which might help you find it before the blossoms turn in to ripe yellow fruit.

The tasty sweet ripe fruit is eaten in moderation and can be gummy if not acidic. Medicinally the sap was used to treat hernias, and in washing the body. It has triterpenoid saponins which might be responsible for its anti-inflammatory action. Eating the fruit of related species might stick your lips together. Identify carefully.

Mastic is from the Greek mastikon and in subsequent Dead Latin masyticus, and in English as masticate, to chew. Sap that can be chewed is often also used for glue, coating, and coloring which was how the natives used the false mastic (“false” as it is not the true mastic (Manilkara chicle) from the Nahuati word for latex, tsictli, meaning sticky stuff. The sub-tropical species now has some three dozen common names often using “mastic” or “Jacuma” Some Caribbean examples include in The French Antilles apricot des bois, tree apricot; in Cuba the almendrillo, little almond; almendro silvestre, wild almond; and, almendron flesh almond in Puerto Rico.

 Nine Sideroxylons are commonly mentioned as edible, or chewable at least: S. celastrina, S. foetidissimum, S.  laetevirens, S. lanuginosa, S. lyciodes,  S. reclinatum S. salicifolium, and  S. tenax. The S. tenax is rather rare in the wild but a native landscape plant. One used to grow not 2.5 miles west from me where the land abutted an overpass over Interstate 4. A road crew dutifully took it down and the road since widened. However, I recently spotted one inside a locked cemetery about a mile north of me.

Miracleberry, Miracle fruit

The ninth Sideroxylon, see Saffron Plum, received a lot attention in the 1970s and has occasional revivials. The red fruited Sideroxylon dulcificum is now called  Synsepalum dulcificum. You may not recognize the name but if you eat the berries — the Miracle Berry — for about a half an hour afterwards you cannot taste anything sour. You can eat a lemon after the berries and the lemon will taste sweet. It also counters a metallic taste some experience while undergoing chemotherapy.  The ability of the berries to alter taste perception was noted as early as 1725. It was touted as a possible “sweetener” in the 70’s and the role of the sugar industry — if any — in its demise is controversial. Tablets of the berries can be bought over the Internet. How they work is not known but one theory is that it temporarily alters the physical shape of the taste receptors on the tongue.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile

Identification: A fast-growing evergreen tree with a dense, irregular crown, generally growing around 45 feet tall, occasionally up to 100 feet. Wind resistant. The yellow fruit  is ellipsoid, about an inch long and three-quarters of an inch wide, containing a single large seed, grows along branches. The trunk and bark can have warty looking growths and the bark flakey. Leaves yellowish green to dark green, shiny, elliptical to oblong. The toothless leaves can be wavy and cluster toward the end of branches.

False Mastic Blossom. Photo by Levy Preserve.org

Time of year: Dense yellow flowers in early summer, fruit ripens in winter or spring. (I snacked on mine in early January.)

Environment: Sandy or rock lime, tolerates some salty wind but not brackish water. Can tolerate moist to long dry conditions once established. Full sun, prefers elevation under 2000 feet. Common to Central America – Belize, Guatemala to southern Mexico; in the Caribbean – Trinidad to Cuba, and the Bahamas; Southeast North America particularly Florida.

Method of preparation: Ripe fruit out of hand. The durable wood was used by the native for mortars, pestles, food paddles and war tools. Settlers later use it in cabinets and boats.

Sedum with mild-flavored leaves. Photo by Green Deane

Edible Ice Plant, Carpobrotus edulis, is a common ornamental and popular on the Greek Island of Santorini. Photo by Green Deane

Confessions of  a forager: In a general sense I have known for many years that “Stonecrops” were edible. I avoided them as they were usually associated by writers with cactus (In that they grow well where it is warm and dry and rocky. Where I live it is hot, wet and no rocks.) So I ignored “stonecrops” for decades except for two: a distant edible relative I stumble across in Florida, Ice Plant, Carpobrotus edulis,  and Sedum ternatum (now (Hylotelephium telephium.) which I played with as a kid in Maine. 

I grew up on a dirt road out in the country, five miles west of the now famous L.L.Bean store in Freeport Maine. Of course back then it was a relatively small store over the post office. Now it’s the entire town. My grandfather printed catalogues for L.L. himself and invented their one-wheel deer carrier.

Down the road from our house in Pownal was a seasonal pond with alder trees and pollywogs and what we called Frog Bellies growing right beside the road. It was Hylotelephium telephium. As kids we didn’t know what it was but we would suck on the leaves. The upper layer of the leaf would separate and balloon up, filled with air which to a kid looked close enough to a frog’s puffy belly. There are between 400 and 475 different species of Sedum.    Several species of stonecrop have a history of edibility, the genus is native to Europe, Northern Africa and Asia where varieties grow in rock crevices, on ravine edges and in scrubby areas. It’s among the few plants that can survive in the very-common rocky Greek landscape.

Among the edibles are: Sedum, sarmentosum (which is high in vitamin C) S. roseum, S. rhodanthum, S. reflexum, S. telephium var. purpureum, and S. acre. Roots of Sedum roseum are eaten after being cooked. The roots of S. roseum are also a common supplement sold under the name Rhodiola rosea. The roots of S. telephium var. purpureum have also been eaten. Sedum telephium var telephium is a cultivated salad plant in Europe, the leaves are used. S. acre has pungent leaves and is used as a condiment. Native Americans used S. divergens, and S. laxum for food, the latter rolled with salt grass. The red tops of  Sedum integriforlim ssp. integrifolium  were used to make a tea, or the leaves eaten fresh or with fat, the root was also eaten. S. rosea (The rhodiola) was eaten fresh, cooked or fermented. Roots eaten with fat or fermented.  Interestingly kalanchoe is in the wider stonecrop group though I have never heard of any of them being edible. Avoid Sedum alfredii which is known to accumulate cadmium.

Internet references ( a cesspool unto itself) say Sedum means “House Leek” in Dead Latin. Merritt Fernald, the Big Botanical Man at Harvard from 1900 to 1950, and author of Gray’s Manual of Botany 1950 (the year he died) says the: “Name [is] from sedire, to sit, alluding to the manner in which many species affix themselves to rocks or walls. Hylo is the Greek word meaning forest or woodland. The genus honors Telephus, King of Mysia, who was the son of Hercules. 

Green Dean’s Itemized Plant Profile

IDENTIFICATION:  Sedum acre,  tuberous-rooted, carpet-forming, evergreen succulent  to  3” tall spreads moss-like along the ground to often making an impressive ground cover. Plants are thickly clothed with blunt, conical, pale green leaves. Leaves overlap in shingle-like fashion. Small, terminal clusters of tiny, star-shaped, five-petaled, yellow flowers to half an inch  blooms most of the summer.

TIME OF YEAR: warm weather, most like it sunny and dry

ENVIRONMENT: Sunny locations, Varies. Some like to cling to rock faces and well-drained gravely soil others like lawns. Like Ice Plant a good plant to cultivate near the sea. Can tolerate some shade, rarely needs to be watered

METHOD OF PREPARATION: Varies with species, some just the young and tender  leaves, others the entire plant, often roots are eaten with fat. Or dried and powdered and use for tea. The sap of S acre, can irritate the skin of some people and the leaves, eaten in quantity, can cause stomach upsets.

Self-seeded Moon Plant in North Carolina forest. Photo by Green Deane

It looks like a fake plant created for a low-budget space movie. It even has a good name: Lunaria annua, Annual Moon. It’s also edible. I first saw them in mile-high Beech Mountain, a city near Boone North Carolina. Then later I saw them growing on my cousin’s property in upstate South Carolina. 

The blossom tell you it’s in the mustard family.

Lunaria annua (loo-NAIR-ee-uh AN-yoo-uh) is a purple-flowered native of southeastern Europe* — the Balkans — and western Asia. Its unconventional seed pods (silicles  SILL-ah-cle) prompted the species to be used as a garden ornamental. It’s been widely planted in the United States and Canada. It’s also widely scattered in Great Britain — introduced there 400 years ago, it was popular in the Victorian era. The species is listed as invasive in Australia (and the U.S.)  As you might also presume it is a popular in flower arranging. A relative, Lunaria annua var. alba, has white flowers, L. alba var. albiflora ‘Alba Variegata, is variegated with white trimming on its leaves. There is also a Lunaria rediviva which has oval seed pods and likes to be slightly damp. There are about a dozen plants in the genus. Lunaria is sometimes confused with Dame’s Rocket, Hesperis matronalis, which is also edible (young leaves, seedpods, flowers and seeds sprouted.) 

Lunaria annua seeds.

Other common names for Lunaria annua include Honesty, Silver Dollar, Dollar Plant, Money Plant, Moneywort, Moonwort, Satin Flower, and Kuuruoho (yes, that is spelled correctly.)  It was also once known as Lunaria biennis. The plant attracts butterflies, long-tongued bees and is disease/pest resistant. 

It was one of the first European flowers introduce into the American colonies where it was value for its striking seedpods and edible roots. Thomas Jefferson was growing them in 1767.  

Green Deane’s Itemized Plant Profile

Identification:  Two to three feet tall with alternate to opposite, oval to heart-shaped leaves. They are toothy, medium green and slightly fuzzy, pointed at the tip, upper leaves are stemless. Four-petaled purple flowers are in racemes above the leaves in spring. Flowers are replaced with flattened, paper-thin, silver-dollar sized fruit which become translucent. Several seeds are in the fruit and are easy to winnow. 

Time of year. As the plant has a long juvenile stage it should be planted in very early spring for a late summer or fall harvest. They can take a frost and temperatures down to 10.6 F. Biannual, it produces only leaves the first year and is a small plant that year; as a tall plant flowers and seeds the second year. As it reseeds you only have to plant it once. Soak the seeds in water a day hours before planting. 

Environment:  Edges and transition zones. Open woodlands, naturalized areas such as permaculture lots with native and non-native species, semi-shady gardens. It likes well-drained, rich soil, full sun in cooler climates, afternoon shade in warmer areas. It needs six hours of sunlight a day, an is hardy in zones 5a, 5b, 6b, 6a, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9b, and. 9a

Method of Preparation: The thick root is edible raw or cooked before blossoming. When the energy in the root is used to make flowers and seed the roots usually get tough. Cooked, pungent seeds are a mustard substitute. The seed is 30 to 38% oil, high in erucic acid, 44%, and nervonic acid, 23% (which is a base material in creating medicine for multiple sclerosis.) The long-chain oil itself is also a high-temperature lubricant. As with most mustards most of the plant is edible — leaves, flowers and unripe fruit — but are bitter. It is also believed to be high in vitamin C as most mustards are. Leaves are edible by rabbits. 

*To be more specific it is native to Albania, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Italy, Crete, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia. It has been introduce into: Alabama, southern Argentina, Austria, the Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Czechoslovakia, Delaware, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Idaho, Illinois, India, Indiana, Ireland, Kentucky, Madeira, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Norway, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Pakistan, Pennsylvania, Québec, Rhode I., Sweden, Tennessee, Ukraine, Utah, Vermont and Washington