The orange and red fruit of the Simpson Stopper. Photos by Green Deane

Myrcianthes fragrans: Nakedwood Twinberry

I took me about a year to know the Simpson Stopper.

While most people think of Florida as flat there’s actually is a ridge down the middle of the state reportedly from dune fields created in the Pliocene Age, 2.5 to 5.3 million years ago. If you ever drive Interstate 4 from Daytona Beach to Tampa at Lakeland the highway drops over 100 feet down an ancient ocean escarpment, dramatically marking an end to a portion of the ridge. It’s flat from there southwest to Tampa, once ocean bottom.

There more between Daytona Beach and Tampa than Interstate 4. It’s a limestone ridge that crosses and also drops down from the middle towards Sebring. The geographical difference engenders thunder storms.

Several species grow across the flat southern end of Florida and up both sides but not in the higher middle, which tends to be a few degrees cooler in the winter. That is the case with the Simpson Stopper aka Myrcianthes fragrans (mer-see-ANTH-eez FRAY-granz) which is hardy down to 25° F, perhaps into the teens if well-established.  Inland it grows to just north of Lake Okeechobee, then reaches its botanical arms north along the west coast to Tampa and St. Augustine on the east coast but not naturally up the middle of the state.

I first saw it in at the southern end of the state in Dreher Park, West Palm Beach. It was a small tree. The next time was near the manatee viewing area at Haul Over Canal near the space center, some 200 miles north, a small tree that from a distance could be mistaken for a holly. Both Stoppers were intentionally planted but in south Florida and the islands also grows wild.

I did not find the artificial mother load of Simpson Stoppers but one of my foraging students did. He asked me to visit a local Wholefood’s store in Orlando to look at the landscaping around the shopping center. He said there was a plant there he couldn’t identify. I found a quarter-mile long hedge of Simpson Stopper, in fruit.

It’s becoming a popular hedge plant.

M. fragrans is in the eucalyptus family. If you crush a leaf it does not smell of eucalyptus but rather citrusy, some think nutmeg, some think a piney citrus aroma. The blossoms are pleasantly fragrant, which helps you identify it from an unpleasant smelling relative, the Spanish Stopper. The sweet, mealy pulp of the red, ripe fruit is edible, but not the seeds as far as I know. Besides, they taste bad. That I do know. The genus is closely related to Guavas as well as Syzigums and Eugenias, In the past many species were moved in and out of these genera and at one time M. fragrans was Eugenia simpsonii. In fact, the particular plant has had some 27 genus or species name changes.  E. simpsonii honored Charles Torrey Simpson, a naturalist and author in Miami in the early 1900’s.

Simpson Stoppers have thee different leaf tips.

Not only are there several “Stoppers” as they are called, but the aforementioned genera also look similar, whether in Florida or Australia. They are generally shrubs to small trees, with leaves about one to two inches long and a half inch to an inch wide. Some have rounded leaves, some have pointed leaves, some are notched. The fruit varies from a black berry to a tiny deep red berry that looks like a pumpkin (the Surinam Cherry.) Some have one or two seeds, others like the Strawberry Guava have many seeds. The fruit tastes like mild orange peeling. They can be small bushy to tall and leggy. In landscaping they are an accent species as well as good hedge material.  

The blossoms are frilly.

There are several identifying characteristics of the Simpson Stopper. Let’s start with the little ones. The orange to red fruit is often in pairs and has a little four-sided round pucker at the end (kind of like a little folded-in blueberry crown made of four triangles.) The closely related Syzigums have a wrinkled cross at the end of the fruit. The leaf of the M. fragrans is also covered with dots. Under a #10 loop the upper surface of the leaf looks like it is covered with tiny drops of water (the dots.) The underside of the leaf is often decked out in what appears to be very tiny green dots, sometimes blackish dots. If you hold the leaf to the light and use a loop you will see gold dots. The leaves can also curl under at the edge. The fruit has one or two bean-shaped seeds, two being more common, often stuck together.  They are one of the favored foods of Cardinals and the Mocking Bird, which is Florida’s state bird. The sweet blossoms attract butterflies.

Also called “nakedwood” because of its smooth bark, it is often planted for its leggy multi-trunk wild growth pattern. Botanically Myrcianthes fragrans means “many thorns fragrant.” In this case the “many thorns” refers to the many stamens of the flower, which is also quite fragrant.

Other “stoppers” you might come across include the rare Eugenia confusa (Redberry Stopper), the Eugenia rhomea (Redberry Stopper) whose new growth is pale red while old growth has tiny black dots on the underside of the leaves; Eugenia foetida (Redberry Stopper) whose leaves and flowers smell foul; and the White Stopper, Eugenia axillaris so called because it has light-colored bark, edible mealy fruit.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile

The berries can reach good size. Don’t eat the seed.

IDENTIFICATION: A tree to 55 feet, and 14 inches through, inner reddish brown bark, flaking, growth similar to a crape myrtle, twigs slender, brown, finely hair. Leaves to two inches long, an inch wide, opposite, finely hairy petioles, blunt or rounded at the end, sometimes notched, sometimes pointed, minute gland dots, upper surface shiny dark green, under light dull green. Flowers in clusters, many spreading white stamens, see right.

TIME OF YEAR: Can fruit and flower year round, but favors August and September.

ENVIRONMENT: Full sun to partial shade, likes to be irrigated, hardy to 25F, found often growing over limestone, shell or marl.

METHOD OF PREPARATION: Pulp of ripe fruit is edible out of hand. The texture is soft and mealy. Fruit and bark are rumored to treat diarrhea when made into a tea but I’ve found no modern reference to support that.

Note the leaves can be skinny or fat.

When it comes to Carpetweed you need to know only two things: It grows nearly everywhere, or will. And the plant above ground is edible. To quote Cornucopia II, page 153:

“The entire plant can be cooked and eaten as a potherb, or added to vegetable soups during the last minutes of cooking.” Yes, I know it says “entire” plant but that usually does not include roots. When roots are edible they are usually mentioned separately.

Harvard Professor Merritt Fernald.

Opinions of the species do vary. It is a fast-spreading weed from Tropical America that can survive northern winters, though there is some debate about that. Some folks say it will cover everything in sight. Merritt Fernald, left, no botanical slouch and the leading expert of his day, wrote on page 188 in Edible Plants of Eastern North America: “It is too small for most people to gather, except when very hungry.” Now you have the opinion spread: Will cover every thing in sight, and, too small to be bothered with.  Fernald was not beyond eating this or that strange plant but as he wrote in WWII he was concerned about the growing population and dwindling agricultural resources.

Botanists know Carpetweed is spreading rapidly because they have herbarium examples from almost two hundred years ago and then later in other areas. It has… carpeted… North America and is working on China. There are reports of it in Australia.  Carpetweed is also found in Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America, Eurasia, and Africa. Not every place, however, is graced with Carpetweed. It is absent from Utah — too dry — and Alaska, too cold. I found no complaints out of Western Europe, yet.

The number of whorled leaves vary 3 to 8.

Botanically the weed is called Mollugo verticillata (mol-LOO-go ver-tee-see-LAH-tuh) which for once actually makes some sense. Often a botanical name has nothing to do with the plant nor describes it. This time it does. Mollugo used to be the genus name for the Galiums, which this plant does resembles. They are better known as Goose Grass, Cheavers, and Cleavers. And verticillata refers to the whorl of leaves the plant has at each node, which goes even further back to Vermes for worms. Mollugo is Dead Latin’s bastardization of the Greek mollis which means soft. Other names in English include Green Carpetweed, Indian Chickweed, and Devil’s Grip. In China it is 种棱粟米草 or zhong leng su mi cao. Botanists have been arguing for years whether there are two genera and exactly how many species there are. Confounding the issue is the fact the plant can vary a lot in the way it looks. Botanists say it is doubtful a species able to overwinter is the same as the original in Tropical America but no consensus has been reached… as if it is a pressing matter.

Typical look and location.

As far as opinions go Fernald may win. To find Carpetweed look down for a spot of green one to two feet across, low-growing, usually in dry areas. such as a college lawn watered by rain not irrigation. I think that’s where I last saw an excellent patch of it in Jacksonville at the state college there. Carpetweed can, however, cover more ground but apparently not enough to get into foraging books.

Man, by the way, is not the only nibbler: Birds and small mammals eat the seeds. Lastly consuming Carpetweed may increase your levels of nitric oxide. In theory that should lower blood pressure.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile: Carpetweed

IDENTIFICATION: Mollugo verticillata: It’s a late-germinating, many-branched summer annual forming circular patches one to two feet in diameter, sometimes much larger, often much less. Leaves are in whorls of 3 to 8 at each node.  Leaves attach directly to the stem (sessile) widest above the middle and tapering to the base, often shiny. Don’t mistake for Galiums which show up in the spring. Galiums are rough to the touch, Carpetweed is smooth. Galiums tend to grow up into a tangled mass, Carpetweed grows low, like a carpet. Galiums were bunched up to strain cheese through. Can’t do that with Carpetweed. Stems are smooth, branch a lot, lying on the ground with the ends turning up. Flowers are very small, five white sepals (look like petals) in clusters of two to five on long stalks. Red to orange seeds in an egg-shaped capsule.

TIME OF YEAR: Warm months in northern climes nearly year round in warm climes, flowers summer to early fall

ENVIRONMENT: Fields, gardens, roadsides, moist to dry soils, sand.

METHOD OF PREPARATION: The entire plant above ground can be boiled. Leaves are more preferable; young and tender — the meristem stage — even better.

Frog Fruit was not always called Frog Fruit. Photo by Ron Wolf.

It’s only natural that humans are inventive with something that is uniquely their own: Language. A good example are those small vehicles towed behind large Recreational Vehicles. As they are towed and smaller they are called “toads.” An entire culture has evolved around towed toads. The same thing happens with plants.

Many flowering clustering at the node. Photo by Ron Wolf.

Phyla nodiflora (FIE-la nod-dee-FLOR-ah) has at least two common names, Frog Fruit and Match Head. The latter is a more modern term and useage. Wooden matches were invented about 213 years ago.  “Frog Fruit” like a towed toad, is a turn of tongue but much older. It started out Fog Fruit. What farmers noticed 700 years ago was that after mowing the grass for hay other species quickly came up. Those were called Fog Fruit as meadows often had fog in the early morning. By a century later Fog Fruit and dampness were connected. It was but a short hop from Fog Fruit to Frog Fruit as that particular species like to grow in damp places where fog developed and frogs like to flop about. The reference “Fog Fruit” is first found in print in the United States in 1886 (the year one of my grandfathers was born.) 

It is often found in mats.

To complicate matters there are actually four Frog Fruit locally, P. fruticosa, P. lanceolata, P. nodiflora, and P. stoechadifolia. The latter is woody so we can rule that one out easily. P. lanceolata is rare and found in only three counties in the spring and summer. P. fruticosa is also rare, reported in just one county, and is a tropical American native. That leaves P. nodiflora and the one you are most likely to find. Its leaves are widest above the middle. One major headache is the plant used to be in the Lippia genus and sometimes qualities of plants in that genus are ascribed to this plant now in the Phyla genus.  Plants in this genus have a long history of herbal use from treating rheumatism stimulating babies to walk. 

Phyla means tribe or clan. The genus was named that by Joao de Louriero, 1717-1791, because of the flowers are in a tight head. He was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary, botanist, paleontologist, and mathematician who spent several decades in what is now Vietnam. Nodiflora means flowers from the nodes.  As one might guess it also has a lot of common names among them Turkey Tangle, Sawtooth Frogfruit, Mat Lippia, Mat Frass, Capeweed and Creeping Charlie (as are many, many plants.) In the Verbena family it is the larval host for the Phaon Crescent (Phyciodes phaon), White Peacock (Anartia jatrophae) Barred Sulphur (Eurema daira) and Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia). Good nectar source for hairstreaks.

Green Deane Itemized Plant Profile

Frog Fruit Distribution in North America.

IDENTIFICATION: Mat-forming perennial with prostrate hairy stems. Stems freely branched, rooting at the nodes. Leaves opposite with a few large teeth towards the tip, leaf widest above the middle. Flowers rose-purple or white in t a head at the tip of a long stalk resembling a match head. 

TIME OF YEAR: All year

ENVIRONMENT: Damp lawns, beaches, hammocks, disturbed sites, marshes, wet pinelands and glades. Somewhat salt-tolerant. Likes sandy soil and limestone outcrops.

METHOD OF PREPARATION:  Leaves boiled (not that good) or dried to make a tea (tastes grassy.)

At first glance Big Calrop can resemble purslane. Photo by Green Deane

If you’re an adult with aging eyesight Kallstroemia maxima when first spied can look like purslane. A closer examination shows it is not. But they do bear some resemblance. While purslane is a prime wild edible (and also a commercial crop) K. maxima, aka Big Caltrop, is a famine food, or an acquired taste, whichever comes first. 

Tribulus terrestris is a close relative and marginally edible, too

According to the botanical Gods there are 17 species of Kallstroemia, two local, K. maxima and K. pubescens. They are the next-to-last entry in Guide to the Vascular Plants of Florida by Wunderlin and Hansen. After Kallstroemia  is the genus Tribulus. T. terrestris, so-called Puncture Vine, is a questionable weight-lifting supplement. It has been implicated in gonad shrinkage. The usual explanation is T. terrestris — which is also marginally edible — provides testosterone thus the gonads do not need to make it naturally so they give up the ghost so to say and shrink… permanently. K. maxima has the basic birth control pill hormone diosgenin. As Kallstroemia and Tribulus are closely related I would not make it a habit to eat or use either a lot whether male or female.  

Big Caltrop leaves are bipinnate.

Daniel Austin, in his book Florida Ethnobotnany, managed to craft one full page on the species. We know it’s in the Zygophyllaceae Family which includes Lignumvitae. K. maxima is the most wide-spread in Florida with K. pubescens listed as rare and only in Franklin County though it is more common in tropical area.  We also know people in El Salvado and Colombia occasionally cook the young leaves of K. maxima for famine food. Medicinally the species has had many applications. It is a diuretic and a laxative. Crushed leaves have been put on boils and other sores. In Cuba concoctions are used to treat skin problems and as a decoction or a tincture for urticaria. In Venezuela it is used to treat abscesses and tumors.   The species is also known to sicken domestic animals and is very toxic to sheep.  However, it seeds are an important food for dove and quail. 

Diosgenin

As an aside I question the fogginess of several references regarding plant hormones. I was not allowed to take chemistry but it would seem  T. terrestris, which can stimulate testosterone production, is different than K. maxima which has diosgenin. That hormone was originally isolated in yams and used to make birth control pills. More to the point calling K. maxima “green viagra” as some writers do, would seem to be heading in the wrong direction with the wrong sex. The entire plant has been reported as a contraceptive for women. That’s quite chemical difference than being an analogue molecule for or stimulant for testosterone. Diosgenin can through several processes end up as testosterone but it can also end up estrogen. Big Caltrop and Puncture Vine might be all right as a food now and then but uses beyond that — such as dried and as a supplement or tea — should come under close chemical scrutiny.  

400-year old Caltrops

The genus is named for A. (Andrew?) Kallstroem who was a friend of the botanist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli for whom the genus Scopolia and the drug scopolamine are named. The name Kallstroem itself means “Spring River.” The common name, Caltrop, has a rich if not bloody history. It is a jack with three or four spikes that comes to rest with some spikes up. At least a thousand years ago it was thrown in front of advancing cavalry. “Caltrop” comes from calatrippe from the Latin calci —spur or heel – and trappa meaning trap… Or heel trap. And in Dead Latin the Romans called Caltrops… Tribulus which means “jagged iron.”    

Green Deane Itemize Plant Profile

K. pubescens, left, has hairy seeds, K. maxima, right, does not.

IDENTIFICATION: Prostrate herb with ascending stem tips; leaves opposite, once-pinnately compound, even-pinnate; leaflet shape variable in detail, but generally oblong-elliptic with acute ends and asymmetric bases, especially so on the terminal leaflets; flowers axillary; petals yellow or pale orange; fruits spiny. Terminal leaves are usually cloven like a cow’s foot. The seeds of K. maxima are not hairy, the seeds of K. pubescens are. One give-away for me are the blossoms that form a chalice shape before opening fully. 

TIME OF YEAR: It grows and blossom all year except in the most northern regions where mild winter interferes. 

ENVIRONMENT: Open, disturbed habitats. That said I have seen it damp places that dry occasionally to dry spots that are only watered by rain. 

METHOD OF PREPARATION: Young leaves boiled.