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.

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 above 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 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 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.

*They misspelled the Latin name of the plant in the article using an extra “i” writing it triflorium rather than triflorum.

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.

The entire Spring Beauty is edible, root to blossoms. Photo by BushcraftUSA.

The Spring Beauty is aptly named.

Claytonia virginica

Actually there are several “Spring Beauties” and most of them are edible in similar ways. We’ll focus on Claytonia virginica, a member of the greater Purslane family. It’s found in the eastern two thirds of North America starting with Texas heading north and east, not counting Florida, New Hampshire, Maine and Canadian points east of Maine. Other “beauties” mentioned are found in different areas of North America.

Spring Beauties can be plentiful or rare. Photo by Illinois Flowers.

The Spring Beauty, also Springbeauty, is a longtime standard for foragers. They are abundant in some areas, rare in others. Thus forage with some local consideration. True to its name the attractive wild flower is a sign of spring and easy to recognize from other spring blossoms. The white to pink petals have pink stripes, sometimes pale, sometimes bright, but pink stripes nonetheless. Each blossom also only has two sepals (leaves right under the blossom.) Lower leaves are strap-like varying in size and width. The plant grows small roots that remind people of tiny potatoes, hence the nickname “Fairy Spuds.”  At least one botanist said you can eat them “but their small size makes this rather impractical.” Famous forager Euell Gibbons clearly would disagree.

Euell Theophilus Gibbons 1911-1975

In his book “Stalking The Wild Asparagus” Gibbons wrote about eating them daily if not twice a day for several weeks. He said: “We tried them fried, mashed, in salads, and cooked with peas, like new potatoes. All these ways were completely successful, but, as regular fare, we preferred them just boiled ‘in the jackets.’ My friend grew so fond of this food that he was afraid he would experience withdrawal symptoms when the supply was exhausted.” While Gibbon’s friend thought they tasted like potatoes Gibbons thought they were sweeter, closer to chestnuts in flavor.

The small roots, or fleshy taproots, of several species were eaten by the natives as well as the leaves. Those species include Claytonia acutifolia (Alaska) Claytonia caroliniana (eastern North America) Claytonia lancelolata (western North America) Claytonia megarrhiza (Rocky Mountains) Claytonia tuberosa (Alaska) and the aforementioned Claytonia  virginica.

John Clayton Memorial in Virgina

The genus is named for John Clayton, 1694-1773, who was a Colonial plant collector and tobacco farmer in Virginia. He came to the “colonies in 1715 to join his father who was an attorney. He became clerk of the courts for Gloucester County, Virginia in 1720, married Elizabeth Whiting and soon after that began to collect plant specimens and have eight kids, not necessarily in that order; three daughters and five sons, some involved in the formation of the United States. Clayton sent many plant specimens but no kids to Europe where the specimens were studied by scholars. In Clayton’s honor, Linnaeus named the Spring Beauty after him.

Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile: Spring Beauty

IDENTIFICATION: Claytonia  virginica: Perennial three to six inches high with flowers a raceme on the end of stems. Each blossom up to half an inch across, 5 pink-streaked white petals, 2 green sepals, 5 stamens with pink anthers. The flowers open when it’s warm and sunny, close when cloudy or at night. Pleasantly scented. The flower stems are weak, light green or reddish green, smooth. Basal leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, curving back, smooth along the edges, fleshy. Each three to six inch leaf has a single central vein, width varies. The leaves do not have stems. However, the leaves of the C. caroliniana which are ovate, do have a short stem. Roots resemble small potatoes more or less. If you see a lot of blossoms in something of a circle there may be a larger root in the middle. Roots are two to three inches underground.

ENVIRONMENT:  Prefers dappled sunlight in spring, moist to slightly dry conditions, rich friable soil. It can adapt to semi-shaded lawns if not mowed in the spring.

TIME OF YEAR:  This is a bit of an issue. They would be best harvested in the fall but they are hard to find then. And in the spring they use that stored energy to reproduce. You either have to know where they are or catch them in the early spring as soon as they can be identified. March to May.

METHOD OF PREPARATION:  All the parts above ground raw or cooked, roots cooked. Roots can be eaten raw but not the most pleasant of experiences. You also don’t have to peel them but they are better peeled. Gibbon’s “peeled” them by putting them in a basket and putting them under a water fall. A garden hose might work but I’ve never collected enough of them to give it a time-saving try. Peeling can also be easily done after cooking. Because of their size Spring Beauties take a while to collect. They are a treat, not a staple.

Young alligator swimming among nuphar leaves and blossom.

I caught a small alligator once. I was fishing for bass in a golf course water trap behind an apartment complex in Titusville, Florida (that’s west across the Indian River from the space center.) I had already caught a few bass.

They can run as fast as a horse. Can you?

I was using a six-inch rubber worm, which always worked well for me. I was dropping it on the edge of the pickerel weed. I felt a small tug which is exactly what bass do, then a stronger tug. I set the hook. Then the tug got real strong, nearly pulling the rod out of my hand then nothing. Broken line, I thought, so I started to reel in. It was then I noticed a three-foot alligator swimming towards me. As I reeled in my line it went taut again. The gator had my rubber worm and was returning it, in person. For a moment I entertained tender young alligator steaks… then came to my senses, broke the line and haul my bass out of there.

Another time a friend and I were canoeing up Rock Springs Run in my 18-foot Mohawk when we startled a sunning gator. The alligator made a high jump and a big splash and went under the front of the canoe. As I was in the back some 15 feet away I was not too concerned…  My friend, however, kept his soiled pants as a souvenir.

Gator ribs, a favorite at U of F tailgating parties

My last close encounter with the cold-blooded kind came only a couple of years ago. I was kayaking, again, up Rock Springs Run. The run varies, sometimes wide and shallow with no channel, at other times with a ten foot wide and deep channel. I was planning on heading upstream a few miles, turning around, then floating down while videoing plants, and eventually that is what I did. However, while going upstream I noticed two baby alligators floating on a Nuphar root. They were cute, about six inches long. I thought they would make excellent footage for my video.

Gator-bobs warm from the grill

Since I noticed them as I passed the easiest thing to do was to stop paddling and just float backwards rather than turn around, let the current take me to them. By chance I happened to be wearing polarizing sunglasses that eliminated glare off the water. As I floated back toward the babies a huge alligator swam under the kayak and stopped between me and the little ones… I decided I didn’t need any footage of baby alligators. Reptilian mothers can be formidable, and she was longer than my kayak.

Not only have I encountered alligators in the wild but in the kitchen as well. I wish I could recommend alligator more wholeheartedly than I can. After all, I live in Florida and have had alligator many times prepared many ways.

Does it have a bad flavor? Not really. Is the texture off-putting? No. People say it tastes like chicken. If that’s the case than the chicken died from drinking a lot of swamp water. Alligator always has, to me, a bit of tooth and swampness about it. To your palate there’s never any doubt as to what you are eating.

Now, don’t misunderstand me. I eat everything, literally. There is no food I won’t eat. I don’t have any off-limit foods. In that regard I’m an easy dinner companion, guest, or co-pizza orderer. I eat everything. If you put a plate of gator in front of me down it goes, pass the Pickapeppa sauce please. These are just my observations about alligator.

Deep fried gator nuggets and fixin's

The texture is more like our larger game fish, and the flavor is more towards an oily sea fish than grain-fed chicken.  Some “healthy meat advocates” say it tastes like mild white flesh fish, cod and tilapia and the like. I don’t know where they are getting their gator from but no gator I have ever eaten tasted that mild or delicate. Gator and sherry are not made for each other. Gator calls for accompanying flavors and seasonings to have some oomph to them. Marinades are your friend. (If someone introduces me to mild gator meat I will gladly rewrite the previous paragraph.)

Gator sausage tops bear sausage

That said there are many things to recommend alligator meat. Here is a commercial view of gator meat: A four-ounce serving has 177 calories, beef 244. Alligator meat is 3% fat, beef is 12 though personally I think our anti-fat craze is not healthy. There is also the argument that alligator is more healthy than beef. That might be debatable. If caught in the wild, perhaps. If raised on a farm, perhaps not.  About 100,000 alligators are farm-raised whereas several million run wild from Texas to North Carolina. Louisiana and Florida alone total three million wild alligators. Locally one sees them all the time from golf courses to even walking along the Interstate, and dead on the Interstate.

The state of Florida is not so nutritionally generous. It says a 3.2 ounce serving (smaller than above) has 232 calories, which would make gator meat more caloric than beef. The state also says it is more fatty, 4 grams per 3.2 ounce serving putting it at 4% fat, not 3%. According to the state gator meat is nearly half protein. Alligator meat is usually frozen — cough cough — and sold as ribs, fillets or steaks. The latter two are cut from the tail which is the whitest and most tender of the meat. Other meat leans towards pork in color and texture.

Eight cuts on an alligator, artist couldn't spell

Actually there are eight cuts on an alligator: Top of the neck G (this has to be cubed, stewed or beaten silly with a mallet.) The jaw, A, which is very tender, as is the tail meat, T. The lower neck meat, O, is like the top of the neck, read tough. The backstrap, R,  is tender. The body meat, B, average. Leg meat L must also be beaten into submission.

Mom's protective for a while

As you might surmise tail and jaw meat are the most tender and mild. The rest has to be tenderized, from pounding to cutting across the grain to cubing. Tougher cuts are also ground to make burgers, meat loafs, soups, stews and chili. Marinades can reduce bad flavors and increase desired ones. All yellow fat should be removed before freezing or preparing or you will really taste the swamp.

Americans are already eating alligator, from one to 1.5 million pounds per year at $8 to $10 a pound, not cheap. It is strongly recommended you soak any and all alligator meat in milk three hours before prepping and cooking it.  That reduces the swamp notes.

Alligator Nuggets by Bobby Flay

Chef Bobby Flay

Ingredients
•    1/2 pound alligator meat, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
•    Fish batter, for coating (see *Cook’s Note)
•    Cooking oil, for frying
•    Salt and freshly ground black pepper
•    Serving suggestions: various dipping sauces such as remoulade, mustard or cocktail

Directions: Fill a deep pot halfway full with oil. Heat to 360 degrees F. Coat the alligator meat with the fish batter. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes, until gator floats in oil. Remove and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve as an appetizer with remoulade sauce, mustard sauce, or cocktail sauce for dipping. * Cook’s Note: We prefer Golden Dip brand fish batter, but if store-bought batter is not available in your area you can substitute flour seasoned with salt and pepper.

Fried Alligator, originally from Acadiana Profiles Cajun Cooking from the kitchen of South Louisiana.

Published in 1996, now out of print

1 to 5- pound piece of alligator tail, rinsed and chopped into 1 1/2 -inch pieces.
1 quart of whole milk.
1 small bottle of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce.
1/2 teaspoon sea salt.
1 large potato, boiled.
1 small bell pepper, finely chopped.
1 clove garlic, minced.
Salt and pepper to taste.
2 cups seasoned, bread crumbs.
Oil, for deep frying.
Marinate the alligator in the milk, hot sauce, and salt solution. Marinate should cover the alligator or place in zip lock bag and turn occasionally.
Place in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Drain
Dry on paper towel.
Grind alligator coarsely in food processor.
Mix coarsely ground alligator with boiled potato, bell pepper, garlic , salt and pepper.
Form into round balls and toss in seasoned bread crumbs.
Drop into hot oil and deep fry until golden brown, 3-5 minutes.
Drain on paper towel. Serve immediately.

Alligator Sauce Piquant by Rouses Louisiana’s Best
Ingredients:

 1/2 cup of flour,  
1 cup Rouses cooking oil, 
1 large. onion, chopped, 
1 garlic clove, chopped
, 1/2 bell pepper, chopped, 
1 large can of tomatoes, 
1 can of tomato sauce,  
3 cups water. 
Rouses salt and pepper to taste, 
1 pound of alligator, cut into one inch cubes, 
1/2 cup onion tops, chopped.
Directions: Make a roux by cooking flour in oil until medium brown. Add onion and cook until onion wilts. Add garlic, bell pepper, tomatoes, tomato sauce and water. Cook over low heat for 30 minutes. Add alligator meat, salt and pepper and onion tops; continue cooking until alligator meat is tender, about 30 to 45 minutes.