MORTON: SURVIVAL PLANTS 313

WILD PLANTS FOR SURVIVAL IN SOUTH FLORIDA

Julia F. Morton is the article, "Those Bounteous Florida Keys," Director, Morton Collectanea, written for the June, 1954, issue of Everglades Natural History by John D. Dickson III, based University of Miami on his personal experimentation while sta tioned for 14 months on Big Pine Key. Coral Gables Between 1944 and 1946, Dr. Richard A. The American Indians and early settlers, as Howard, now Director of the Arnold Arbore well as many more recent and contemporary tum of Harvard University, was Chief ofthe woodsmen, campers, adventurers and natural Survival Section, Air Force Tactical Air Center ists, have provided ample precedent for the at Orlando, Fla. In writing survival manuals utilization of our diverse and abundant indige and in teaching survival and rescue techniques nous plant life to augment the diet as well as for the U. S. Air Force, Dr. Howard (then meet many other human needs. Fortunately, Captain Howard) and his "students" collected the varied food and other uses of the principal native and introduced plant materials in wild plants of the United States as a whole southern Florida, worked out ways of ex have been ably recorded ina number of well- tracting and preparing their edible portions, known works, chiefly Yanovsky's Food Plants and ate such dishes during week-long survival of the North American Indians, Saunders' Use training periods. The food habits of the ful Wild Plants of the United States and Seminoles and more recent "natives" were Canada, Medsger's Edible Wild Plants, the examined and compared with the habits of "Edible Plants" chapter in Kephart's classic people of other tropical countries in the use of Camping and Woodcraft, the two editions of such widespread plants as palms, papayas, Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North America grasses, beach and marsh plants, and even sea by Fernald and Kinsey, the last edition revised weeds. A palatable and varied vegetarian diet by Rollins; also Harris' Eat the Weeds and from the wild plants of Florida was found to be Coon's Using Wayside Plants, as well as others filling, sustaining, and enjoyable. of more limited regional scope, such as Gilles- On a lesser scale, training for pilot survival pie's Edible Wild Plants of West Virginia. All was given the Marines during post-war years of these include a few plants that range into at their air base at Opa-locka and the aid of southern Florida, but the majority of edible the Morton Collectanea was sought in regard plants peculiar to this unique area are to information on wild plant resources. Re omitted, as well as those species that we share quests for such help are, from time to time, with other subtropical and tropical regions. received from Boy Scout leaders taking troops Dr. Raymond Bellamy of Florida State on field trips, and the currently awakened University authored two articles, in the May interest in Civil Defense has inspired numerous and June, 1951, issues of Florida Wildlife inquiries for guides to the plants that might entitled, respectively, "You Can't Starve In fortify chances of survival if evacuation from The Woods," and "Nature's Cupboard," urban areas were necessitated by enemy attack. largely and frankly limited to the northern While we can be sure that individuals adept portion of the state. The food uses of some at hunting and fishing will depend largely on wild Florida plants are noted by Dr. William game and fish, those not skilled in or equipped Sturtevant in his thesis, The Mikasuki Semi- for the capture of animals will find plant foods nole: Medical Beliefs and Practices (1954), more easily obtained and simpler to prepare, but many ofthe species mentioned are not in many cases consumable in their natural found in South Florida. A few of our more form. prominent species, such as theseagrape, are In the following presentation, there are commonly eaten and widely publicized but, assembled for the first time more than 115 to the writer's knowledge, the only material, species, native or naturalized in South Florida heretofore published, discussing specifically and/or on the Florida Keys, that offer food, any appreciable number of South Florida's wild drink, or, in a few instances, salt—, tobacco— plants that are wholly or in part comestible and soap—substitutes — or emergency means of; 314 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1961 cleaning the teeth, since Dr. Howard reports PLANTS OF THE SEASHORE in the Air University publication, 999 Survived, that a toothbrush was one of the items most A triplex arenaria Nutt. sorely missed by jungle survivors. CHENOPODIACEAE Beach Orach No attempt has been made to include fungi, lichens or algae. The plant descriptions are Mainland and Keys; sandy beaches. deliberately non-technical and brief, and, be Annual herb, 6 in. to 1£ ft. tall, bushy. Leaves cause of space limitations, it has been necessary alternate or opposite, oblong, oval or slender- to omit the many medicinal and other economic elliptic, £ to 1£ in. long, silvery-scurfy beneath; uses of many of the plants cited, as well as male flowers in terminal or axillary spikes; the extensive geographical range which causes female in short axillary clusters. Fruiting bracts some to be of interest far beyond the boundaries wedge-shaped, toothed, | in. wide. Seed small, of South Florida. The latter, while not a for reddish-brown. mally prescribed area, is, for the purpose of this Use: Salty leaves eaten cooked as greens; paper, defined as that part of the peninsula were boiled with fat and meats by Indians of south of an imaginary line extending from Southwest. (D,H) Palm Beach on the east coast to Sarasota on Avicennia nitida Jacq. the west, though many of the plants covered VERBENACEAE may occur as far north on the coasts as Clear- Black Mangrove; Honey Mangrove; Saltbush water and Merritt Island, and some much Mainland and Keys; coastal hammocks, sandy further. shores or in brackish water. Rather than classify the plants, as isv usually Shrub or tree to 70 ft. with spreading done, as sources of edible fruits, roots, greens, branches. Bark dark-brown, flaking and expos etc., I have chosen to group them according ing orange inner bark. Roots send up masses of aerating, quill-like projections to 3 ft. tall. to their primary habitats as "Plants of the Leaves opposite, elliptic, 2 to 5 in. long, Seashore," "Plants of Inland Waterways and leathery, glossy above, downy-white below. Swamps," and "Plants of Woods and Fields," it Flowers pale-yellow, tubular, 4-lobed, to \ in. being understood that some species are not wide, in small terminal or axillary spikes; limited strictly to any one environment. It is fragrant; June-July. Fruit egg-shaped, flattened, to 1£ in. wide, pale-green, leathery, 2-valved, 1- believed that this "locality" grouping will aid seeded. Seed frequently germinates on tree. the layman who must resort to those food Uses: As a famine food, the sprouting seeds sources occurring in the area in which he finds are edible if cooked. They are toxic when im himself, regardless of the type of edible sub properly prepared or raw. (H) Dr. Howard stance supplied. To the hungry seeker, the only prefers the seedlings with the seed-leaves at requirements are that a plant be recognizable, tached, rather than the seeds themselves. Leaves may be coated with salt which can be collected accessible and, at least in part, comestible or for use. In Nigeria, salt is obtained from the otherwise useful in survival. leaves and roots and is said to be "better than The writer can personally attest the edibility that from other mangroves." Flowers are chief of over 50 of the following plants, or certain source of mangrove .honey. of their products, which are so designated by Batis maritima L. BATIDACEAE the letter "M" in parentheses. Those recorded Saltwort; Pickleweed; Jamaica Samphire by Dickson as having entered into his natural Mainland and Keys; muddy shores and ist's diet are distinguished by the letter "D." coastal marshes, usually with mangroves. Seventy-six species tested as survival foods by Low shrub with creeping or spreading brittle Dr. Howard are followed by the letter "H" and, stems 1 to 4 ft. long, forming masses. Leaves in many cases, brief comments on use or palat- opposite, slim, fleshy, £ to 1 in. long, curved, ability which he has generously contributed. light-green, strong-scented, salty. Flowers tiny, MORTON: SURVIVAL PLANTS 315

greenish or whitish, in short, axillary spikes. Use: Fruit and kernel eaten raw or cooked Fruit, a fleshy, yellow cone, f to f in. long. (M, H) ; canned in Cuba and elsewhere in West Uses: Leaves edible raw (D,M), cooked (H), Indies and tropical America; best when pierced or pickled. Dr. Howard recommends boiling right through stone to allow sirup to penetrate. and straining to remove "strings;" makes a salty May also be made into jelly. (M) puree. See C. icaco var. pellocarpus under "Plants of Inland Waterways and Swamps." J Cakile fusiformis Greene BRASSICACEAE Sea Rocket Coccoloba uvifera Jacq. POLYGONACEAE Mainland and Keys; sandy beaches and dunes. Seagrape; Shore-Grape Low, fleshy herb. Leaves 2 to 6 in. long, Mainland and Keys; beaches and coastal ham pinnately divided, with narrow lobes. Flowers mocks. white or purple, 4-petaled, f in. wide. Seed- Shrub forming clumps on exposed beaches, or pods thick, jointed, £ to 1 in. long, with 2 seeds large tree to 25 or 30 ft., branched close to in lower joint. ground and acquiring broad, massive, rounded Use: Plant eaten raw or cooked, has mustard head. Bark light-brown, smooth, mottled with flavor. (D) Young shoots or tips excellent. (H) light patches. Leaves alternate, nearly round, heart-shaped at base, 4 to 8 in. wide, stiff, Casasia clusiaefolia Urban (syn. Genipa clusiae- folia Griseb.) RUBIACEAE leathery; veins prominent, often red. Broad Seven-Year Apple green sheath at base of leafstalk encircles branch. Young leaves silky bronze; old leaves Mainland and Keys; coastal hammocks and turn yellow or red and fall a few at a time. dunes. Flowers whitish, tiny, in "rattail" spikes 4 to Shrub or small tree to 10 ft., with pale bark. 12 in. long. Spring. Fruit greenish-lavender Leaves elliptic with edges recurved; 2 to 6 in. or reddish-purple, slightly velvety, plump-oval long; leathery, very glossy; clustered at ends of or pear-shaped, j in. long, in compact, grape- branches. Flowers tubular, 5-lobed, 1 in. wide, like clusters. Flesh thin, juicy, acid to sweet, white, often pink-tipped, heavily fragrant like musky, covering single, plump, sharp-pointed, jasmine. Fruit seemingly ever-present on tree; hard, brown seed with ivory tip. Fall. oval, 2 to 3 in. long; green and hard when im Uses: Fruits ripen a few at a time; are eaten mature, turning yellowish, often dark-spotted, raw (M, H) or used for juice, jelly (M), sirup and finally entirely black. When fully ripe is or wine. Leaves are useful as plates or, pinned soft, wrinkled and prune-like, with black, jelly- together with twigs or thorns, can be made into like pulp somewhat licorice-flavored, filled hats, also serve as emergency "notepaper." (H) with small brown seeds. All year. Use: A hole is made in one end of the ripe Cocos nucifera L. PALMACEAE fruit and the pulp is sucked out. (M, H) Coconut Palm

Chrysobalanus icaco L. ROSACEAE Probably Asiatic in origin; naturalized on COCOPLUM shores of mainland and Keys. Palm, to 90 or 100 ft., with single, slender Mainland and Keys; on or near coast. trunk, bulged at base and usually curved or Shrub or tree to 30 ft., densely bushy. Leaves leaning. Leaves, in terminal rosette, feather- alternate, nearly round or round-oval, indented shaped, 10 to 20 ft. long, 4 to 6 ft. wide. at tip, 1 to 3£ in. long, leathery, glossy; new Flowers small, pale-yellow, in plume-like cluster. growth yellowish-green. Flowers small, white, in Continuously blooming. Fruit oval, 8 to 15 short axillary clusters. Fruit usually pale-yellow, in. long; husk thick, fibrous, smooth and green more or less flushed with pink, rose or dark-red; when immature; ridged, brown and dry when some forms entirely dark-purple; round, 1 to mature. Usually split open by pounding on 1} in. wide, with thin skin; white, cottony but juicy flesh adhering to an oval, pointed, ridged, sharp point of stake driven into ground. Nut thin-shelled stone containing a nut-like kernel. round, with brittle, hairy shell covering J in. Flesh sweetish, somewhat astringent. June to layer of white meat and cavity partly filled with November. sweetish water. 316 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1961

Uses: Water from green or ripe nuts is re peeled off in long strips; may be used for freshing but may be laxative in quantity. Im fishing line with pieces of the corklike wood as mature meat is soft and jelly-like and eaten floats. Fire may be started by twirling a hard with spoon. Mature, hard meat eaten in chunks wood stick on a block of dry mahoe wood or grated; or may be boiled to obtain coconut which ignites readily from friction. oil for cooking or lubricating skin. (D,M) Re Philoxerus vermicularis R. Br. (syns. Iresine peated slicing of tip of unopened flower cluster vermicularis Moq.; Lithophila vermicularis will cause flow of sweet sap which may be boiled Uline) AMARANTHACEAE down for sirup or sugar, fermented it is known Beach Carpet; Salt-Weed as "palm wine." The terminal bud, or "cabbage," of the coco Mainland and Keys; damp coasts; dunes, nut is eaten raw, cooked or pickled, and is waste places; usually inshore from mangrove easily obtained from young seedlings. (H) thickets. The spongy tissue that fills a sprouting coco Herb, rather succulent, prostrate or creeping, nut is eaten raw or, better still, sliced and with branches 1 to 6 ft. long; resembling sea toasted. (H) purslane. Leaves opposite, spindle or club- shaped, from very narrow to f in. wide, and Dondia linearis Millsp. CHENOPODIACEAE from \ to 1£ in. long; thick, fleshy. Flowers Sea Blite; Tall Sea Blite silvery-white, in dense, round or oblong spikes, Mainland and Keys; beaches and salt marshes. £ to 1 in. long. Fruit ovoid, with round, flat, dark-brown, glossy seed. Annual or perennial herb, to 3 ft. tall, much Use: Stems and leaves cooked and eaten. branched, with succulent, pale-green or nearly (D, H) white stems. Leaves narrow, pointed, or some what 3-angled, fleshy, Y2 to 2 in. long. Flowers Rhizophora mangle L. RHIZOPHORACEAE 5-lobed. Fruit round, with minute, round Red Mangrove smooth, glossy, black seeds. Uses: Leaves and tips of stems very salty but Mainland and Keys; extensive stands in shal cooked and eaten. (D) The Indians used low salt water and on muddy coasts, continuing Dondia as flavoring for other greens; the seeds inland along waterways. they ground and made into mush or bread. Shrub or tree to 20 ft. forming impenetrable thickets because of aerial "stilt" roots arching Hibiscus tiliaceus L. (syns. Paritium tiliaceum out from base. In brackish water (especially at Juss.; Pariti tiliaceum St. Hil.) Cape Sable) may reach 60 or 70 ft. with straight MALVACEAE trunk and no prop roots. Leaves opposite, ovate Mahoe; Sea Hibiscus to elliptic, 2 to 6 in. long, leathery, dark-green Mainland (especially Cape Sable region) and above, pale with fine black dots below. Flowers Keys; coastal hammocks and dunes. pale-yellow, with 4 narrow petals, hairy within; Shrub to large tree, in some areas reaching | to 1 in. wide, in stalked, axillary clusters of 40 to 50 ft. In wet ground the drooping 2 or 3. Fruit rusty-brown, conical with persis branches take root, forming thickets. Leaves tent calyx, its single seed sending out a green, nearly round with short tip; 4 to 8 in. wide, brown-tipped, pencil-like sprout, 6 to 12 in. dark-green above, downy-white below; leathery. long, which falls, lodges in the mud beneath Flowers cupped, 5-petaled, pure yellow turning or floats till it anchors elsewhere, strikes root dark-rose or maroon when they fall at the end at the apex and sends out leaves from its base. of day, or the following morning. Seed capsule Uses: The inner portion of the bitter green oblate, f in. wide, capped with 10-pointed sprouts, or radicles, is sometimes eaten as an calyx; velvety, greenish-brown, splits open, the emergency food. Also, the dried radicles, with five 2-celled segments containing hard, brown, ends trimmed, have been smoked like cigars. £ in. seeds. Dried leaves make a most agreeable tea. The Uses: The flowers may be boiled as a vege writer drank it every day for 2 weeks. (M) The table or dipped in batter and fried. (H) Young tannin is not objectionable and might afford leaves edible. Australian aborigines eat the some protection from the effects of atomic root. In the South Seas, the mucilaginous bark fallout, since it sis reported that the tannin in is sucked in times of famine. Bark is easily true tea absorbs Strontium 90 before it reaches MORTON: SURVIVAL PLANTS 317

the bone marrow. Dried leaves have also been and Keys (especially Key Largo); coastal ham smoked in pipes as tobacco. Mangrove twigs mocks, shores of bays and inlets. are frayed at one end and used for cleaning the Shrub or tree to 50 ft. with spreading teeth. Oysters may be found clinging to the branches. Leaves heart-shaped, pointed, 2 to 5 prop roots of mangroves growing in salt water. in. long. Flowers hibiscus-like but cupped, to Salicornia ambigua Michx. (syn. 5. perennis 3 in. wide, crinkled, pale-yellow in morning Mill.) CHENOPODIACEAE with purple-red throat; dark-red in afternoon, Woody Glasswort (from crunchy sound when and remain on tree for several days. Spring and trod upon); Samphire summer. Seed capsule oblate, to 1J in. wide, with persistent calyx, soft-woody and near- Mainland and Keys; beaches, salt marshes, black when mature; 5-parted, with 10, 3-sided, marl prairies inland. brown seeds, f in. long and \ in. wide. Perennial herb with trailing stems and Use: Young leaves, buds and flowers eaten branches 4 in. to 2 ft. long, forming mats on raw or cooked. Flowers may be boiled or ground; stems fleshy, succulent, crisp, jointed; dipped in batter and fried. (H). leaves are mere scales. Flowers minute, in groups of 3 to 7, embedded in upper joints. Uniola paniculata L. POACEAE Fruiting spikes £ to 2 in. long. Seeds are tiny Sea Oats; Beach Grass and hairy. Mainland and Keys; sandy beaches and dunes. Use: Salty stems cooked and eaten. (D, H). Dr. Howard recommends straining to eliminate Perennial grass with creeping rootstock and "stringiness." stout stems forming dense clumps 3J to 8 ft. high. Leaf blades 1 ft. or more long, 3/16 in. Salicornia bigelovii Torr. (syn. S, mucronata wide, tapering; the long, slender tips curling Bigel.) CHENOPODIACEAE like ribbons. Spikelets straw-colored, flat, oval, Bigelow's Glasswort; Samphire clustered in showy, dense, nodding panicle 8 Mainland and Keys; salt marshes. to 16 in. long. Seeds flattened, loosely enclosed. Annual herb, stout, green, erect, 4 in. to 2 ft. Use: Seeds may be cooked and eaten as tall, with thick branches. Leaves are merely cereal. Of good flavor. (H) Seeds of U. virgata ovate or somewhat triangular scales. Fruiting Griseb. are eaten in Puerto Rico, and those spikes £ to 5 in. long. Seeds nearly black with of U. palmeri Vasey are eaten by Indians in short curved hairs. Mexico. Use: Salty stems cooked and eaten. (D). Yucca aloifolia L. LILIACEAE Sesuvium portulacastrum L. AIZOACEAE Spanish Bayonet; Spanish Dagger Sea Purslane Mainland; ajong beaches, sand-dunes; also Mainland and Keys; beaches, dunes and cultivated. muddy soil along coast or, rarely, inland. Erect plant with thick central stem, 8 to 25 Herb with fleshy, creeping stems 3 to 6 in. ft. tall, sometimes branched, thickly clothed long, sparingly branched. Leaves opposite, with rigid, dagger-like leaves. Leaves dark- smooth, fleshy, spatulate to oblong, £ to 2 in. green, 1 to 3 ft. long, 1£ to 2£ in. wide, tapering long. Flowers, single, axillary, £ in. wide, with to a point; spine-tipped; minutely saw-edged. many stamens, no petals; the 5 sepals green Flowers tulip-like, white, waxy, 3 to 4 in. wide, outside, pink within. Fruit, a capsule with drooping, in erect cluster, 2 to 3 ft. tall. Fruit many glossy, black seeds. cylindrical, to 5 in. long, with purple skin and Uses: Stems and leaves eaten raw or pickled, pulp and many small seeds. or cooked in more than one water to reduce Uses: Fruit edible raw when fully ripe but salty flavor and eaten as a vegetable. (D, H, M) bitter and rubbery. (M) Flower petals crisp Considered antiscorbutic. Cultivated as a vege table in Eastern Asia and sold in the markets. and eaten raw in salads when fresh. (M) Flowers may be dipped in batter and fried. Thespesia populnea Soland. MALVACEAE (H) Buds are slightly bitter but may be Seaside Mahoe; Portia Tree; "Cork Tree" eaten raw (H) or boiled or roasted as a vege Old World tropics; naturalized on mainland table. Flower stalk is peeled, boiled and eaten. 318 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1961

PLANTS OF INLAND WATERWAYS plants producing 3,000 in 50 days), forming a AND SWAMPS floating mass and sending long roots down to the bottom. Leaves roundish, 2 to 5 in. wide; leafstalk cylindrical with a basal, balloon-like Annona glabra L. (syn. A. laurifolia Dunal) ANNONACEAE swelling filled with light, crisp, spongy tissue. When rooted on muddy shore, stalks are straight Pond Apple; Alligator Apple; Corkwood; in and to 3 ft. high. Flower stem 5 to 16 in. tall, correctly "Custard Apple" topped by showy spike. Flowers 1 in. wide, Mainland and Keys; low hammocks, swamps, bluish-purple, 6-lobed, with upper lobe yellow canal banks. in center. Tree to 45 ft., somewhat swollen at base, with Use: Young leaves, leafstalks and flower pale bark; often laden with air-plants. Leaves clusters may be thoroughly cooked and eaten. alternate, ovate or elliptic with pointed tip, 3 (H) If eaten raw may cause itching, though to 7 in. long, leathery, bright-green, glossy a Miami doctor has reported that a lady patient above, pale below; aromatic. Flowers whitish or liquefied water hyacinth leaves in her electric greenish-yellow, 1 in. wide, conical with six blendor and partook of this regularly with no fleshy petals, the three outer ones red-spotted at apparent harm. inner base, enclosing the three smaller ones. Dr. Howard says the boiled flowers are gela Fruit heart-shaped, 3 to 5 in. long, yellow- tinous; the young inflated leaf bases, fried in skinned, smooth or faintly reticulated. Flesh deep fat, are "crisp like pork rind or popcorn." salmon-colored, in dryish segments of resinous, Harrisia simpsonii Small (syn. H. brookii Brit- musky, subacid flavor. July to November. Seeds ton) CACTACEAE numerous, light-brown, oval, flattened, winged, hard, smooth, \ in. long; toxic; are seen in great Prickly Apple; Apple Cactus numbers floating in swamp water and appar Mainland and Keys (Cape Sable to 10,000 ently remain viable for some time before they Islands) ; hammocks and mangrove swamps. find lodgment and germinate. Shrubby cactus to 12 ft. tall, terrestrial or Use: Fruit edible raw; usually unappealing epiphytic; stems sometimes vine-like, often but some of fair quality. (M) Is improved by branched; 1 to 1£ in. thick, cylindrical, with 9 boiling. (H) Can be made into an acceptable or 10 prominent flutes or ridges; spines } to jelly. (Mrs. Jack Davis, Miami) 1 in. long, in groups of 6 to 12. Flowers nocturnal, funnel-shaped, white, odorless; the Chrysobalanus icaco var. pellocarpus DC. (syn. young, long-pointed buds covered with curled C. interior Small) ROSACEAE white hairs. Fruit oblate, dull-red or yellowish, Inland Cocoplum; Small Cocoplum; Ever 2£ in. wide, spineless, smooth or warty, usually glade Cocoplum, with some adherent, narrow scales; flesh juicy, Inland hammocks, canal banks; cypress containing numerous minute seeds. Use: Fruit edible raw. (D, H) swamps. Shrub or bushy tree to 30 ft. with grayish- Two lesser species, H. aboriginum Small, brown, white-speckled bark. Leaves oval, 2 to SHELLMOUND APPLE CACTUS, and H. 3 in. long; apex notched or short-pointed; new fragrans Small, FRAGRANT APPLE CACTUS, growth purplish or yellowish. Fruit oblong or also furnish edible fruits. oval, 1 in. long, dark-purple with white, cottony pulp, clinging to oval stone containing nut-like Ilex cassine L. AQUILIFOLIACEAE kernel. Spring to late fall. Cassena; Dahoon Holly Use: Fruit and kernel edible raw or cooked. Mainland (from Miami northward); damp (M, H) soil; low woods; along waterways; swamps. Small tree to 35 ft. with erect branches; Eichhornia crassipes Solms smooth, light-gray bark. Leaves alternate, vari PONTEDERIACEAE able, usually elliptic, pointed, often slightly Water Hyacinth toothed, 2 to 4 in. long, dark, glossy above, pale South American; naturalized in and often and, when young, even downy on the under choking fresh waterways. side. Flowers white, small, in axillary clusters; Aquatic herb; multiplying rapidly (three male and female usually on different trees. MORTON: SURVIVAL PLANTS 319

Fruit bright-red or occasionally yellowish, hollow and tough. However, the "heart," or round, 3/16 to 1/4 in. wide; flesh yellow, mealy, overlapping bases of the central leaves, is tender enclosing 4 to 8 bony seeds, ribbed on one for one to three inches and is much like a surface. Fall. nibble of palm cabbage. Care should be taken Use: Dried, roasted leaves used to make in pulling it out, as saw grass can cut like a "tea" which, when tried by Dr. Howard and his razor. (M) "students," produced some dizziness and a laxa tive effect. The leaves of this species are not Persea borbonia Spreng. LAURACEAE Red Bay; Sweet Bay; Tisswood as commonly employed as those of /. vomitoria Ait., the yaupon, which ranges from Central Mainland; edges of hammocks and swamps; Florida northward. From the latter, the early rarely in pineland. settlers enjoyed a harmless, mild brew, while Shrub or tree to 60 or 70 ft., with erect the "black drink" of Indian ceremonies was branches forming compact crown. Leaves al very strong, from prolonged boiling, and was ternate, elliptic or oblong, often pointed at both emetic and purgative, especially when both ends, 2 to 6 in. long, bright-green, glossy taken in quantity. above, with whitish, waxy bloom below; crisp, Ilex fruits are not edible; being emetic and pleasantly aromatic. Flowers small, yellowish, cathartic. bell-shaped, with 6-lobed calyx, no petals; in axillary or occasionally terminal clusters. Spring. Maranta arundinacea L. MARANTACEAE Fruit deep-blue with thin grayish bloom, nearly Arrowroot round with persistent calyx; f to £ in. wide; Tropical American; naturalized on mainland leathery skin; scant, if any, pulp; 1 large, round, in low hammocks and wet ground. dark-blue seed. Fall. Herb with erect, branching stems 2 to 6 ft. Uses: Leaves, fresh or dried, much used for tall; leaves ovate-oblong to ovate-lanceolate, 1£ flavoring meats, poultry, soups and stews. (M) to 4 in. wide, 6 in. to 1 ft. long, pointed. The Mikasukis employed the leaves for "tea." Flowers white, about 1 in. long, in loose clusters. Pontederia cor data L. PONTEDERIACEAE Fruits round, about \ in. wide. Rootstock scaly, Pickerel Weed; Pike-Weed; Wampee yellowish-white, f in. thick, 1 ft. or more long. Uses: Rootstock, after peeling to remove the Mainland; in shallow water of canals and ill-tasting skin, may be boiled and eaten. (H) swamps. It is the source of true arrowroot starch, ob Aquatic herb; leaves long-stalked, erect; tained by the usual crushing or grating, wash blades varying from heart-shaped or arrow- ing and drying process. (H) The name "arrow shaped to linear-lanceolate; 3 to 10 in. long and root" has been attributed to the use of the to 6 in. wide. Flowers £ in. wide, 2-lipped, fresh root as an antidote for the effects violet-blue, with two yellow dots on upper lip; of poisoned arrows. in compact spike at tip of 1 to 4 ft. stem. Fruits densely clustered, £ in. long, winged, with Mariscus jamaicensis Britton CYPERACEAE loose coat and starchy, nut-like seed. Late fall Saw Grass and winter. Mainland; Everglades, swamps, marshes, salt Uses: Seeds may be eaten fresh out-of-hand, or fresh. boiled as a cereal (H), or dried and kept for Tall sedge, shallow-rooted, with clumps of future use. The dried seeds can be ground thin, tough, gray-green, semi-folded leaves rising into flour for making bread. (H) from a horizontal rhizome. Leaves 5 to 10 ft. Saccharum officinarum L. long, £ in. wide at base, tapering to a thread POACEAE Sugarcane like tip, with minute, upward-slanted teeth on margins and back of midrib. Spikelets borne in Asiatic or East Indian; naturalized on main large clusters at top of triangular stalk 10 to land in moist, low areas; also found in aban 12 ft. tall. doned patches in Everglades. (Cultivated com Use: Unlike the edible, starchy, tuberous mercially for sugar.) rootstocks of some African and Asiatic species Giant grass, 8 to 20 ft. high, somewhat re of Mariscus, the rhizome of sawgrass is slim, sembling corn, with solid, jointed, juicy stalks, 320 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1961

1 to 2 in. thick. Leaves 3 ft. or more in length, are shaken off and added to pancake mix. (H) 2 to 2£ in. wide, with thick midrib and fine, They are sometimes steeped in hot water to sharp teeth on edges. The slender, white, hairy make a "tea;" and are also made into wine. spikelets are massed in plumelike clusters 2 to Elder foliage is toxic to grazing animals; but 3 ft. long. the young shoots may be cooked and eaten. Use: Stems are peeled and chewed for sweet Thalia geniculata L. (T. divaricata Chapm.) juice (M, H) or may be peeled, crushed and MARANTACEAE boiled to obtain a sirup for use in cooking Swamp Lily other foods. (H) In southern China, 6- to 10- inch lengths of stem are boiled and sold by Mainland and Keys: low ground, edges of street vendors for chewing. Shorter pieces are swamps and canals. canned in sirup. Long stalks are seen in native Giant herb with short rootstock and masses markets in West Indies and tropical America. of string-like roots. Leaves long-stalked, 5 to 9 ft. tall; blades lanceolate to oval, blunt-point Sagittaria chapmanii C. Mohr. ed at apex, rounded at base, 1 to 3 ft. long, 9 ALISMACEAE to 10 in. wide at base; bright-green, smooth. "Swamp Spaghetti" (as nicknamed by J.F.M.) Flowers rose-purple, emerging from dark-purple, Mainland; shallow water; cypress swamps. downy bracts, dangling on slender, zigzag stems Aquatic herb; leaves 2 to 2J ft. tall with from the widely separated branches of the up cylindrical, hollow stems and narrow or lance right cluster, topping a reedlike stalk 6 to 10 olate, pointed blades, 4 to 5 in. long, to 1J or ft. tall. Capsule oblong-oval or obovate, \ to f 1£ in. wide at base. Leafstems often stained in. long, single-seeded. Rootstock, whitish, 2 to deep-purple. Flowers saucer-like, 3-petaled, 4 in. long, slightly curved. white, £ in. wide, in small, loose sprays. Roots Use: The rootstock of young plants, boiled, form a compact mass of soft, succulent, slender, becomes coral-pink inside, resembling shrimp. mixed white and purple fibers. The inner portion is eaten, but has only a Use: When freshly pulled from the soft "swampy" flavor. (M) mud of the swamp bottom, the blanched base Typha angustifolia L. TYPHACEAE of the plant with the stringy roots is eaten out- Narrow-Leaved Cattail of-hand. There is little flavor but the juiciness is refreshing. (M) Mainland; shallow water, canals, marshes. Erect herb, with clumps of stiff leaves, £ in. Sambucus simpsonii Rehder CAPRIFOLIACEAE wide and 6 to 7 ft. long, rising from a short, starchy, horizontal rootstock. Flower stalk 4 Southern Elder; Gulf Elder; Florida Elder to 9 ft. tall, bearing terminal spike of male Mainland; low hammocks, marshes; canal flowers and immediately below it the plumper banks; forms extensive thickets from Lake cylinder of female flowers which develop into Okeechobee south. the well-known, brown cattail of the florist Shrub or small tree to 15 ft.; woody stems trade, f to 1 in. wide and up to 10 in. long. contain white pith, become hollow when old. When mature, in early spring, this fruiting Leaves opposite, pinnate, with 5 to 9 pointed, body disintegrates into a mass of soft, silky toothed, leaflets, 1 to 3 in. long. Flowers white, floss attached to very minute, brown seeds (one tiny, in large, flat-topped clusters; fragrant. spike may contain 300,000). Fruit round, £ in. wide or less, glossy, black. Uses: Rootstock may be peeled, boiled and All year. eaten as potatoes (H), or macerated and boiled Uses: The fruits, when fully ripe, may be to yield a sweet sirup. When dried, grated and eaten raw or made into pie, jam, jelly or wine. ground to a meal, then boiled and drained, (M, H) Their rank flavor is subdued by drying. and again dried, it yields a flour having more When gathering elderberries, beware of the in protein than rice or corn flour; less than wheat sects that inhabit the dry, hollow stems littering or potato flour. It resembles the latter in flavor the floor of thickets. According to Sturtevant, and has been found to make acceptable "cat the Mikasukis regarded elderberries as "scarcity tail cookies." The pithy portion where the food," only. Elder flower clusters are dipped rootstock joins the sprouting new stem is roasted in batter and fried in deep fat, or the flowers or boiled and eaten. MORTON: SURVIVAL PLANTS 321

Young cattail shoots in spring are peeled Amaranthus hybridus L. AMARANTHACEAE and eaten raw. Those of T. latijolia L., the Green Amaranth; Rough Pigweed; Slender BROAD-LEAVED CATTAIL, which ranges Pigweed; Prince's Feather through temperate regions, are so popular in Russia they are called "Cossack asparagus." Tropical American; naturalized on mainland The young, green flower spikes, prior to the and Keys in rich soil, cultivated fields, waste development of pollen, are eaten raw or cooked places. or made into soup, discarding the inedible Annual herb, 1 to 3£ ft. tall; stems usually core. (H) The pollen, shaken from the male slender, branched; not spiny. Leaves alternate, spikes, can be made into bread or porridge. The long-stalked, lanceolate, ovate or elliptic, usually seeds, though "fine as dust," were reportedly pointed, 1 to 6 in. long, often red-tinged. roasted and eaten by the Indians. Considerable Flowers small, with green or pink bracts, in study was given the utilization of cattail at spikes to J in. long, forming dense terminal Cornell and Yale Universities years ago, and, clusters. Seeds dark-brown or black, glossy, more recently, at Syracuse University. minute. Uses: Young shoots and leaves widely eaten cooked like spinach, or used in salads. (D, H) PLANTS OF WOODS AND FIELDS Amaranthus spinosus L. Acanthocereus pentagonus Britt. & Rose (syn. AMARANTHACEAE A. floridanus Small) CACTACEAE Spiny Amaranth; Thorny Amaranth Dildoe; Barbed-Wire Cactus Native of India; naturalized on mainland Southern tip of mainland and on Keys; ham and Keys, along roadsides, waste places, culti mocks near coast. vated ground. Cactus, upright or creeping, forming masses Annual herb, to 4 ft. tall; stem stout, much of dark-green stems 10 to 30 ft. long, slender branched, often red; rigid spines in pairs in at base, becoming progressively thicker, 3- to 6- leaf axils. Leaves ovate or lanceolate, pointed angled (mostly 3-angled when mature) with at both ends, £ to 3 in. long on slender, red tufts of stiff, sharp spines to 1£ in. long. Flowers dish stalks. Flowers tiny, yellowish-green; male nocturnal, white, funnel-shaped, to 8 in. long in long terminal spikes; female in globular, and 3 to 4 in. wide. Summer. Fruit scarlet, axillary spikes. Seeds glossy, red-brown to black, glossy, round or oblong, 1£ to 2£ in. long, spiny; roundish, flat, minute. red-fleshed, juicy, with numerous small, black Use: Young soft-spined shoots and leaves seeds. widely eaten cooked like spinach. (D,H,M) Use: Ripe fruit is eaten raw. (D) Ardisia escallonioides Schiede & Deppe (syn. Icacorea paniculata Sudw.) Achras emarginata Little (syn. Mimusops emarginata Britton) SAPOTACEAE MYRSINACEAE Marlberry; Marbleberry; Dogberry Wild Dilly; Wild Sapodilla Mainland and Keys; common in pinelands Mainland (Cape Sable) and Keys; hammocks. and hammocks. Shrub or small tree to 30 or 40 ft., with Shrub or small tree to 25 ft. with whitish, milky sap, compact, rounded crown, gnarled scaly bark and purplish branch tips. Leaves trunk. Leaves alternate, oblong to obovate, alternate, oblanceolate to elliptic, 2 to 7 in. notched or rounded at tip, 2 to 4 in. long, long, leathery. Flowers small, white or pink leathery, with light, waxy bloom above, reddish- with purple lines and dots; bell-shaped, 5- brown hairs below; clustered at ends of twigs. lobed; spicily fragrant; in showy terminal clus Flowers light-yellow, 6-lobed, £ to f in. wide, ters. Autumn. Fruit round, dark-purple, glossy, in axillary, hairy-stemmed, drooping clusters. \ in. wide, mealy, juicy, sweet, 1-seeded, in Fruit round, 1£ in. wide, with brown, thick, dense clusters. Early spring. scurfy skin and brownish flesh containing a Uses: Fruit edible raw but unappealing. (H) milky sap until fully ripe and 1 to 4 flat, black According to Sturtevant, the Mikasukis called or brown seeds \ in. long. Summer to fall. this the "black tobacco seasoning tree"; they Use: Ripe fruit edible raw, preferably when mixed the leaves with tobacco to make the latex has completely disappeared. (D, H) latter go further. FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1961 322

Bidens pilosa L. (syn. J3. leucantha L.) Byrsonima lucidum DC. (syn. B. cuneata P. COMPOSITAE Wils.) MALPIGHIACEAE Spanish Needles; Shepherd's Needles Locust Berry Mainland and Keys; very common on road Mainland and Keys; rocky pinelands and sides, in waste places, cultivated fields. hammocks. Perennial herb with quadrangular stems 1 Shrub or rarely a small tree, 10 to 25 ft. to 4 ft. tall. Leaves mainly opposite, 1 to 4 in. high, with smooth, light-brown bark. Leaves long, oval, pointed, toothed, soft-textured; opposite, spatulate to obovate, 1 to 2\ in. simple or divided into 3 to 7 leaflets. Flower long, thin; glossy above, dull below. Flowers heads daisy-like, f to 1 in. wide; rays white, disk white or pink changing to yellow or rose, 5- yellow. The small, black seeds are tipped with petaled, £ in. wide, in erect, open, terminal 2 to 4 barbed spines or "needles" that adhere clusters to 1J in. long. Fruit dark-brown, round, to clothing. \ in. wide, with thin, dry or sometimes juicy, Uses: Young leaves, cooked as greens (D), light-colored flesh and a pointed seed in a somewhat resemble beet greens, with a faintly rough, woody stone. All year. resinous tang; do not really require salt and Use: Ripe fruit edible but of "soapy" flavor. do not become flabby like spinach. (M) In the (D,H,M) Philippines, the plant enters into a wine called "sinitsit." The warmed juice of the Callicarpa americana L. VERBENACEAE fresh plant is said to stop bleeding if applied American Beautyberry; French Mulberry to a cut. Mainland; hammocks and pinelands. Bourreria ovata Miers BORAGINACEAE Shrub, 3 to 7 ft. high, with slender, spread ovalleaf strongbark or strongback; ing branches. Leaves, opposite on \- to 1-inch Bahama Strongbark stalks; oval to elliptic, pointed at both ends, Keys and adjacent mainland; hammocks, in finely toothed; 3 to 6 in. long, slightly rough. moist rich soil. Flowers lavender or bluish, small, 4-lobed, in Shrub or tree to 30 ft. (or sometimes 40 to axillary clusters. Spring. Fruit light-purple, 50 ft.) ; buttressed at base, with narrow crown round, | in. wide, thin-skinned, with white, and reddish-brown bark. Leaves alternate, moist, mealy pulp and 3 or 4 minute, bony, broad-oval, to 4£ in. long, rounded or notched yellow seeds; borne in showy, compact axillary at tip; yellow-green, glossy above, pale below clusters surrounding the stems. Fall. with orange-tinged midrib. Flowers white, Use: Fruit edible raw but insipid and be bell-shaped, 5-petaled, | in. wide, in open ter latedly astringent, causing extreme dryness of minal clusters. Fruit nearly round, | in. wide, mouth a few minutes after eating a small with persistent calyx; changes from green to quantity. Best picked and eaten singly; the yellow and finally orange or scarlet. All year. rank odor of the plant makes nibbling of Uses: Ripe fruit edible though not very bunches on the stem unpleasant. (M) desirable. (H) "Tea" made from bark by Bahamians. Calonyction aculeatum House (syn. Ipomoea bona-nox L.) CONVOLVULACEAE Bumelia celastrina HBK (syns. B. angustifolia Moonflower; Moonvine Nutt.; B. spiniflora A.DC.) SAPOTACEAE Saffron Plum; Downward Plum; Antswood Mainland and Keys; hammocks and canal banks; roadsides; fields; growing rapidly after Mainland (especially Cape Sable) and Keys; fire. coastal hammocks. Shrub or tree to 25 or 30 ft. with thorny Twining vine to 20 ft., often prickly, and branches. Leaves narrow-oblong, or spatulate, with milky sap. Leaves somewhat heart-shaped, 1 to 1| in. long, smooth, sometimes spine- 3- to 5-lobed, pointed, 2 to 8 in. long, thin and tipped; often densely clustered along branches. soft-textured. Flowers delicate, white with Flowers tiny, white, 5-lobed, in axillary clus greenish ridges radiating from center; flaring ters; fragrant. Fruit oblong or cylindrical, J 4 to 6 in. wide from slender tube 3£ to 6 in. in. long, dark-purple or black. Nearly all year. long; fragrant, nocturnal. All year. Fruit a Use: Ripe fruit eaten raw. (D) flattened capsule 1 to \\ in. wide, at first MORTON: SURVIVAL PLANTS 323 enclosed in calyx lobes which later turn out conical, lobed, \- to f-inch capsule, and smaller ward and become leathery. seeds. Uses: Young leaves and fleshy calyces cooked C. keyense Small, native on the Keys, in as vegetables. In India, the young seeds are hammocks, has downy twigs, ovate leaflets, eaten. Dermatitis may result from handling vine more or less lobed, and covered with fine hairs; or contact with sap. oval to nearly round capsule, f to 1 in. wide. C. tuba Colla, found in brackish coastal hammocks, has thicker leaves and an ovoid, Carica papaya L. CARICACEAE pointed capsule extending beyond the calyx Papaya lobes. Tropical American; naturalized near south Capsicum baccatum L. and C. frutescens L. ern coast of mainland, along roadsides, and on SOLANACEAE Keys. Bird Pepper; Red Pepper; Cayenne Pepper Giant herbaceous plant, 10 to 20 ft. tall, with thick, fleshy stem and milky sap. Leaves, Tropical American; naturalized on mainland on long, hollow, mostly horizontal stalks, are and Keys; hammocks, waste places, cultivated 1 to 2 ft. wide, deeply divided into 7 to 9 grounds. major lobes which, in turn, are subdivided. Shrub, 3 to 10 ft. tall. Leaves ovate to ovate- Flowers whitish or pale-yellow, funnel-shaped, lanceolate, pointed, J to 2 in. long, or sometimes 5-petaled, 1 in. long; male in long-stemmed to 4 or 5 in. Flowers white, yellow-green or clusters; female clusters short-stemmed, usually lavender; 5-lobed, to \ in. wide. Fruit round, on separate plants. Fruit melon-like, yellow conical or elongated and pointed, | to 1 in. when ripe, only 1 to 6 in. long on wild plants, long, may change from white to yellow then much larger in cultivation; borne close to stem purple and finally red, nearly hollow, with few among or below the leaves. Skin thin; flesh small seeds; exceedingly pungent in flavor. thick, soft, juicy, sweetish, musky, turning Uses: Ripe fruit used sparingly for seasoning, from pale-green to yellow, orange-yellow, or fresh or dried (H); too "hot" for Dickson's reddish; the hollow center coated with numer taste. Handling or biting into the raw fruits ous black, soft, glistening, round, peppery may cause stinging irritation of skin and mouth. seeds. In the Philippines, the leaves are commonly Uses: Wild fruits may be very inferior; if of cooked and eaten as greens; are said to be fair quality, the ripe fruit is eaten raw or pleasantly piquant, rich in calcium and a good cooked and is good source of vitamins A and source of phosphorus and vitamins A and B. C. Green fruit is boiled or baked as a vege In Africa, the fruits or leaves are taken as table (D,H,M) or sliced fine in vinegar as antidotes if poisonous fish has been eaten. "mock cole slaw". (H) Young leaves and Cardiospermum halicacabum L. flowers may be cooked and eaten as greens SAPINDACEAE (H); older leaves require cooking in two or Balloon Vine; Heart-Pea; Heartseed more waters to remove the bitter alkaloid, car- paine. Mature leaves, wrapped around meat for Tropical American; naturalized on mainland a few hours, will tenderize it. (M) The pithy and Keys; waste places and cultivated ground. interior of the stem of the plant may be eaten Annual or biennial vine climbing by ten raw. (H) The boiled root resembles parsnip drils. Leaves alternate, twice divided in three's; in flavor, according to Dr. Howard. leaflets lanceolate to ovate, pointed, toothed. Flowers white, 4-petaled, f in. wide, on long, Papaya leaves are sometimes smoked as a wiry stalks. Capsule balloon-like, three-sided substitute for ordinary tobacco or to relieve with 6 ridges, 1 to If in. wide, straw-colored asthma. The leaves have been used by Mexi when dry, containing 3 seeds, round, black, £ cans and West Indians as a laundry soap in. wide, with heart-shaped, white aril. All year. substitute. The milky latex of the plant and Use: Young foliage may be cooked and eaten, unripe fruit contains the pepsin-like enzyme, as is commonly done in India and Africa. papain, and may affect sensitive skin if not C. microcarpum HBK, SMALL BALLOON VINE, a native, in hammocks, pinelands and washed off quickly; it is very irritating to the swamps, has smaller, more pointed, leaflets and eyes. FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1961 324

Cassia occidentalis L. (syn. Ditremexa occi- miniature, jointed branches; true leaves are dentalis Britt. & Rose) LEGUMINOSAE minute, pointed teeth sheathing each joint. Coffee Weed; Coffee Senna; Negro Coffee; Fruit cone-like, woody, with sharp points; f Magdad Coffee; Florida Coffee; Styptic in. long and £ in. wide. Weed; Stinking Pea Use: Dr. Richard Howard records, in 999 Survived, that potable sap may be obtained Native of tropics; naturalized on mainland; by cutting and draining a large branch. The pinelands, cultivated grounds. lack of normal transpiring foliage causes the Annual plant, 2 to 6 ft. tall, with brownish- tree to retain moisture. red young stems. Leaves up to 8 in. long, compound with 8 to 12 ovate to lanceolate, Casuarina glauca Sieb. (long misnamed C. somewhat pointed leaflets, 1£ to 1} in. long; un lepidophloia F.v.M.) CASUARINACEAE pleasant in odor when crushed. Flowers yellow, Brazilian Oak; Black Oak; Scalybark J to 1 in. wide, in short, axillary clusters. Beefwood Seedpod 3 to 5 in. long and 3/16 to 3/8 in. wide, thin, slightly curved, with thickened Native to Australia; naturalized on mainland edges; containing 40 brown, flat seeds, £ in. away from coast; not salt-tolerant. long. Tree, pine-like, not oak-like, to 70 ft.; of Uses: Raw seeds purgative; roasted, ground dense, brushy appearance, with masses of dark- seeds widely used, and sometimes sold in West green, long, hanging "needles" (jointed bran Indies and elsewhere, as coffee substitute or ches) . Fruit unknown in Florida. Widely plant adulterant. Those analyzed in Puerto Rico have ed inland in rows as a windbreak; suckers shown no caffein-like content. Young leaves spring up around base and create thick, jungle- and pods cooked as greens; young pods used like stands. in salads. The plant is considered toxic to Use: Australian aborigines obtain water from grazing animals. the roots. Cassytha filiformis L. LAURACEAE Love Vine; Woe Vine; Laurel-Dodder; Cephalocereus deeringii Small CACTACEAE Tree Cactus Devil's Guts

Mainland and Keys; pinelands, hammocks, Upper Keys (Big Pine to Upper Mate- coastal dunes. cumbe); especially Key Largo; hammocks. Parasitic vine forming conspicuous masses Succulent shrub or tree with fluted stems of yellow, string-like, trailing stems, carpeting and branches, to 30 ft. tall; erect, with narrow the ground or covering shrubs and trees. head. Spines in groups of 25 to 30, protruding Leaves are merely minute scales. Flowers from hairy tufts. Flowers white, narrow bell- whitish, tiny, in very small spikes of 3 to 6. shaped, 2J to 3 in. long. Fruit dark-red, oblate, Fruit white, round, J in. wide, with single seed. 1 to 2 in. wide, spineless. Flesh juicy, contain Use: Vine used by Brahmins of southern ing many small, black seeds. India for seasoning buttermilk, but contains Use: Ripe fruit eaten raw. (D, H) alkaloid, laurotetanine, which produces cramps and in large quantities may be fatal. Cephalocereus keyensis Britt. & Rose Vine is reported as "spicily fragrant"; is not CACTACEAE noticeably so to writer and stems when chewed Key West Tree Cactus raw seem to have little if any flavor. (M) Lower Keys (Key West to Big Pine) ; rocky Casuarina equisetifolia Forst. or L. hammocks. CASUARINACEAE Shrub or small tree to 15 or 20 ft. with Australian Pine; Horsetail Tree; Beefwood; erect stem and many light-green branches She-Oak forming a compact head. Branches 9- to 10- Native to Australia and tropical Asia; ribbed, with spines in groups of 9 to 15 naturalized on mainland and Keys; pinelands, protruding from hairy tufts. Flowers bell- Everglades, exposed sandy coasts. shaped, 2 in. long. Fruit reddish, oblate, 1£ Pine-like tree of open, erect growth, to 150 in. wide, spineless. ft.; its dark-green, hair-like "needles" being Use: Ripe fruit edible. (D) MORTON: SURVIVAL PLANTS 325

Chrysobalanus pallidus L. B. Smith (syn. Geo- Citrus aurantifolia Swingle RUTACEAE balanus pallidus Small) ROSACEAE Key Lime Gopher Apple; Ground Oak Asiatic; early introduced from West Indies Mainland; pinelands and other dry areas. and naturalized on Keys and mainland; com mon in abandoned Indian campsites in Ever Dwarf shrub, 4 to 12 in. tall. Spreads by glade hammocks. underground stems, forming beds or patches. Leaves alternate, oblong or somewhat wedge- Small tree or straggling shrub to 15 ft. with shaped, 2 to 5 in. long, leathery, glossy and numerous sharp thorns. Leaves alternate, oval dark above, often downy-white beneath. Flowers to elliptic, usually rounded at tip; edges small, whitish, massed in terminal clusters. minutely scalloped; 2£ to 4 in. long; stalks Fruit white, flushed with red or purple; with narrowly winged; strong lime aroma when thin layer of white, sweet pulp and one large crushed. Flowers white, f to 1 in. wide, 4- to seed. All year. 5-petaled, in clusters of 3 to 10; fragrant. Fruit round or plump-oval, 1J to 2 in. long; Use: Ripe fruit edible raw; eaten by Mikasu- rind thin, green when unripe, yellow when kis. (M) ripe; pulp greenish, juicy, sharply acid, aro matic. Seeds ivory-white, elliptic, small. Fall Chrysophyllum oliviforme L. SAPOTACEAE to spring or nearly all year. Satinleaf; Caimitillo; Olive Plum Uses: Juice or slices of unripe or ripe iruit Mainland and Keys; hammocks, pinelands. used for ade or seasoning. (D,H,M) Dr. Howard reports that lime juice will relieve Large shrub or small tree to 30 ft., or even itching of insect bites and dissolve bits of as much as 60 ft., with upright branches. Leaves limestone in coral cuts. Lime twigs are some alternate, elliptic or oval, pointed, 2 to 6 in. times used as "chewsticks." However, contact long, leathery; dark and glossy above, coppery with tree, especially thorns, and excessive satin beneath. Flowers white or yellow, small, handling of fruit may cause itching rash and, 5-lobed, in axillary clusters. Fruit dark-purple, on exposure to sun, brown, severely itching oval or oblong, f to \\ in. long; skin rubbery; areas. Extremely sensitive individuals may pulp lavender with milky juice, sweet, melting, suffer burning sensation, redness of skin, fol usually with one oblong seed £ in. long. Spring. lowed by blisters. Use: Ripe fruit, though gummy, is eaten raw Citrus aurantium L. RUTACEAE (D,H,M) or made into jelly. West Indian Sour Orange; Bittersweet Orange; Seville children masticate the skins like chewing-gum. Orange

Citharexylum fruticosum L. (syn. C. villosum Asiatic; introduced by Spaniards, naturalized Jacq.) VERBENACEAE on mainland; found at abandoned Indian Florida Fiddlewood campsites deep in Everglades. Shrub or small tree to 30 ft. with long, sharp Mainland and Keys; coastal pinelands and thorns. Leaves ovate to elliptic, often pointed, hammocks. 2 to 4 in. long; stalks usually broadly winged. Shrub or tree to 25 or 30 ft., with short Flowers white, f in. wide, 5-petaled, in small trunk and erect branches forming compact, clusters; very fragrant. Fruit oblate, to 3 in. conical head. Leaves opposite, oblong or oval wide, with reddish-orange, roughly pitted, thick, with pointed or notched tip; to 6 in. long; bitter rind. Pulp orange, acid and somewhat glossy, yellowish-green, leathery; with orange bitter. Core hollow. Seeds ivory-white, nearly stalks. Flowers white, tubular, 5-lobed, \ in. oval. wide, fragrant, in 2- to 4-inch, slender, hairy, Use: Fruit too acid to be enjoyed raw; juice axillary clusters to 6 in. long, near branch tips. excellent for ade and seasoning (M,H); pulp Fruit round, \ in. wide, brownish or orange- and peel used for marmalade. Sour oranges red when unripe, purple-black when ripe; have been used as "soap" for washing clothes sweet; with two 2-seeded stones. All year. in streams, as well as for cleaning floors. Both the fruit and the crushed leaves, which will Use: Ripe fruit edible, but not desirable. form lather in water, have been used for (H) shampooing the hair. 326 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1961

Cnidoscolus stimulosus Engelm. & Gray (syn. Coccothrinax argentata Bailey (syn. C. argentea Jatropha stimulosa Michx.) Sarg.) PALMACEAE EUPHORBIACEAE Silver Palm; Biscayne Palm; Brittle Thatch- Tread-Softly; Spurge Nettle; Finger-Rot palm

Mainland and Keys; rocky pineland; seldom Mainland; sandy beaches, dunes, pinelands, in hammocks. hammocks, fields. Palm, usually low but may attain 40 ft., Perennial herb, 4 in. to 4 ft. tall, wholly with slender trunk. Leaves fan-like, almost clothed with stinging hairs. Leaves alternate, circular, to 2 ft. wide, divided beyond the 3 to 12 in. long, irregularly and deeply divided center into narrow, pointed segments; dark- into 3 to 5 or more lobes. Flowers white, 5- green, glossy above, silvery on underside. lobed, \ in. wide, in small clusters. Capsule Flowers very small, ivory-white, in clusters to bristly, oval, 3-lobed, \ to f in. long, 3-seeded. 2 ft. long. Fruit round, to \ in. wide, changing Tuberous root oblong or irregular, 1 to 3 in. from magenta to dark-red when ripe; single- thick and up to 10 in. long; white and starchy seeded. within. Use: Raw fruit edible, unappealing. (H) Terminal bud or "cabbage" edible though Use: Root edible when cooked, resembling white potato or arrowroot in flavor. (H) Plant small. (H) must be approached with caution, however, as Colubrina reclinata Brongn. any contact with the parts above ground RHAMNACEAE usually results in a painful rash. Slender stem Smooth Snakebark; Nakedwood; Soldier-

may extend some distance below ground be wood fore tuberous root is found. Dick Gruenwald of the Miami News dug six feet down in the Mainland and Keys (especially upper end sand at Ft. Pierce and did not reach the end of Key Largo); hammocks. of the root system. Dr. Howard found the Shrub or tree to 50 or 60 ft., with orange- tubers easiest to acquire through side excava brown bark flaking in loose, curling scales; old tion of sand-dunes. trees have deep, serpentine furrows. Leaves alternate, ovate to elliptic, tapering to a blunt Ooccoloba diversifolia Jacq. (syn. C. floridana tip; 2 to 4 in. long; thin, soft. Flowers small, Meisn.) POLYGONACEAE greenish-yellow; 5-petaled; in small axillary, Pigeon Plum; Dove Plum hairy clusters. Fruit, a scarlet, 3-lobed capsule, £ to \ in. wide, containing 1 black, oblong Mainland and Keys; coastal hammocks. seed. Use: In Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands bark Tree to 60 or 70 ft., with straight, tall trunk is commonly steeped in water to make a cooling and compact head. Bark light-gray; on old drink called "mabi champan" (M) ; considered trees flaking in large scales. Leaves alternate, to be a good tonic and antidote for indigestion ovate to obovate, 2 to 4 in. long, leathery. and dysentery. Sold by street vendors and at Flowers creamy-white in slender spikes. Spring. softdrink counters. Bark sold in native mar Fruit dark-purple, oval, round or pear-shaped, kets. £ to \ in. long, in hanging, 3- to 4-inch clusters; thin-fleshed, juicy, acid to subacid, somewhat C. ferruginosa Brongn., SNAKEBARK; astringent; with single, hard seed resembling SOAPTREE; which has brown fuzz on bran that of the seagrape but only 5/16 in. long, ches, leaves and flowers, and purple-black fruit, mostly dark-brown but with a pale, sharp- is similarly employed. Leaves will make soapy pointed tip. Fall to late winter, ripening a few foam in water; often used for washing hair. at a time. Cordia sebestena L. (syn. Sebesten sebestena Britton) BORAGINACEAE Use: Fruits eaten raw (D,H,M) or made into Geiger Tree; Scarlet Cordia jelly or wine. They lose their astringency and dehydrate somewhat if held for a few days; do Mainland and Keys; hammocks and sand- not spoil readily. Quantities are brought to dunes; also cultivated. native market in Nassau, Bahamas, An im Small tree, usually less than 20 or 25 ft., with portant food of the Mikasukis, slender, upright branches. Leaves deciduous in MORTON: SURVIVAL PLANTS 327

cold, dry periods; alternate, ovate, pointed, esculentus. When freshly dug, the flavor is sometimes slightly toothed near tip; 5 to 12 in. very strong (resembling Vicks "VapoRub"), long, 3 to 6 in. wide; dull, rough-hairy above, due to an essential oil containing pinene and pale and nearly smooth below; in clusters at traces of cineole, sesquiterpenes and iso-cyperol. ends of branches. Flowers scarlet or orange, If tubers are allowed to dry, they become funnel-shaped, 5- to 7-lobed, slightly crinkled; milder. To prepare for eating, they are rubbed 1 to 2 in. wide, in showy, flat, terminal clusters. in hands to loosen husks, which are then blown "Fruit" (properly a fleshy calyx) conical or off. The tubers may be used for cleaning the pear-shaped, 1 to 1£ in. long, white, pleasantly teeth and are also placed among clothes to repel fragrant, enclosing 1 or 2 large, dark-brown insects. stones containing the seeds. Spring to late fall. Diospyros virginiana var. mosieri Sarg. (syn.D. Use: Ripe "fruit" edible raw; juicy but mosieri Small) EBENACEAE fibrous and not particularly sweet. (M) Im Peninsular Persimmon proved by cooking. (H) Mainland; hammocks, pineland, dry scrub; Cucurbita moschata Poiret open fields. CUCURBITACEAE Seminole Pumpkin; Winter Crookneck Tree, smaller than D. virginiana, which may Squash reach 50 ft. or more. Bark is light-gray, shallow- furrowed. Leaves deciduous, alternate, oval, Mainland, found at abandoned Indian camp pointed; 2 to 6 in. long, with. purplish veins; sites in Everglade hammocks. Flowers small, greenish, 4-lobed, axillary. Fruit Vine, soft-hairy, creeping. Leaves ovate or yellow or brownish, oblate, with persistent nearly round, or sometimes triangularly lobed, calyx; 1 to 1£ in. wide, thick-skinned, with toothed, 6 in. to 1 ft. long; soft, limp. Flowers orange flesh, and oblong, flattened, brown funnel-shaped, crinkly, yellow, 5-lobed, 3 to 4 seeds. Very astringent until fully ripe and in. wide. Fruit occurring in many forms, round, slightly wrinkled. Fall. oblate, pear-shaped, or short-necked, ribbed; Uses: Ripe fruit eaten fresh, raw (M,H) or orange when ripe with orange-yellow flesh; cen cooked; also dried, ground and used in bread. tral cavity more or less filled with soft, fibrous Seeds roasted, ground and used as coffee sub pulp and flat, elliptic, white seeds, f in. long. stitute. "Tea" is made from green or dried Fall and winter. leaves. The fresh leaves are reportedly rich in Uses: A staple food of the Indians. Fruit vitamin C. Vinegar was formerly made by boiled or baked as a vegetable or used in fermenting persimmons with 1 part of whisky soups; also dried, ground to flour and made to 9 parts of water. Unripe persimmons, if into bread. Young shoots and leaves may be eaten, may form,, in the stomach or upper cooked as greens. Squash flowers, with pistils digestive tract, a hard mass or "bezoar" which removed, are cooked and eaten. (M) The must be removed surgically. people of Italy, Greece and Turkey are especially fond of them, use them in sand Erythrina herbacea L. (syns. E. herbacea var. wiches, stuff them with meat and rice, etc. arborea Champm.; E. arborea Small) Waugh includes squash flowers in his Iroquois LEGUMINOSAE Foods and Food Preparation. Eastern Coral Bean; Cherokee Bean; Red Cardinal; Cardinal Spear Cyperus rotundus L. CYPERACEAE Nut Grass; Coco-Grass Mainland and Keys; hammocks or sandy palmetto scrub. Mainland and Keys; fields, cultivated ground. Shrub or small tree to 25 ft.; crooked, some Perennial weed with slender, dark, glossy, what thorny; bark whitish and furrowed. grass-like leaves and erect, triangular stem 8 Leaves deciduous, alternate, long-stalked, com in. to 2 ft. tall. Florets purple-brown in minute, pound, with three triangular or 3-lobed leaflets, clustered spikes at tip of stalk. Roots hair-like, 2 to H in. long. Flowers bright-red, tubular, connecting a series of oval tubers £ to f in. slender, to 2 in. long; in upright, pyramidal long, brown-skinned, white within. spires, 8 to 13 in. tall. Spring. Seedpods 3 to Uses: Tubers edible raw (M) or roasted, 6 in. long, like stringbeans in large clusters; but inferior to larger tubers of the chufa, C. lumpy and curved; open in summer and show 328 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1961

bright-scarlet seeds, kidney-shaped, \ in. long. paler below. Fruit stalkless, yellow when unripe, Uses: Young leaves reportedly edible cooked dark-red when ripe; round, £ to f in. wide. All but Dr. Howard considers them worthless. The year. boiled flowers, he states, are entirely acceptable. Uses: Ripe fruit edible raw (H,M); im Seeds are toxic to man and animals; in Mexico, portant to the Mikasukis. Latex used as chewing they are used for poisoning rats and dogs. They gum. are often strung like beads. Ficus laevigata Vahl. (syn. F. brevifolia Nutt.) Eugenia axillaris Willd. MYRTACEAE MORACEAE White Stopper Shortleaf Fig; Wild Banyan

Mainland and Keys; hammocks and sandy Mainland and Keys; hammocks. areas near coast. Tree to 50 ft. with milky sap and relatively Shrub or small tree to 20 or 25 ft. with gray, few aerial roots; seldom strangling, usually scaly bark. Leaves opposite, oval to elliptic, joining to form thick trunk or forming prop pointed, 1 to 3 in. long, dark and glossy above, roots for the spreading branches. Leaves stalked, pale and with fine black dots below. New mainly ovate-oval, rounded or heart-shaped at growth red. Flowers white, many-stamened, base, abruptly pointed at tip; 1 to 4 in. long. fragrant, in small axillary clusters. Fruit oblate, Fruit stalked, changing from yellow to dark-red crowned with tiny calyx, black, f in. wide, 1- as it ripens, oblate, f to 1 in. wide. seeded, sweet, juicy. Often woody galls form in Use: Ripe fruit edible raw (D,H,M); not place of fruit. improved by cooking. (D)

Use: Ripe fruit edible raw, but not of much Gouania lupuloides Urban (syn. G. domingen- value. (H) sis L.) RHAMNACEAE Chewstick; Toothbrush "Tree"; Soap-Stick Eugenia longipes Berg. (syns. Anamomis long- ipes Britton; Mosiera longipes Small) Mainland and Keys; common in hammocks. MYRTACEAE Shrub or woody vine, climbing by slender Trailing Eugenia tendrils to 30 ft. Leaves alternate, oval or Mainland and Keys; pinelands; Everglade elliptic to ovate, pointed, toothed, 1 to 3J in. Keys. long, thin, with hairy stems. Flowers greenish- yellow or white with 5 clawed petals; borne in Shrub or sometimes a small tree to 12 ft. slender spikes 2 to 6 in. long which may carry with short trunk, profuse wiry branches to 3 tendrils and are often massed in terminal ft. long, outer ones often trailing. Leaves ovate sprays. Fruit, a 3-winged capsule, f in. wide, or oval, to 1J in. long; glossy above with red veins on underside. Flowers white or pink, to which splits into 3 cells. 1 in. wide, fragrant. Fruit long-stalked, black, Use: The woody stems are aromatic and round, £ to f in. wide, calyx-crown at apex, somewhat bitter; softened and frayed by chew many small seeds. ing, they are used as toothbrushes; said to heal Use: Ripe fruit edible raw. (D) Some are and toughen the gums. Dried, pulverized stems very good. (H) furnish tooth powder; they have been exported from the West Indies and Central America to Ficus aurea Nutt. MORACEAE Europe and the United States for processing. Strangler Fig; Golden Fig In Jamaica, the stems have been used as a Mainland and Keys; hammocks; pinelands. substitute for hops in beer-making. Tree to 65 ft. with milky sap, orange twigs Hamelia patens Jacq. RUBIACEAE and smooth, gray or light-brown bark flaking Scarlet Bush; Firebush away from the black inner bark; many aerial Mainland and Keys; common in hammocks. roots, wide-spreading branches. If seed germi nates on another tree, especially a palmetto, the Shrub or small, bushy tree to 12 ft. Young seedling will send down long, strangling roots branches reddish. Leaves elliptic, oblong or that will eventually choke the host. Leaves elliptic-ovate, pointed, 3 to 7 in. long, more or alternate, stalked, oblong, oval or elliptic, point less flushed and dotted with red or purple, ed at apex, pointed or wedge-shaped at base; and with red stalks; soft-textured, hairy; usually 2 to 5 in. long, leathery, dark, glossy above, in whorls of 3. Flowers scarlet, tubular, slender, MORTON: SURVIVAL PLANTS 329

to 1£ in. long, in tassel-like, branched clusters. Uses: Young leaves (H), pods and seeds Fruit oval or ovoid, to \ in. wide, red when cooked and eaten. Mature seeds roasted and immature, nearly black when ripe, with tiny, used as coffee substitute or adulterant. The red, 5-pointed calyx; seedy. All year. plant is toxic to horses, donkeys, mules and Use: Ripe fruit edible raw. (M) pigs, but an important fodder for cattle, sheep and goats. Lactuca intybacea Jacq. (syn. Brachyrhampus intybaceus DC.) COMPOSITAE Melothria pendula L. Wild Lettuce CUCURBITACEAE Tropical American; naturalized on mainland Melonette; Creeping Cucumber and Keys; roadsides, waste places, cultivated Mainland; hammocks; sometimes seen clam grounds. bering over cultivated shrubs. Annual herb, 1 to 5 ft. high, with succulent Vine with slender, climbing stems. Leaves branching stems and milky juice. Leaves 4 to dark-green, 3- to 5-lobed, 1£ to 3 in. wide, 12 in. long, in a basal rosette and alternate on resembling foliage of English ivy. Flowers small, the stems; lettuce-green, lobed, toothed, with yellow. Fruit oval or oblong, green and mot soft, red-tipped spines on edges. Flowers yellow tled when unripe, dark-purple or nearly black or rarely white, in erect heads in branched when ripe, £ to 1 in. long, filled with greenish, cluster. Seeds | in. wide, ribbed and spiny, with juicy pulp and small, whitish seeds. All year. white floss. M. crassifolia Small, occurs on the mainland Use: Young plants and young leaves fairly and Keys. good cooked as greens; not very palatable raw. Use: Dickson reports that he ate the fruit (D,H) and the unripe fruits, resembling miniature Lepidium virginicum L. BRASSICACEAE watermelons, are certainly eaten by children in Peppergrass; Fieldcress; Virginia Cress; Poor South Florida with no apparent harm. Fernald Man's Pepper; Yellow-Seed and Kinsey warn that F. P. Porcher in 1863 referred to the seeds as "drastically purgative"; Mainland and Keys; roadsides, fields. no evidence has come to hand to support this. Annual or biennial herb; stem 8 in. to 2 ft. In the West Indies and Central America, the tall, simple or branched. Leaves, often forming fruits of M. guadalupensis Cogn. are eaten ripe rosette at base, narrow, oblong or lanceolate, and pickled unripe. with prominent, slender teeth. Flowers white, minute, in slender spikes. Seedpod nearly Momordica charantia L. round, flattened, sometimes minutely winged, CUCURBITACEAE notched at apex, | in. wide; maturing earliest Balsam Pear; Bitter Gourd at base of spike. Mainland; open fields; waste places. Use: Unripe pods, pungent in flavor, used Vine with slender, weak, creeping or climbing for seasoning. In Puerto Rico, they are eaten stems and rank, musky odor. Leaves alternate, as a remedy for liver trouble. The mustard- dull-green, flabby, with 5 to 7 toothed and flavored leaves or young shoots are chopped divided lobes. Flowers yellow, f in. wide, 5- and mixed in salads, or cooked as greens. (H, petaled. Fruit 1£ to 4 in. long, orange-yellow M) when ripe, oval, pointed, warty, fleshy, splits Leucaena glauca Benth. LEGUMINOSAE into 3 parts which curl back, showing the Jumbie Bean; Lead Tree; White Popinac glistening, bright-red, moist, sticky arils en closing the elliptic, brown seeds. All year. Tropical American; naturalized on mainland Uses: The arils are harmless and commonly and Keys; hammocks, especially near coast. sucked from the seeds by children and adults. Shrub or tree, usually to 30 ft., sometimes (D,M). The seeds are emetic and purgative, taller. Leaves alternate, feathery, twice-pinnate; as is the fleshy, orange body of the fruit. Eating leaflets £ to 1 in. long, slender- elliptic. Flowers the fruit raw has caused illness in humans and white in fuzzy, round clusters 1 to 1£ in. wide. fatal poisoning of dogs. Under cultivation, Seedpods reddish-brown, flat, 4 to 8 in. long, this plant produces a much larger fruit which, $ to | in. wide. Seeds, dark-brown, flat, ovate, when green, is steeped in salt water, then f in. wide; 16 to 20 in a pod. cooked and eaten by Orientals as a vegetable. FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1961 330

In the Philippines, the bitter young leaves are knobby stalk between the hands and the male- cooked as flavoring in stews. They are said to flower bud. More rarely found is the equally be rich in iron and calcium and are sold as tall-growing but slenderer "Apple" banana, greens in the markets. In India, they are bearing a larger bunch of small but plump, canned like spinach. The raw plant should thin-skinned fruits, with mellow, yellowish never be eaten; it has numerous uses in native pulp of sprightly apple-like flavor. medicine. Uses: The fruits of the Orinoco are edible raw when fully ripe but better cooked, Morus rubra L. MORACEAE ripe or unripe. (M) The Apple banana is a Red Mulberry delicacy. (M) Starchy, unripe bananas may be boiled in their skins and eaten as potato-sub Mainland; low hammocks; also cultivated as stitutes. The unripe pulp, parched, may serve a fruit tree. as "coffee." Both ripe and unripe bananas may Tree to 30 or 50 ft., or even more; with be sun-dried for future use. The male bud, densely bushy, rounded head, slender, drooping though somewhat bitter, may be boiled and branches; milky sap. Leaves deciduous, alter eaten as a vegetable. (M) Dr. Howard recom nate, 2£ to 8 in. long; mainly ovate with point mends discarding the bracts and eating only ed tip, but variable and often deeply 2- to 5- the flowers. The central portion of the stem lobed on new growth; toothed, soft, silky; pale is also boiled and eaten. In India, the leaves, and downy on underside. Flowers minute in stem and fruit peels are reduced to ashes and spikes; male spikes 2 to 3 in. long; female, 1 a solution of the ash is used as a salt-substitute in. long, usually on same tree. Fruit, an oblong in vegetable curries. A whole banana leaf, cluster of round drupelets, 1 to 2 in. long, red draped down the back is a popular emergency when unripe, turning dark-purple when ripe; "rain cape" in Central America; however, one very juicy; seeds minute, inconspicuous. Late should remember that the sap of banana plants spring and sometimes fall. will make an indelible, purplish stain on Use: Fruit blackberry-like in flavor, excellent clothing. raw, or made into juice, jam, jelly, pies, etc. (M,H) An important food of the Indians. Myrica cerifera L. (syn. Cerothamnus ceriferus Small) MYRICACEAE Musa paradisiaca var. sapientum Kuntze (syn. Southern Bayberry; Wax Myrtle; Wax M. sapientum L.) MUSACEAE Berry; Candleberry; Spicebush Banana Mainland; hammocks and pinelands, espe Asiatic; naturalized on mainland; abandoned cially in low or moist areas. Indian campsites in Everglade hammocks; also Shrub or bushy tree to 35 or 40 ft., with in scattered patches in low 'glade farming land. crooked trunk and silvery-gray bark; sometimes Giant herb, 20 to 30 ft. tall, with thick suc forming rounded clumps 20 to 30 ft. in extent. culent stalk composed of overlapping leaf- Leaves alternate, spatulate, 1 to 4 in. long, \ bases. Leaves 1 to 2 ft. wide and 4 to 10 ft. to £ in. wide, sometimes toothed near tip; long, broadly elliptic, rounded or heart-shaped dotted with dark glands on upper surface and at base, with long, succulent stalk and promi with orange resin below. Aromatic when nent midrib; leaves tender and quickly tattered crushed. Flowers minute, yellowish-green, in by wind. Flowers white, in tiers, in large cluster small axillary catkins; male and female on which emerges as a long, tapered, purple bud different plants. Fruit round, £ in. wide, green, from top of stalk. Each row of flowers shielded covered with gray-blue waxy coating; in com by a fleshy bract, purple outside, dark-red pact clusters along twigs. Winter. within, which opens and then falls off as the bananas develop. The male flowers remain en Uses: The fruits as well as the leaves are closed in their purple bracts at the tip of the used for flavoring. Sturtevant says the Mika- fruit stalk. sukis used the leaves as "tobacco". The fruits The banana variety commonly found is the are well-known as the source of bayberry candles. Wax is obtained by boiling a quantity Orinoco (also known as Hog, Horse, or Burro) which produces, only a few hands of short, of the fruits and a piece of string or palm-leaf broad and 3-arigled fruits, with thick skin and fiber, well soaked in wax, will serve as wick. pinkish pulp. There is quite a length of bare, (H) MORTON: SURVIVAL PLANTS 331

M. pumila Michx., Dwarf Candleberry, Passiflora suberosa L. (syns. P. minima L.; found in low pineland, is a shrub only 1 to 2 P. angustifolia Sw.; P. pallida L.) ft. high, spreading by underground stems. The PASSIFLORACEAE narrow, spatulate leaves, £ to 2 in. long, vary in Corky-Stemmed Passionflower form and may be toothed or not. Mainland and Keys; hammocks and pine- lands. Opuntia austrina Small CACTACEAE Southern Prickly Pear Vine, climbing by tendrils; old stems often have deep, corky wings. Leaves varying in form, Mainland; pinelands and sand-dunes. ovate or sometimes 3-lobed; 1 to 4 in. long. Flowers, 1 in. wide, with no petals; the five Cactus, erect or spreading, to 3 ft. high, with sepals are narrow-oblong to elliptic, yellow tuberous roots. Joints obovate, to elliptic, thin, above, maroon below. Fruit dark-blue, f in. 2 to 4 in. long, deep- or light-green; spines wide, with small seeds; much like a blueberry. slender, single or paired, yellowish or reddish, Use: Ripe fruit edible raw (M); often eaten changing to gray when old. Flowers yellow, by children. showy, 2 to 3 in. wide. Fruit obovoid, purple, 1 to \\ in. long, with many small seeds. Small Physalis angulata L. SOLANACEAE says this prickly pear dies back in one or two Cutleaf Ground Cherry years and is replaced by new growth from the Mainland; open fields. tubers. Herb, low, spreading, with many horizontal Uses: See under O. dillenii. stems. Leaves ovate or elliptic, toothed; gray- green with fine hairs. Flowers yellow with Opuntia dillenii Haw. CACTACEAE maroon eye; £ in. wide. Fruit, round, yellow, Dillen Prickly Pear f to I in. wide, nearly filling the ovoid, faintly angled husk which may reach \\ in. in length. Mainland and Keys; coastal hammocks; sand- Fruit thin-skinned, juicy, sweet or subacid. dunes; mangrove swamps. Uses: Ripe fruit edible raw (M,H) or cooked. Cactus, 2 to 6 ft. high, erect, branched; joints Dr. Howard found them excellent fried or flat, elliptic to obovate. 4 to 12 in. long, thick. stewed and made a fine "marmalade" by cook Spines yellow, to 1£ in. long, in clumps of 3 to ing them in palm sirup. The leaves are re 6. Flowers yellow, salmon or reddish; 2£ to 3 portedly cooked as greens in central Africa. in. wide. Fruit pear-shaped or oval, 2 to 3 in. Physalis viscosa L. var. lineata long, red or purple, with minute, glass-like SOLANACEAE spines; pulp white, insipid but very juicy, with Sticky Ground Cherry numerous small seeds. Mainland; roadsides and fields. Uses: Ripe fruits edible raw (D,H,M) or made into sirup or jelly. Prickly pears should Perennial herb with hairy, sticky, slender, be speared with a fork or forked twig while the creeping stems covered with fine hairs. Leaves spines are brushed off with a handful of grass slender-elliptic, grayish-green. Flowers yellow or twigs, the ends sliced off and the skin split with purplish eye. Fruit golden-yellow, round down the middle and folded back to expose or slightly oval, up to £ in. wide, enclosed in the edible pulp. inflated straw-colored husk. Fruit thin-skinned, juicy, with pleasant, subacid, cherry-like flavor The joints, somewhat mucilaginous internally, typical of P. viscosa. are edible raw or cooked. (M) Young ones, Use: Ripe fruit edible raw (M) or cooked. with soft, immature spines, are cut into pieces Phytolacca americana L. (syn. P. decandra L.) and boiled. Mature joints, dethorned, may be SOLANACEAE roasted and eaten immediately or dried in the Pokeberry; Pokeweed; Inkberry sun for future use. Split joints may be employed Mainland; open fields. to poultice cuts or other injuries, the inner Weedy plant rising 3 to 9 ft. from large, pulp laid directly on the wound. Both fruit fleshy, white root; stems and branches green and joints were important as Indian foods. when young, turning purple-red. Leaves alter- 332 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1961 nate, long-stalked, ovate-lanceolate to ovate, Annual weed with succulent stems, 3 to 6 in. pointed, 3£ in. to 1 ft. long. Flowers, 5-sepaled, long fanning out from center; green or red- white or purplish, in long, slender spikes. Fruit spotted, sometimes with reddish hairs in axils oblate, f in. wide, with purple skin, red juice, of leaves. Leaves alternate or in clusters, thick, 10 small black seeds. fleshy, triangular to obovate, rounded at tip; Uses: Pokeberry shoots formerly common on to 1 in. long. Flowers small, yellow or orange, market in southeastern United States, still sold 5-petaled, with many stamens, at ends of in some areas. Young green shoots boiled in 2 branches. Fruit, a round capsule, } to { in. waters, or scraped, soaked in salt water for 2 to long, containing many small black seeds. 3 hrs., and boiled for J hr., make excellent Uses: Tender young stems have acid flavor, greens. (H) Mature reddish stems, also the root are said to be antiscorbutic and rich in calcium and the seeds are highly toxic. Cases of poison and iron; they are widely eaten raw in salads ing have resulted from pulling up portion of or sandwiches, or cooked as greens (M,H), used root with the shoots. The strained juice of ripe in soups, or pickled. Being mucilaginous, they fruits may be safely used for coloring foods. are often mixed with other greens, or chopped with meal or bread crumbs and fried. The Pithecellobium guadalupense Chapm. minute seeds were used by American Indians LEGUMINOSAE and aborigines in other countries for mush Black-Bead; Ram's Horn and bread. They are obtained in quantity by Mainland (lower east coast) and Keys; pine- piling the fruiting plants in heaps and, a few lands, hammocks, sand-dunes. days later, collecting the seeds that have fallen Shrub or small tree to 20 ft., spreading, sel to the bottom of the pile. They are ground dom thorny. Leaflets in pairs, elliptic to round- to a flour between stones. oval, with rounded, notched or pointed tip; Psidium guajava L. MYRTACEAE to 3J in. long, leathery. Flowers, tiny, pink, GUAVA downy, fragrant, in clusters f to 1£ in. wide. Fall and winter. Seedpod brown, to 6 in. long, Tropical American; naturalized on mainland twisted and curved or coiled; splits when ripe; and Keys; hammocks, pinelands, roadsides, contains glossy black seeds with red arils. fields; forming thickets. Use: Arils sweetish; edible. (M,H) Tree to 25 or 30 ft., with light-brown, scaly bark. Leaves opposite, elliptic, 3 to 6 in. long, Pithecellobium unguis-cati Benth. corrugated with indented veins; dull-green LEGUMINOSAE above, minutely hairy below; somewhat leath Cat's Claw; Black Bead; Bread-and-Cheeses ery. Flowers white with tuft of white and Mainland (lower west coast) and Keys; ham yellow stamens; 1 to 1£ in. wide. Fruit round mocks. or pear-shaped, crowned with persistent calyx; Shrub or tree to 25 ft., slender but spreading 1£ to 2 in. wide on wild trees; skin yellow, branches; may or may not have twin thorns tender, covering thin layer of granular, firm at leaf-bases. Leaves compound; leaflets in flesh and soft central pulp both pale-yellow, pairs, obovate or oval, to 2 in. long, thin. salmon-colored or deep-rose. Seeds, small, bony, Flowers fuzzy, greenish-yellow with tuft of long yellowish, numerous. Fruit highly, muskily fra pink or yellowish stamens, in round clusters grant; overpowering to some individuals. to 1 in. wide; fragrant. Late spring. Seedpod Uses: Ripe fruit, acid to subacid in the red, slender, twisted or coiled, to 5 in. long, wild; rich in vitamin C; edible raw, cooked, splits when ripe; contains flat, black, glossy or made into juice or jelly. (D,H,M) Leaves seeds, £ to \ in. wide, with meaty arils, white used as "tea" and for seasoning when cooking at first, later red. other foods.

Use: Arils sweet and edible. (M,H) Pteridium caudatum L. (syn. P. aquilina var. Portulaca oleracea L. caudata Hook.) POLYPODIACEAE PORTULACACEAE Southern Bracken; Tropical Bracken Purslane Mainland and Keys; hammocks and pine Mainland; hammocks, pinelands, sandy fields, lands, may cover an acre of ground. cultivated ground. Stiff, wiry fern with horizontal, non-starchy MORTON: SURVIVAL PLANTS 333

rootstock and sometimes vinelike stems. Leaves Uses: Kernel edible, slightly bitter or nearly usually less than 3 ft. long; may reach 15 ft.; sweet. (M) Sturtevant says the Mikasukis did triangular in outline but finely divided, being not use these acorns as human food but William 2- to 4-pinnate, with very narrow segments, Bartram wrote: ". . . the acorn is small, but the terminal one prolonged; leafstalk light- sweet and agreeable to the taste when roasted brown with velvety, purple base. and is food for almost all animals. The Indians Use: Mature plant is tough and toxic, often obtain from it a sweet oil, which they use in a cause of poisoning in cattle. Young shoots the cooking of hominy, rice, etc.; and they tender and edible, preferably when 6 to 8 in. also roast it in hot embers, eating it as we do tall and "fiddlehead" just beginning to uncurl. chestnuts." The curled, hairy tip and the woody base of the shoot are trimmed off, the loose hairs are Rapanea guianensis Aubl. MYRSINACEAE rubbed off the stem and it may then be chewed Myrsine; Guiana Rapanea raw, though it is somewhat mucilaginous, but Mainland and Keys; hammocks. it is usually cooked £ to f hr. until tender. It is slightly almond-like in flavor and, in Shrub or small tree to 25 ft. with slender food value, is said to equal cabbage and excel branches. Leaves alternate, occurring near the asparagus or tomatoes. Harris recommends ends of the branches; obovate to elliptic, re soaking the shoots for 24 to 36 hrs. in water curved, 2 to 4 in. long, leathery, dark-green with wood ashes to remove tannic acid, after above, pale below. Flowers very small, whitish, which they may be eaten raw or cooked. Dr. with thin purple stripes; usually 5-lobed; in Howard found them excellent if boiled in sea short-stemmed clusters along the branches below water. the leaves. November to March. Fruit round, black, 3/16 in. wide, with persistent calyx and Pycnothymus rigidus Small LABIATAE 1 white, bony seed; massed close to the Wild Savory; "Pennyroyal" branches for several inches. Use: The Mikasukis called this their "white Mainland; common in pinelands. tobacco seasoning tree" and used the leaves Shrub, 6 in. to 2 ft. tall, with low, spreading, to extend their tobacco. There is no record woody, hairy stems. Usually fragrant like penny of their using the fruit. royal but found to lack odor in some areas near west coast. Leaves narrow, needle-like, numer Reynosia septentrionalis Urban ous, f in. long. Flowers small, upper lip 3- RHAMNACEAE lobed, lower lip larger, 2-lobed; lavender with Darling Plum; Red Ironwood purple dots on lower lip; borne in compact, cone-like spikes. All year. Keys, and occasionally east coast of main land; hammocks. Uses: Has been much used for making a pleasant, mild "tea." (M) The Mikasukis em Shrub or tree to 30 ft. with mottled gray ployed it as soup flavoring. and brown, scaly bark. Leaves mainly opposite, oblong, oval or obovate, usually with notch, Quercus virginiana Mill. FAGACEAE sometimes bristle, at tip; 1 to 1J in. long, Live Oak leathery, dark-green above, light-brown below. Flowers lacking petals but 5-sepaled, yellow- Mainland; hammocks and pinelands. green, in small, axillary clusters. Fruit dark- Large tree to 40 or 50 ft., with spreading purple, ovoid, spine-tipped, £ to f in. long, branches, dark-gray, furrowed bark. Often with thin, very sweet flesh, and 1 round, rough, festooned with air-plants. Leaves alternate, light-yellow, hard seed. Winter. oval, elliptic or obovate, sometimes slightly Use: Fruit edible raw (M,H) or cooked, toothed, 1 to 4 in. long, leathery, dark and resembling blueberries. (D) smooth above, pale, sometimes downy, below. Flowers minute; male in drooping catkins, Rhacoma crossopetalum L. (syn. Crossopetalum female in small, axillary clusters. Acorn oblong- rhacoma Crantz) GELASTRACEAE oval, | to 1 in. long, smooth, brown, hard- Maravedi Rhacoma; Florida Crossopetalum shelled, capped with rough, loose cup f to Mainland and Keys; pineland, hammocks and f in. wide. sand-dunes. 334 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1961

Shrub or tree, erect, to 15 or 20 ft. Leaves Sabal palmetto Lodd. PALMACEAE opposite, in whorls of 3, oval to elliptic, with Cabbage Palm; Carolina Palmetto; Swamp few teeth toward tip; \ to 1£ in. long. Flowers Cabbage small, 4-petaled, fringed, red or purplish, in Mainland and Keys; hammocks, pinelands; long-stalked clusters. Fruit obovoid, red or marshes, fresh or salt. maroon, 3/16 to 1/4 in. long, with single Palm to 60 or 80 ft. Trunk covered with stone containing tiny seeds. All year. jagged "boots" (old leaf-bases), until fairly Use: Ripe fruit edible (D), though Britton old when it becomes bare. Leaves fan-shaped, and Millspaugh, in "Bahama Flora" record the slightly folded, with arched midrib; slender, colloquial name "poison cherry." * drooping segments, from which dangle many threadlike fibers. Leaves standing out on stout, Rhacoma ilicifolia Trelease 6- to 7-ft. stalks form a round head. Flowers CELASTRACEAE white, £ in. wide, in 4- to 6-ft., branched clus Christmas Berry; Holly-Leaved Rhacoma ters; fragrant. Spring. Fruit round, £ to f in. Mainland and Keys; pinelands, Everglade wide, nearly black, with tough skin, thin flesh and single, hard, glossy, brown seed. Fall; re Keys. maining on clusters for some time. Low shrub with downy twigs, forming hand some mats on ground. Leaves holly-like, oval Uses: Abundant fruits eaten raw when ripe or ovate, spiny-toothed, \ in. long. Flowers, (M) or made into sirup. The pulp, though reddish, small, 4- to 5-petaled, in short-stalked scanty, is very sweet and prune-like in flavor. clusters. Fruit bright-red, nearly round, 1/8 to The Indians reduced the dried fruits to a coarse meal with which they made bread. The 3/16 in. wide, mealy. terminal bud, or "cabbage," (the central bundle Use: Ripe fruit edible raw. (D,M) of leaf-bases) is a delicacy raw or cooked. (M,H) The fresh pith of upper trunk is Roystonea elata F. Harper (syn. R. floridana chewed for sweetish juice. (M) Dr. Howard O. F. Cook) PALMACEAE says a Seminole used the pith to make for him Royal Palm a pumpkin-like pie. He, himself, boiled the Mainland; Everglades hammocks, especially pith with raisins and sirup as a pudding. An Cape Sable region; 10,000 Islands, Big Cypress; axe or machete and strong arms are needed to obtain either the bud or the pith. also cultivated. Large palm to 120 ft. or more; trunk light- Dr. G. W. Hulse, referring to this palm in gray, cylindrical or spindle-shaped, bulged at a letter to Dr. John Torrey in the 1830's, base, topped with 8- to 10-foot smooth, green stated that the Seminoles "obtain salt from it shaft. Leaves feather-shaped, 8 to 15 ft. long by a process similar to ours for obtaining with stout, heavy leafstalks; leaflets narrow, potash from wood." Similarly resourceful pointed, 2£ to 3 ft. long. Flowers white, £ were the Indians of Virginia who used the ashes in. wide, in bushy cluster to 2 ft. long. Fruits of hickory "or some other wood or plant afford dark-blue, oval or round, f to £ in. long, with ing a salt ash," for seasoning. thin, tough skin and scant layer of brownish, S. etonia Swingle, SCRUB PALMETTO, faintly sweet, mealy, prune-flavored flesh, and SCRUB CABBAGE, or CORKSCREW PALM, one large, pale, hard seed. is of doubtful status; may or may not be distinct Uses: Fruits edible; fall to ground when from the above, according to Robert Read. ripe. (M) Terminal bud edible and many Sapindus saponaria L. SAPINDACEAE royal palms formerly destroyed to obtain it; Southern Soapberry; Wingleaf Soapberry; others felled for the bunches of fruits which False Dogwood were fed to hogs. Remaining wild royal palms Mainland and Keys; hammocks and coasts. now protected. Dr. Howard has often enjoyed Shrub or tree to 30 ft., with erect branches the "cabbage" of the Cuban royal palm, R. forming a compact crown. Leaves alternate, regia O. F. Cook. pinnate with 4 to 9 elliptic or oblong leaflets, 1 to 4 in. long, yellow-green above, pale and *Note: Mr. O. S. Russell, Dir. of Agriculture, Nassau, Bahamas, says the term "poison" is often loosely applied downy below; leafstem winged. Flowers white to any fruit not known to the natives to be edible. MORTON: SURVIVAL PLANTS 335

or greenish, hairy, 4- to 5-petaled, in terminal berries; the taste whereof was once irksome, or axillary clusters 7 to 10 in. long. October and ready to take away the breath. . . . The to December. Fruit orange-brown, round, f Cassekey [King] then went into his wigwam in. wide, fleshy, with 1 round, black seed | and seated himself on his Cabbin cross-legged, in. wide. having a basket of palmetto berries brought Use: Fruits contain saponin, make abundant him, which he eat very greedily . . . they gave lather when crushed in water, and are used as us some of their berries to eat; we tasted them, substitute for laundry soap. In Guatemala they but not one amongst us could suffer them are sold in the native markets. to stay in our mouths, for we could compare the taste of them to nothing else but rotten Selenicereus pteranthus Britt. & Rose cheese steep'd in tobacco juice." According CACTACEAE to Dr. John Gifford, pioneers in South Florida Snake Cactus mixed juice of palmetto berries with car Mexican; naturalized on mainland (south bonated water and sold the product as a east coast); hammocks. soft drink called "Metto," one enterprising Cactus, climbing or trailing, with masses of Miamian selling it at a stand on Flagler street. 4- to 5-angled or ridged, bluish-green stems Sesbania grandiflora Pers. (syn. Agati grandi- and aerial roots; clumps of short white hairs flora Desv.) LEGUMINOSAE with 2 to 4 conical spines. Flowers, white, 10 Australian Corkwood Tree; Sesban; Vege to 12 in. long, cupped by many slender, yellow- table Humming-Bird (from appearance of brown sepals; fragrant; nocturnal. Buds coated flower) with stiff white hairs and clusters of long spines. Fruit round, red or pink, 2 to 3 in. wide, East Indian; naturalized in Key West area; very spiny; pulp white, juicy, insipid. hammocks and cultivated ground. Use: Ripe fruit edible. (M,H) Shrub or small tree, to 40 ft., fast-growing, S. coniflorus Britt. & Rose, occurs in pine- short-lived. Leaves feathery, 4 to 12 in. long, lands close to the Everglades. with 12 to 20 pairs of slender-elliptic leaflets f to 1£ in. long. Flowers fleshy, pea-like, white, Serenoa repens Small PALMACEAE pink or maroon, the standard 2 to 4 in. long. Saw Palmetto Spring, summer. Seedpod thin, 8 in. to 2 ft. Mainland and Keys; hammocks and pine- long, f to J in. wide, slightly curved; yellowish lands, dry scrub; sand-dunes. when ripe. Palm, sometimes to 20 ft., with rough trunk Use: Young pods and foliage as well as clothed with old leaf-bases, but usually dwarf flowers and buds cooked and eaten. Mature with thick, branched stem creeping along seeds inedible. ground. Leaves fan-shaped, erect, stiff, to 4 Sesbania emerus Britt. & Wils. (S. macrocarpa ft. wide, with no midrib, deeply divided into Muhl). LEGUMINOSAE narrow, pointed segments; yellowish- or gray- green, often with a waxy bloom. Leafstalks Mainland; hammocks, damp soil, waste places. usually edged with sharp, recurved spines, but Annual herb, 3 to 15 ft., with woody stems. sometimes smooth. Flowers ivory-white, in 1- Leaves deciduous, 3 to 7 in. long, compound, to 3-ft. plume-like cluster; fragrant. Fruit with 20 to 50 elliptic or oblong leaflets, £ to oblong, black when ripe, £ to 1 in. long, with 1 in. long, whitish or purplish beneath. Flowers light-brown, spongy pulp. Seed is round or pea-like, yellow, sometimes purple-dotted; oval and light-brown. standard f to 1 in. long; in small clusters. Uses: Terminal bud edible and, while Seedpod very slim, 6 to 8 in. long, curved; smaller, considered more delicate than that of containing 30 to 40 tiny seeds; persists in winter Sabal palmetto. (M,H) Fruits edible (H); on bare branches. were important food of Indians; are gathered Use: Much planted on 'glade farmland in for pharmaceutical use. J. K. Small, in his summer, the stalks being harvested, dried and discourse on the saw palmetto quotes from used for beanpoles in winter. The plant is a the writings of Jonathan Dickenson in 1699: common cause of respiratory allergy, especially "Hunger had so far prevailed over them, that when in bloom. Young growth probably edible they could eat with an appetite the palmetto like the foregoing. 336 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1961

Sideroxylon foetidissimum Jacq. and resemble Jerusalem artichokes when im SAPOTACEAE mature; yellow externally and henna within False Mastic; Mastic; Jungleplum; Wild- when mature. The bamboo-like stems, to 2 in. thick at base, are more or less thorny. Olive Leaves, varying greatly in form and size, may Mainland and Keys; common in hammocks. be ovate, lanceolate, somewhat triangular, anvil- Tree to 50, or even 80 ft., with erect branches shaped, or oddly lobed; spineless or with and tall, straight trunk becoming 2 to 3 ft. numerous fine spines on edges and often on thick. Bark flakes off in large patches from veins on the underside. Flowers tiny with 5 smooth gray or tan inner bark. Leaves alter slim petals. Fruit round, black, | to { in. nate, elliptic or oval, 3 to 8 in. long, wavy- wide, with small, brown seed. edged, glossy, on slender, 1^-in. stalks, and Uses: Fruits are rubbery and masticated like clustered at branch tips. Flowers minute, pale- chewing-gum. Tuberous roots, called "conti- yellow, in small axillary clusters; unpleasantly chatee" ("red flour root" or "red coontie") odorous. Spring, summer or all year. Fruit oval were much used as food by Indians. When or nearly round, yellow, glossy, } to 1 in. long, very young and tender, they were cooked and with thick, white, juicy flesh and 1 brown, eaten. When mature, according to William oblong seed, £ in. long. Bartram, they were chopped, pounded in a Use: Fruit edible raw but acid and somewhat mortar, mixed with water, then strained. The bitter and contains gummy white latex. (M,H) sediment, on drying, became a fine, reddish Eaten by the Mikasukis. meal. A small amount with warm water and honey became a reddish jelly. The meal, mixed Simarouba glauca DC. SIMAROUBACEAE with corn flour, was fried in bear's grease to Paradise Tree; Bitter-Wood; Aceituno; make hot cakes or fritters. The early settlers Negrito made rootbeer from the tubers combined with Mainland and Keys; hammocks. molasses and parched corn. Pieces of fresh root are today often boiled in water to make Tree to 50 ft. with straight trunk; round a reddish and not unpleasant "tea" (M). crown of slender, spreading branches; bark Young green shoots, sometimes up to 2 or 3 reddish-brown to brown-gray, smooth at first, ft. in length, with curling tendrils at tip, are scaly with age. Leaves alternate, pinnate, 6 tender and succulent, much like asparagus; to 16 in. long with 6 to 12 oval or elliptic, excellent raw or cooked. (M.H) alternate or opposite leaflets, 2 to 4 in. long; glossy, dark-green above, with whitish bloom Smilax havanensis Jacq. LILIACEAE below. New growth red. Flowers ivory or yellow, Greenbrier; Cat Brier; Saw-Brier small, 4- to 5-petaled, in loose terminal clusters 1 to \\ ft. long. Male and female on same or Mainland and Keys; rocky pinelands and separate trees. Fruit ovoid, red at first, turning hammocks. dark-purple, f to 1 in. long, with firm white, Climbing vine with woody stems and juicy, sweetish flesh and one orange-brown, branches bearing short, hooked thorns. Young, rough seed, f in. long. April-May. stunted plants in pinelands are viciously thorny, Uses: Fruit edible raw, rather insipid, but like barbed-wire. Leaves, oval, elliptic, or ovate, sold on native markets in Central America. 1 to 3 in. long; are smallest near ground, Seed kernels yield oil for cooking and mar increasing in size as vine climbs higher; garine; latter has been manufactured com generally toothed, may have sharp spines on mercially in Central America for past 12 years. edges and back of midrib, or may be entirely The seed residue is toxic. smooth. Flowers minute, greenish, in axillary Smilax bona-nox L. (syn. S. pseudo-china L.) clusters. Fruit round or ovoid, blue with a LILIACEAE whitish bloom, £ in. wide, with 1 to 3 brown Bamboo; Chinabrier; Bullbrier; Tramp's Trouble; Stretch-Berry seeds. Uses: Shoots and tuberous roots used like Mainland; hammocks, sandy scrub. those of S. bona-nox. Fruit edible; sweetish Climbing shrub with tuberous, knobby, starchy roots which are white, tinged with pink but astringent, and has very little pulp. (M). MORTON: SURVIVAL PLANTS 337

Solanum nigrum L. SOLANACEAE Torrubia longifolia Britton Common Nightshade; Black Nightshade; NYCTAGINACEAE Deadly Nightshade Blolly; Longleaf Blolly

Mainland; fields, cultivated ground; mainly Mainland (east coast) and Keys; hammocks. in shade. Shrub or sometimes a tree to 30 or 40 ft., Annual herb, to 4 ft. tall, slender-stemmed, with compact, round crown or spreading top open-branched. Leaves alternate, ovate to ellip with multiple crooked trunks. Leaves opposite tic, wavy-edged, f to 3 in. long. Flowers white, or alternate, oblanceolate to narrow obovate, yellow-centered, \ in. wide, in drooping clusters. 1 to 2 in. long, J to 1 in. wide; wavy-edged, Fruit glossy, black, round, | to { in. wide, rounded or notched at tip; on long, slender with very juicy, greenish pulp and small yellow stalks. Flowers funnel-shaped, lacking petals; ish seeds. calyx 5-lobed, purplish or greenish-yellow; in Uses: Green fruits contain solanine and are terminal or axillary clusters. Fruit slender-oval, toxic; ripe fruits subacid, edible raw (M) or i in. long, 10-ribbed, red, juicy, containing cooked. An improved form is cultivated as 1 tan, cylindrical seed. the "garden huckleberry" or "wonderberry." Use: Ripe fruit edible. (D) Young leaves and stems cooked as greens. Vaccinium myrsinites Lam. VACCINIACEAE Evergreen Blueberry Sonchus oleraceus L. COMPOSITAE Sow Thistle; Hare's Lettuce; Milk Thistle Mainland, toward Central Florida; pinelands and acid scrub. European; naturalized on mainland and Shrub, 6 to 18 ft., much branched. Leaves Keys; roadsides, fields, cultivated grounds. alternate, ovate to elliptic, to f in. long, some Annual herb, 5 in. to 6 ft. tall, with stout, times with fine, sharp teeth and spine-tipped; erect, branched, often purple, stem, and milky leathery. Young grayish foliage often purple- juice. Leaves alternate, deeply and irregularly tinged. Flowers red or red-purple, 3/16 in. long, divided, toothed, edged with soft spines. Flowers in small, compact clusters. Fruit blue or black pale-yellow in 1-inch heads. Seeds minute, ish, round, to \ in. long. beaked and tipped with white fluff. Use: Ripe fruit edible; eaten by Mikasukis. Uses: Stems, especially young shoots, are widely eaten raw or cooked. (D,H) The root Valerianoides jamaicensis Kuntze (syn. Stachy- is also edible. tarpheta jamaicensis Vahl.) S. asper All., SPINY-LEAVED SOW THIS VERBENACEAE TLE, is somewhat similar but leaves less deeply Mainland and Keys; pinelands, sandy coasts divided and edged with stiff spines. and waste places. Shrubby plant, 1 to 4 ft. tall, with spreading Talinum triangulare WillcL or sprawling branches, 2 to 5 ft. long. Leaves PORTULACACEAE elliptic, ovate or oval, 1 to 4 in. long, toothed. Talinum; Potherb Fameflower Flowers dark-blue or purple with white eye, Tropical American; naturalized on mainland f in. wide, peeking from apertures in cylin and Keys; hammocks, pinelands, waste places. drical flower-stalk; open in morning and close at noon in warm weather. Seeds, or nutlets, Perennial herb, erect, 2 to 6 ft. tall; stems protected by bract covering receptacle. slender, somewhat woody. Leaves spatulate to Use: In Central America, a foaming tisane narrow-elliptic, 1 to 3£ in. long, pale-green, is made from the leaves. succulent. Main flower stem slim, triangular. Flowers lavender, pink, yellow, or white, 5- Vitis coriacea Shuttlw. VITACEAE Caloosa Grape; Leatherleaf petaled, } to f in. wide, in small clusters. Capsule nearly round, 3/16 in. wide, with small, Mainland; hammocks. glossy black seeds. Vine, climbing by curling tendrils. Leaves kidney-shaped to nearly round, with angular Use: Leaves eaten raw in salads or cooked lobes, sometimes deeply lobed on new growth, as greens (H), but quite mucilaginous. toothed, 1|- to 4 in. wide, smooth above, downy 338 FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 1961 beneath. Fruits dark-purple, in small, loose Fern-like plant with thick underground stem and recurved pinnate leaves 1 to 3 ft. long; clusters. leaflets narrow, usually less than J in. wide, 3 Uses: Ripe fruit edible. Young leaves and to 6 in. long, glossy, dark-green, curving upward stems may be cooked as greens. Old grape stems and inward. Male plants have narrow, cylin will yield sap for drinking. drical cones 3 to 7 in. high, composed of brown Vitis munsoniana Simpson VITACEAE scales with pollen sacs on the inside. Female Bird Grape; Bullace Grape plants produce thicker, somewhat ellipsoidal cone, 5 to 7 in. high, the brown scales covering Mainland; hammocks and scrub. a mass of seeds which fall apart when ripe. Vine climbing and spreading to a length The seeds are £ to 1 in. long, angled, with of 200 ft., the main stem becoming several brilliant orange or red covering. inches thick at base. Leaves nearly round, 1J Uses: According to Dr. John Gifford, turkeys to 3 in. wide, hairy on veins beneath. Fruits that ate the seeds, called "comptie corn," were round, nearly black, f to \ in. wide, thin- fatally poisoned. The thick underground stem, skinned, acid, in short clusters. August to or rootstock, though poisonous in its natural October. state, was an important source of starch for Uses: Same as preceding species. Fruits never the Indians and early settlers. The Cutler and very palatable. (H) Miami areas were "koontie grounds" furnish The Key grape, of unknown origin, occurring ing an abundant supply. The rootstocks were in hammocks on the Keys, produces long, scraped or peeled, then pounded, grated or slender bunches of small, juicy grapes. ground, or boiled until soft and mashed; washed with plenty of water, drained, and Ximenia americana L. OLACACEAE the resultant starch dried in the sun. Early Tallowwood Plum; Hog Plum; Purge Nut settlers in South Florida operated small coontie Mainland and Keys; pinelands, open ham mills, the red water running off from the washing process was fatally poisonous to cattle. mocks; dry, sandy scrub. To make their "sofkee" stew, the Indians, in Usually a shrub; only a few feet high in stead of drying the mash, cooked it with meat scrub; in hammocks may grow to 25 or 35 of various wild game and vegetables such as ft.; branches long, vinelike and thorny. Leaves corn, tomatoes, and beans. alternate, yellowish-green in scrub, darker in hammocks; oblong or elliptic, rounded or Other species were used similarly but were notched at apex or spine-tipped; 1 to 3 in. of lesser importance. long, sometimes clustered in 3's. Flowers yellow ish, 4-petaled, f in. wide, hairy within, fragrant, in small axillary clusters. Fruit broad-oval or nearly round, to 1J in. long; skin smooth, bright-yellow, with bitter-almond flavor; flesh yellow, subacid to acid, somewhat astringent, juicy. Seed large, oval, buff, with white, nut- like kernel. Spring and fall. Uses: Fruit edible raw or cooked. (D,H,M) Kernel roasted and eaten (M), but should not be consumed in quantity as it may be pur gative. Oil extracted from seed is used for cooking, soap and lubrication. Young leaves may be cooked and eaten. Zamia floridana DC, also Z. integrifolia Ait. CYCADACEAE Coontie; Comptie; Florida Arrowroot; Koontie

Mainland; occasionally lower Keys; pine- lands; dry soil.