We call their Brazilian native cousins, Stachytarpheta cayennensis, by the common name of Gervão. It can get up to a meter tall, and it probably is the one you have there as an invasive! It is considered to be a medicinal plant with effects that are good for the digestive tract and liver, may be used as an anti-fever substance and to favor diuresis. It is also used in rituals of the Afro-Brazilian religions.
Yes, the native Brazilian species is considered invasive in my area. It is a nice plant and does very well here but people are really into staying with natives. OK - have to ask - have you ever tried consumption of these native plants/extracts? I attended a talk where the speaker presented on edible native landscapes and then tried some of the plants that she mentioned - YUCK!!
@@plantpropagator It is one of the plants we call PANC in Portuguese or NCEP in English, for Non Conventional Eadible Plants. Most of the plants that fall into this category are not so nice tasting, but very nutritious. Hard to compete with the conventional plants for flavour and texture, since those have been selected for food over tens of thousands of years! I have tried and not liked many of them, but not this one specifically.
The only Non-conventional edible plant that I have tried and actually liked is Ora-Pro-Nobis, 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘢 𝘢𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘢, a leafed Cactaceae with tasty edible leaves which is considered to be almost as high in protein and Iron as some kinds of meat. It is gold for the vegan people, and it tastes very good when cooked. Since I am definitely not vegan, I love OPN leaves with stew and other saucy cooked meat, poultry, fish, pork or beef!
@@Naturamorpho I think that, if it tastes bad, you are not supposed to eat it, regardless of its nutritional value. Plants make compounds that reduce the palatability and I respect that!
John I have been wanting to ask you about getting roots started. I have about ten Cattleyas that do have any roots.? Would you use rooting hormone on them . They are in sphagnum moss right now and under lights cause of winter temperatures in South Carolina.
Thanks for your comment. I have not yet tried to induce root formation using any of the rooting powders so I do not know if this will help or harm your orchids. My orchids will form roots when they are ready to. But, the scientific literature does report the induction of roots using auxin in a handful of different orchids. I do not think that this is standard practice. If you have a lot of divisions, you may want to try treating some and keep some others untreated as a control (if you have them to "spare"). If all of the cuttings are valuable, I would just wait for the roots to form on their own.
I do not know for sure - it is called blue porterweed - if you put the blue and your "purple" side by side, is there a difference? I hate to ask this but, are you sure that it is purple? Sometimes, there may be subtle differences in color due to environment, sun, fertilizer levels, or general stress. If it is clearly purple, it may be an improved porterweed and not native.
I have this plant in the dry forest I live, in Costa Rica, and I did not knew about the tea and edible aspect of this plant, I'll guess I'll have a taste. Here we have both butterflies and hummingbirds (the endemic Saucerottia hoffmanni), but what I see most there, are moths, they absolutely love it and you can count on several species being there at all times of the day. Also, thanks for the content outside of orchids, I absolutely love all that you tell us about orchids but of course all plants are cool, so keep doing this. Now that you mention invasive species, I know that the African orchid Eulophia maculata is quite invasive from Brasil to the US, and this forest is plagued with them. I know that is should be quite bad for other ground orchids, yet they are not common in the dry forest of the pacific so I haven't been able to test them. Are they a problem were you live or in the national parks were you help?
Allow me to add my five cents to this subject: Oeceoclades maculata, (ex. Eulophia maculata) is considered a Pantropical species of orchid, since it can be found today in basically all tropical and subtropical forests in the globe. It is said to be an original from Africa, from where it has taken the world. Here in Brazil I frequently find them naturally growing on the litter of the forest soil, usually in very shaded areas. But I don't know of any orchid that is considered an invasive species. Instead, they are usually referred to as "naturalized" in a given area. I may be wrong about this but it seems orchids in general, O. maculata included, don't grow fast enough to take over and cause too much disruption to local flora. Not even to local orchid flora. But ecosystems are so complex, it really is hard to predict the consequences of even the smallest tweaking!
I in involved in a state park - not a national park. There are 2 invasive orchids that we are dealing with here - both are just a nuisance and not really too bad yet. Eulophia graminae is hard to get rid of and can lift up pavers in walkways. The bulbs get really big and plants can be vigorous. This one is more of a problem than Eulophia maculata, which I have seen in the state park. I also had this come up in my front yard underneath some bushes. I have not yet seen any dense populations of this orchid. Yeah - hard to believe the these orchids are considered invasive and should be taken out and destroyed!!
Thank you for this video! Very informative
I am glad that you found it useful - this plant is really easy to grow and it is so tolerant to hot and dry conditions....
We call their Brazilian native cousins, Stachytarpheta cayennensis, by the common name of Gervão. It can get up to a meter tall, and it probably is the one you have there as an invasive! It is considered to be a medicinal plant with effects that are good for the digestive tract and liver, may be used as an anti-fever substance and to favor diuresis. It is also used in rituals of the Afro-Brazilian religions.
Yes, the native Brazilian species is considered invasive in my area. It is a nice plant and does very well here but people are really into staying with natives. OK - have to ask - have you ever tried consumption of these native plants/extracts? I attended a talk where the speaker presented on edible native landscapes and then tried some of the plants that she mentioned - YUCK!!
@@plantpropagator It is one of the plants we call PANC in Portuguese or NCEP in English, for Non Conventional Eadible Plants. Most of the plants that fall into this category are not so nice tasting, but very nutritious. Hard to compete with the conventional plants for flavour and texture, since those have been selected for food over tens of thousands of years! I have tried and not liked many of them, but not this one specifically.
The only Non-conventional edible plant that I have tried and actually liked is Ora-Pro-Nobis, 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘢 𝘢𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘢, a leafed Cactaceae with tasty edible leaves which is considered to be almost as high in protein and Iron as some kinds of meat. It is gold for the vegan people, and it tastes very good when cooked. Since I am definitely not vegan, I love OPN leaves with stew and other saucy cooked meat, poultry, fish, pork or beef!
@@Naturamorpho I think that, if it tastes bad, you are not supposed to eat it, regardless of its nutritional value. Plants make compounds that reduce the palatability and I respect that!
@@NaturamorphoI do think that there is a trend to eat plants that have a slightly bitter taste to them because they taste natural - not me...
John I have been wanting to ask you about getting roots started. I have about ten Cattleyas that do have any roots.? Would you use rooting hormone on them . They are in sphagnum moss right now and under lights cause of winter temperatures in South Carolina.
Thanks for your comment. I have not yet tried to induce root formation using any of the rooting powders so I do not know if this will help or harm your orchids. My orchids will form roots when they are ready to. But, the scientific literature does report the induction of roots using auxin in a handful of different orchids. I do not think that this is standard practice. If you have a lot of divisions, you may want to try treating some and keep some others untreated as a control (if you have them to "spare"). If all of the cuttings are valuable, I would just wait for the roots to form on their own.
We have purple porterweed .would that be not native ?
I do not know for sure - it is called blue porterweed - if you put the blue and your "purple" side by side, is there a difference? I hate to ask this but, are you sure that it is purple? Sometimes, there may be subtle differences in color due to environment, sun, fertilizer levels, or general stress. If it is clearly purple, it may be an improved porterweed and not native.
I have this plant in the dry forest I live, in Costa Rica, and I did not knew about the tea and edible aspect of this plant, I'll guess I'll have a taste.
Here we have both butterflies and hummingbirds (the endemic Saucerottia hoffmanni), but what I see most there, are moths, they absolutely love it and you can count on several species being there at all times of the day.
Also, thanks for the content outside of orchids, I absolutely love all that you tell us about orchids but of course all plants are cool, so keep doing this.
Now that you mention invasive species, I know that the African orchid Eulophia maculata is quite invasive from Brasil to the US, and this forest is plagued with them. I know that is should be quite bad for other ground orchids, yet they are not common in the dry forest of the pacific so I haven't been able to test them. Are they a problem were you live or in the national parks were you help?
Allow me to add my five cents to this subject: Oeceoclades maculata, (ex. Eulophia maculata) is considered a Pantropical species of orchid, since it can be found today in basically all tropical and subtropical forests in the globe. It is said to be an original from Africa, from where it has taken the world. Here in Brazil I frequently find them naturally growing on the litter of the forest soil, usually in very shaded areas. But I don't know of any orchid that is considered an invasive species. Instead, they are usually referred to as "naturalized" in a given area. I may be wrong about this but it seems orchids in general, O. maculata included, don't grow fast enough to take over and cause too much disruption to local flora. Not even to local orchid flora. But ecosystems are so complex, it really is hard to predict the consequences of even the smallest tweaking!
I in involved in a state park - not a national park. There are 2 invasive orchids that we are dealing with here - both are just a nuisance and not really too bad yet. Eulophia graminae is hard to get rid of and can lift up pavers in walkways. The bulbs get really big and plants can be vigorous. This one is more of a problem than Eulophia maculata, which I have seen in the state park. I also had this come up in my front yard underneath some bushes. I have not yet seen any dense populations of this orchid. Yeah - hard to believe the these orchids are considered invasive and should be taken out and destroyed!!