Helminthotheca echioides
(L.) Holub..
Bristly Ox-Tongue
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What to Eat
Edible parts: Leaves, Root, Flowers
Young plants are used as a potherb, added to soups or eaten raw seasoned with oil and salt. The root has been eaten as a famine food.
Where to Find It
It is a Mediterranean plant. It grows in grassy and waste places. It can grow in brackish marshes. It can grow in arid places.
Africa, Argentina, Australia, Balkans, Bosnia, Britain, Chile, Crete, Croatia, Easter Island, Egypt, Europe*, France, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Mediterranean*, Mexico, Middle East, New Zealand, North Africa, North America, Russia, Sicily, South Africa, Southern Africa, South America, Spain, Syria, Tasmania, Uruguay,
How to Identify
A herb which grows over 1 or 2 years. It has spreading stems and irregular branching. The plant is covered with bristly hairs. These are fattened at their bases. There are hooked prickles at the tips of the leaves. The lower leaves are sword shaped and can have a few teeth. They narrow into the leaf stalk. The upper leaves are smaller and do not have leaf stalks. They clasp the stem at the base. The flower heads often occur singly. The flowers are yellow.
Medicinal Uses
The leaves were formerly used as a pot herb, and were "esteemed good to relax the bowels". There are also various reports of it being used as an antihelminthic treatment, although this may be due to confusion about the meaning of its name. The English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper considered "Lang de Boeuf" to be a good cure for melancholy (when steeped in wine), and a general alexipharmic (antidote to unspecified toxins). Although it is not a popular culinary herb, some foragers like to use the flowers to flavour vinegar. Some pet owners feed the leaves to their tortoises, but many apparently do not like it.
Wikipedia
Source ↗Helminthotheca echioides, known as bristly (or prickly) oxtongue, is a sprawling annual or biennial herb native to Europe and North Africa. It was originally placed within the genus Picris but is often separated within the small genus Helminthotheca alongside a few other (mainly North African) plants which also have the distinctive outer row of bracts around the flowerheads. It is a ruderal plant, found on waste ground and agricultural soils around the world, and in some places it is considered a troublesome weed.
Notes
There are about 45 Picris species.
Names & Synonyms
Amerueghe, Asparedda, Buglosa, Carraja, Hoidomourida, Hrastej, Ilengua de bou, Krastavac, Pazija, Pega pega, Picris, Rastej, Remiendo, Siropica, Spurraine
References (33)
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