practicalplantsFL
Bitterleaf - Vernonia amygdalina
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This large shrub to small tree native to central Africa has a ton of native names, from Wikipedia:
African common names include grawa (Amharic), ewuro (Yoruba), etidot (Efik), onugbu (Igbo), ityuna (Tiv), oriwo (Edo), Awɔnwono (Akan), chusar-doki or shuwaka (Hausa), mululuza (Luganda), labwori (Acholi), olusia (Luo), ndoleh (Cameroon) and olubirizi (Lusoga).
The leaves of this plant in the daisy family (it’s flowers look much like FL native Bidens alba) are crushed/massaged in water to reduce bitterness and cooked in soups and stews, as would collards, Chaya or any other hardy green. Has purported medicinal qualities and the sticks are commonly used as teeth cleaning sticks.
Another plant that’s fairly rare in the US but widely utilized other places. I’ve been growing this for a couple years now and have not experienced much cold damage during our winters.
African common names include grawa (Amharic), ewuro (Yoruba), etidot (Efik), onugbu (Igbo), ityuna (Tiv), oriwo (Edo), Awɔnwono (Akan), chusar-doki or shuwaka (Hausa), mululuza (Luganda), labwori (Acholi), olusia (Luo), ndoleh (Cameroon) and olubirizi (Lusoga).
The leaves of this plant in the daisy family (it’s flowers look much like FL native Bidens alba) are crushed/massaged in water to reduce bitterness and cooked in soups and stews, as would collards, Chaya or any other hardy green. Has purported medicinal qualities and the sticks are commonly used as teeth cleaning sticks.
Another plant that’s fairly rare in the US but widely utilized other places. I’ve been growing this for a couple years now and have not experienced much cold damage during our winters.