Southerners: Are the Roots of This Common Edible “Weed” Hiding in Your Yard?
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- Опубликовано: 7 июл 2024
- The edible tubers of Florida betony(Stachys floridana), also called rattlesnake weed or rattlesnake root, are a common and easy-to-find edible plant often found growing in lawns and landscapes in the Southern US.
In this video Matthew talks about the edible uses of the roots, as well as the medicinal benefits of Florida betony, which is used as a nervine and adaptogen herb to treat burnout, stress, anxiety, headaches, and migraines.
Want to learn more about medicinal plants of the Southeastern US? Make sure to get our free guide to medicinal plants here: www.legacywildernessacademy.c...
0:00 Introduction
0:39 Free Medicinal Plants Guide
0:52 Florida Betony Identification
2:56 Betony Roots
3:15 Betony Range Map and Habitat
4:24 Edible Uses of Betony
7:14 Medicinal Benefits of Betony
9:43 Tincture Preparation and Dosage
Thousands of those tubers in my yard- I live in a swamp! I know all the wild plants, animals, and bugs that I can eat! Free food in a time of inflation!
I want to know how to get rid of this weed 7:45
@@ronniesweatt6879 Eat them. That's a good way. It's the same with wild onions. Eat them.
@ronniesweatt6879 It is very invasive. They are sweet this time of year. Chop and put in a salad and pickle some for the winter. The only way I know is just keep them mowed.
I live near a swamp too
@@cynthiacrawford1573 Awesome!
I am a gardener. I have dug these up everywhere. Had no clue what they were.
Funny! Have you been getting rid of them like non edible weeds?
Same here!
Where do you live in general if you don't mind me asking.
It’s here on gulf coast Alabama in my yard ,
@Hewalkswithme same! I'm in Mobile. Been digging these roots up in a designated garden spot and had ascribed them to the completely wrong plant! 😂 been throwing them out!
Nicely presented. I like how you give a bit of history, how to identify, the proper names, the aliases and how to use it all in one video!
Thank you for watching!
I've been asked to pull weeds a LOT.. I saw these a lot. I am stupid enough to taste weeds sometimes, tried that, it is my favorite edible weed. I found out it's totally edible. People think I'm creepy and weird that I eat weeds, but this stuff grows like crazy. It is from the mint family, and the leaves can be used too, even though they aren't all that tasty..
Just be careful twilightmoon some stuff you don't want to chew on always be safe ❤
Florida betony has taken over my yard! They are everywhere!!
Where do you live in general if you don't mind me asking.
Just eat it
Same here, in south Georgia.
No herbicide I've tried has worked to get rid of it.
My county agent said the only way to get rid of it is move.
He had no idea how not funny that was.🙄
I've tried to dig it up .
I had done a good job
until I spotted a couple.
If there is even a tiny "button" missed in the ground it will grow back.
Because of health issues, I can't eat it so, it's a useless nuisance to me.
I hope you find a way to get rid of it. ✌️
I'll trade you all of it for my nutgrass/sedge, false garlic, and some kind of really tall clover. (I already forgot which one it is, but it taste terrible and the nutgrass does too!) I do have some nice wild onion growing too, but I've just discovered them and eaten a few of the flowers.
Maybe try Alfalfa? It improves the soil and may crowd out the other stuff. I'm about to plant it in my yard along with some white clover.
@@jesusislord2457oh I forgot oats are allelopathic so they might help as well! Don't believe the county extension agent, in my experience they don't always know that much. 😂
FYI, 30 drops equals 1 teaspoon folks. From your handy dandy old nurse.
Thhhhhhhank You!
34 ounces is a kilogram. From the old big homie around the way 😂
My wife purees the greens and cooks them into soup base and sauces along with other veg she wants to use up. We think it is a tasty addition. Good fiber too! The roots are great raw in salad, but you can do anything with them. We've used them in Pad Thai and curries. The flowers are pretty in salads, lemonade, cocktails or could decorate a cake or garnish a plate. As a long-time gardener, I'm now convinced that weeds are the garden God wants me to have. It is up to me to figure out what to do with them all. Your channel looks to be another good resource for that. Subscribed!
Thanks for sharing all of the wonderful and creative things you and your wife do with this plant!
I agree - nature seems to provide stuff you didn’t realize that you need and if you aren’t grateful in your haste and lack of grace one may think “geez these pesky weeds…” really god has provided a whole medicine cabinet tailored to your environment.
this is eaten regularly in Colombia, South America, great in stews. THANK YOU
South Georgia gardener here: YES, what you say during minute 5:00 about this thing being invasive is very true. I have HATED this plant for years, have no idea how it got in my yard, and am amazed and appreciate that it actually has some value. Glad also to know that it is called "Florida betony" -- a muich better name with a better adjective than I have ever bestowed upon it. 😆
Amen! They're ugly and they freak me out, and my yard is covered in the dang things... 😖
I grew up in North Florida. When My brother, cousins, and I were children we ate those tubers all the time. We grew up not far from the beach and the Intercoastal Waterway. We dug holes all the time. Nobody told us those roots were edible. We just found them, I don't remember when, and started eating them. This is the first time I've heard anyone mention them for half a century. Thanks! Now I want to find some seeds and grow my own. I remember their crunchy goodness and would like to have that again. I never cooked them. I wouldn't mind trying.
I’ve dug these things up a blue million times, never even considered that they’re edible. Thanks for the informative, engaging video!
You gained a sub instantly from me!
More things probably are than aren’t edible
I've been using Florida betony for about 5 years. Tubers are crunchy and taste like water chestnuts. I dry the leaves and flowers. I use it to make teas and roots are good in stir-fry.
Where do you live in general if you don't mind me asking.
@@christophertaylor2464 Georgia
hi ya squirrel :) do you peal them or just scrub them? They're everywhere
@@HealthyDisrespectforAuthority I clean the roots well. No need to peel. They can also be fried like potatoes but are still crunchy.
@@Squirrel219 cool.. thanks. I might be adding them to dinner.. I wonder what the carb count is on them. If I like them, it's gotta be high.
One more comment, my friend. Instead of an alcohol tincture, you can very slowly boil it down to a sludge (12 hours), ; strain it and dry it in an oven under low heat. Then you can crush it into a powder.
And then what?
@@donald1841 Snort it. lol
L8ve instead of die!
We have what we call wild artichoke. It look exactly like this except it's bloom is lavender.
Thank you for making these videos. You are a gifted teacher.
Thank you, I appreciate you saying that.
I eat the leaves from this plant, which have a unique and excellent taste but a poor dry consistency that makes it unpleasant to swallow in mass, so I get around that by blending it into a pesto.
I had no idea of it's medicinal uses though, I'm really glad I watched this whole video
Thanks for the tip, I've never thought about making pesto with it. I'm putting that on my to-do list!
Never tried it in a pesto. Sounds delicious!
I remember picking these as a kid. Wish I had known about them back them
Thank you so much for doing this video. I have tons of this stuff growing in my flowerbeds and never knew how valuable it is.
Glad this video helped! Thanks for watching
I have just discovered your channel, wow! Now is the time for a deep rabbit hole dive into herbal medicinal plants.
Thanks so much .. I'm really enjoying your channel. I hope you stay around. I'm enjoying my herbal knowledge a lot nowadays. I wish I'd gotten into it earlier. I'd like to have been an herbalist. Now I'm just medicating myself for small things. Luckily I'm in fairly good health at my age. ❤
Thanks for watching!
Your info is so comforting to know the healthy & medicinal characteristics of plants in the wild. Thank you for your valuable, concerting work of bringing this info to us!!!❤❤❤
Don't think it's ever too late! People say this to me, and I will pass it along to you🤗
Don't stop "dream chasing"! ❤
Isn't it sad that we can't have youth and wisdom all at the same time? My wife's great aunt passed at 98. She told me something I 'll never forget. Her mother very died young, in her early thirties which wasn't unusual at that time. So, most of her life she used to say to herself, I would love to be a nurse but I'm probably not going to live that long. Probably wouldn't live to graduate because I'm already in my late 20s, late 30's, late 40's. So, she was never the nurse she wanted to become. You just never know how long you'll be here, so you might as well follow your dreams at any age!
Fascinating. This plant covers about 1/3 of my backyard. Now I will appreciate a bit more.
This plant is a scourge in my gardens! I've never eaten it. I may give it a try, now. Thanks for your knowledge.
Thanks for watching! Once you try it you might just decide it's better than the plants you're already growing! lol
Where do you live in general if you don't mind me asking.
I am so glad to find out what it is called and it's uses. Thank you so much
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!
Thank you for this information. I have this plant all over my property and I always wonder about it. Now I know.
Where do you live in general if you don't mind me asking.
Thanks for this video. I have battled this invasive weed for decades and the other day wondered if I was throwing away a medicinal plant. Now I know.
Where do you live in general if you don't mind me asking.
@@christophertaylor2464 Gulf coast of Alabama on a river
I just found you about a month ago, and your content is stellar! On top of that, I just discovered this plant on my property yesterday!
Oh nice! I'm so jealous!!
Doesn't seem to grow in central Oklahoma where I live, but I'll be searching for it when I visit south Oklahoma next month!
That's great! And thank you watching and commenting!
I@@LegacyWildernessAcademy I remember washing them off under the hose and eating them raw when I was a kid
Where do you live in general if you don't mind me asking.
@@christophertaylor2464 South Louisiana
Thanks , I’ve been fighting that plant for years . I never knew . I’m gonna start a factory now lol 😂
Me too. I'm rich!
I have this growing in one of my flower beds. You definitely can't get rid of it. However, good to know that I can eat the roots! I am going to try it... Thank you for your videos 🥰
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!
How exciting!! I'm going to freak out when I finally find it!
It kinda tastes like a mild radish. :)
Where do you live in general if you don't mind me asking.
@@christophertaylor2464 zone 8b
Thank you so much. This is such wonderful information. So glad I found your site. Thank you for sharing you knowledge! I'm always amazing at God's creation. He's given us everything we need to be healthy. He gave us wondetful caring friends to share how to use what's all around us. Blessings ❤
Thanks so much for watching! Glad you're enjoying it!
Great and professional presentation. Thanks for saying both the technical name along with a brief explanation of technical name
I was trying to clear the old garden area and saw these tubers and didn't know they were edible. It's actually all over the place.
Good information. Thank you again. I'm in Florida and will put this to use.
Great! Thank you for watching.
I’ve got tons of it in my yard! I did not know what they are! Thanks!
Great! Thank you for watching!
Where do you live in general if you don't mind me asking.
South Carolina!
I am in deep East Texas and we have what we call " Wood Betony " .... same root , same leaves and stems but have purple/ blue flowers .
Thanks for the video , but one piece of advice .... be careful about using that phrase " I reccomend" !!!!
Just "relocated" some spiderwort scattered across the front yard & got a bunch of Florida betony root. It was a good addition to my chicken salad. I love the crunch! 😋
We used peppermint oil when we got sick with covid, and it really helped us, 😊❤thank you so much for this wonderful video
The mint family seems to be amazing and amazingly prolific. I planted a few where I don't care how they spread and had mints for my tea blends all winter. Summertime is sun teas from mint all summer long.
FYI, oregano oil is a very potent anti viral and anti bacterial. I add it to my wound salve and used it to treat a nasty sinus infection (by ingesting of course) quite successfully.
@@reibersue4845
Nice to know mint spreads. I'm about to get some seeds from a friend. Can you tell me what the plants require, and any tips you may have?
@@stacystepp7914
My experience. Mint seems to power through any soil conditions. Especially spearmint. Most spread by root runners that come off the main plant and pop up a distance from the original plant.
Mine is planted in an area which is mostly clay and rock soil. What I did was. For each plant, I dug down about 10 inches and about 2 to 3 times as wide as the original potted root ball. Plopped them in the hole, backfilled it with a mixture of peat moss, compost and fertilizer. Then I heavily mulched around the plants for the season. My chickens scratch away most of the mulch but over the winter, I used the lawnmower to mow up fallen leaves and tossed the mulched leaves on top of the plants. Mints are not finicky, you just need to get your plant established in the first season and they basically take care of themselves.
Be warned, it is an aggressive spreader, so plant where you don't care how far it spread out. For instance, mine is close to the house and forms an edging along a wall where, as it spreads, it goes into the lawn. Mowing over it sends up a delicious scent of mint. I don't try to tame my lawn. I enjoy the pop of color from dandelion, clover, buttercup and other "weeds" there. Much more interesting than solid green.
Thank you so much for all of that information!
@@stacystepp7914 Definitely put it in a container. We had a a third of a front lawn covered in mint after our neighbor innocently planted a little herb garden along the side of the fence between our houses. Really hard to use up bulk amounts of mint no matter how much you like it. We transplanted it all into used containers from the recycling bins on our street and gave them away curbside under a sign that said delicious mint, free to a good home- do not plant this in your yard IT SPREADS. That only took us a couple weeks. Thankfully people in our area are happy to haul away just about anything that is free. Beside our time and energy, re-sodding the lawn was the real cost. Even if I hated somebody, I wouldn't wish a packet of mint seeds on their yard.
Greetings from South East Alabama I seriously love this channel, been going out foraging with the knowledge I've learned from y'all still haven't found any sassafras but I'm looking, gonna look for this plant tomorrow, thank you so much please keep up with the awesome content
Will do, thank you so much for watching! I glad you're using the info
I used to love sassafras! I haven't seen any in 40 years.
Thank you, just snagged a handful from the yard!
Awesome! Thanks for watching
Where do you live in general if you don't mind me asking.
I'm in ne TX and we have lots of the yellow variety growing here
Hmm you could be thinking about a different plant. There is another plant called wood betony that has yellow flowers, but it's unrelated. The scientific name of that one is Pedicularis canadensis. Anyway, thanks for watching!
I moved some into my yard when it was flowering because I thought it was pretty. But it is very prolific! Ugh! I cannot tell you how much of that pretty white root I have thrown away while weeding! TY. Now I know better!
How exciting that they spread! I need to get a hold of some for sure:)
That's great, now you know you have a bunch of free food and medicine!
Omg, it is delicious. Add to chicken salad! 😉
@@perspectiveiseverything1694 Oh cool I never thought of that!
Where do you live in general if you don't mind me asking.
Great video!! I'll be on the lookout for this one!!
Well done! Even though betony doesn't seem to grow here, I'm always on the lookout for it. And because of your detailed descriptions, I know I'll be able to identify betony when I finally find it!!
I know you're going to find it!
For medicinal purposes, wood betony is the better bet for locating, but it looks a lot different than its FL cousin and I don't thinknit has tubers. I'm in E. TN and thinking it would be a rare find here. On the plus side, wood betony is all over the east and Midwest and is more medicinally active. Just can't get those delicious tubers
All it takes is one little tuber and it will take over. Thought it was a another plant. It arrived in an iris we bought at a local nursery years ago. Glad they are edible!
@@DebrasBeautifulMusic
Well how great is that!!
Ok then I need my son (in Louisiana) to mail me a tuber!
@@stacystepp7914 I We have dug out our flower beds and replaced the soil more than once trying to get rid of it. In one of the beds, I gave up and just let the betany have it! It is impossible to get rid of once you have it. So please keep it in a pot. I have to pull it about every two weeks, it grows from the tubers that fast. From NC. At least we can eat it, if necessary!
Thank you for the good pics & description to id the plant
Awesome, great video. Thank you for making this whole topic so accessible to beginners.
Great informative video! Very well done! 👍
Thanks for watching and commenting!
Always great info. Thank you.
Thanks for watching!
Thanks so much for the info. I have searched for years what to do with this weed that covered my yard… in the spring mounding high. This year we let the chickens free range and they apparently ate every root and the entire backyard is bare this spring. Now that I’ve heard your RUclips I’m glad we still have a front yard full. Great video! Thank you.
EXCELLENT REPORT
My son is also Matthew... Where has your channel been all my life? Well, I've found you now lol. I've been eating many things from my yard but now I know MORE. Thank YOU from the gulf coast of Alabama!
Thanks Matt!
Good info!
I have this in my yard and i really love it as do the bees.
This was great information. Thank you.
I've been eating the tubers since 99. Thank you for telling of the medicinal value!
Absolutely Awesome video 😊❤❤❤
Good info
Excellent, thanks
Last year was cleaning out my flower pots.... When I discovered these tubers.... Some were quite large.... I had no idea what they were... At first I thought they were plastic.... Since I had been in the silk trade... I thought they were left over silk roots of flowers that had fallen in some of my flower pots.... So thank you for sharing your knowledge....
Thank you!
Just picked a bucket of these out if my flower bed this past weekend, i cut them up and threw them in a skillet with some sausage and fresh onions and black peppers i also picked over the weekend
It can also be sauteed in butter, mashed or whole.
Fried in a pan with potatoes etc.
Very nice fresh.
Thanks for your video. I have watched a few already and you do a great job.
Well one thing is certain it s always growing in my flower beds early spring and late fall and yes beyond invasive … I have always heard the root was edible so I guess when o weed my beds i should start harvesting those roots and turn my thought process around to. More positive outlook … thank you again Matthew
Thank you very much! So glad to find your channel. :)
Such a great video. Thank you.
Good info....
Well done! Thanks!
I have a ton of this in my garden.
WOW!!!!! Thank you so much!!!!
My gosh I never knew. Thank you!! I am going to love your channel!!! Going out to weed my Florida garden again…this time I am going to really look at what I am pulling up! 🌱
South Carolina
Really enjoy your Content 😁 Very Informative and Practical. -Z-
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!
Great content. Thanks!
I remember digging these up when gardening in FLorida.
Thank you sir!!! nice to know what these tubers and plants are and their value also. My wife has serious migraine headaches and this may be very helpful.
Wow I have these all over my yard, thanks
Awesome!
WV here. I think I have seen these around here. First thing this morning, I am going to double check. Sure hope so. Great show. Thank you
Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed it, and hope you find some!
Those are really good.
Thank you so much for the info.
Thanks for watching!
Yeah I have seen these grub worm looking things in my yard after pulling up weeds. Didn’t know what it was. Thanks for the info.
I bought this plant from my local native plant nursery I keep it in a pot because like you said it can spread.
We have these in South Georgia where I grew up. I can't remember what we call them but the roots are soo tasty. We used to just eat them raw. Fond memories.
I'd prefer to look at the roots as little sea shells. GRUBS don't stimulate my appetite. 😊
What a thoroughly informative channel you have! I just subscribed. I'm in Florida, and Florida betony grows well here. I am so happy to know more about how to use it for health and wellness.
Thank you so much for watching and subscribing!
I have crushed a leaf before, thinking it was mint! (But I was disappointed). This is good info...Thanks!
This plant likes to grow in the tiny space between our fence and the neighbors fence. I just pulled up a bunch of it yesterday while cleaning up the fence. Only one pulled up by the root since I could not reach the base of the plants. But I noticed it looks just like a young green brier root. I hate those things! They (green brier) will take over the flower beds! It's nice to know the FLorida Betony is not completely useless.
22 years ago I have been tearing these out but i love their scent, they remind me of going into a florist, that green smell. I will check these out to eat raw with hummus along with my home grown italian dandelion and herbs.
Thanks for the map I'm gonna look for some in my v last of GA
I'm in East Texas, I am now on the hunt for this. Fingers crossed.
I am in Australia and the root looks something like New Zealand Yams or Oca. The leaves are also edible but not too much as Oxalic acid.
I’m in Middle TN, and this is a bane to me. I found out what it was last summer, after it re-emerged from establishing a new bed the year prior. I had to search for what it was in order to discover how to eradicate it. The Betony choked out some of my plants. Even after learning of the positives, it is still a nightmare for me. I invested a lot of money and time in that bed, and it has come back with a vengeance this year. Unfortunately, that first year I rototilled before I knew what was in the ground.
It may be good for eating and medicinally helpful, but if it invades a flower bed with hundreds of dollars and hundreds of HOURS invested, it will be something you gleefully throw out. I, ignorantly, moved soil to another bed two years ago before I moved, as the neighbors had a water main break, and the dirt from the repair was all over the new bed. So I found it for the first time this year in a second bed… ugh!
I call it devil weed, as I do with the nutsedge in another bed. These are THE WORST two weeds I battle. The nutsedge I have spent HOURS trying to dig out carefully, gently following the complex root system to find the “nuts.” Only to have it still pop back up. I finally had to turn to a nutsedge targeted spray, as much as I try not to use chemicals. It worked!
If only I had an equivalent spray for Florida Betony! Just beware, once you intentionally grow it, you will likely never be rid of it. So if you change your mind on what you want to grow there, or even want to plant other things a few feet near it, you will have a headache. It tunnels through the roots of other plants and will come up through the plant. If even one tiny species of the tuber or root is left, it will grow a whole new plant that will expand.
One of my peony bushes is flowering this year for the first time, and of course, the Betony is coming up through the middle of it. Peonies don’t like to be moved. All my beds are weeded, except for the Betony. I am NOT looking forward to my task that will take many, many hours over several days or even weeks to try and dig out without leaving any traces or killing any plants.
If you're going to dig them anyway, you might as well collect them and try some in your cooking. The tubers are very crunchy and taste like a mild radish. Not hot at all. As suggested, it probably would be good in chicken or tuna salad; or try pickling them. You might as well get something for all your efforts. Free healthy food is good! ....unless you've been spraying them. Good luck with your weeding!
I have a plant growing that looks very close to this one. I thought it was called Johnny Jump Ups. It is a blooming ground cover, and the blossom is a very light lavender. Have you heard of this plant? I also live in NWFLA.
Yes, they're a type of wild violet. Maybe Viola bicolor.
Fantastic video! Your presentation was so informative that I have subscribed. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
I definitely have this plant growing. The bees like the flower. I have often seen the roots and wondered about them.
In Oklahoma (7a) I have introduced a relative of Florida Betony, Stachys Affinis (its from China originally, but can handle the cooler temperatures) .. Without bison to keep a healthy savannah ecosystem across the plains, we can either push for forest, or watch as it turns to desert .. mint root in the ground cover layer of a forest system sounds better to me than scavenging succulents under the light of the moon before returning to the shelter of some cave to escape the burning sun. Sorry they aren't "Native" .. but since this segment of crust lifted up above the sea floor and the ocean drained away a few hundred thousand years ago, nothing is.
I planted some miners lettuce in a raised bed garden and now its growing everywhere. Even in the gravel.
I live in SEN. Carolina, and this has overtaken most of my yard.
I have stachys affinis in my Michigan garden ;)
Nice
I live in Georgia and found a ton of these strane roots in my yard and they looked creepy so I threw them away when I was digging the soil to put in a vegetable garden. If I had known they were edible I would hae saved them and tried them out. I may still have a few lying around underneath the soil somewhere in my yard.
I bet you do, most people say they're impossible to get rid of
Live in North Augusta SC- invades excess
I seem to see it in areas of previously disturbed soil. I wish I had more growing around my house, but I don't see any yet. I had some at my last house.
Very informative video. I think my lawn has a treasure chest allotment of different forms of very medicinally useful plants. If I can identify that most are useful, and should be allowed to thrive, I can relay that information to my neighbors so they don't stop talking to me when my grass is too tall. But seriously, I think you did a great job on the video and in the near future, I think this kind of information will be very important to survival in this country. You obviously know what u r talking about. This plant, Florida betony, u r talking about that helps the brain heal is very interesting. I have a white German shepherd that is going on 11 now and has had a severe case of epilepsy since she was 1. She's been on the same meds as people take for epilepsy, but it never allowed her to be normal because it never allowed her brain to heal between the many seizures she would have monthly. I read everything I could find on the meds available and then the vet told us to try hemp oil which was a farce since it doesn't contain thc. It's just expensive salad oil. But 3 years ago, I started giving her turmeric tablets for her joints, and it had a tremendous effect on the amount of seizures she had. From 15 every 2 months to maybe 2 every 4 months. She became a more normal dog again because her brain had more time to heal between seizures. So now I'm wondering if this Florida betony would be safe to give to her as a tea in her water.