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Green Deane

Poisonous Florida Plants

Click on read more to see more photos

Florida has numerous poisonous plants, some native, many imports or escaped ornamentals. Here are a few you might spy while out

wandering. However, 58% of plant poisonings happen in your own yard, and 22 percent in your neighbor’s yard. That’s because yards are

where most of the ornamental plants are and more often than not they are toxic.

Brazilian Pepper, right, (Schinus terebinthifolius) Some people use the seeds like pepper but it is not wise. Its close cousin is poison ivy and Brazilian Pepper
can cause a rash like poison ivy. A European variety is sometimes told as “pink peppercorns.” Buy them instead, a least you will have someone to sue if you get
sick. By the way only primates — humans and ape et cetera — are allergic to poison ivy or other members of the family. Other mammals don’t have a problem
with it. In fact, goats and deer find poison ivy tasty and nutritious.
Rosary Pea, Abrus precatorius, left, is probably the second most deadly plant in Florida. As little as 0.00015% in body weight will kill people. Twenty seeds
mixed with water and blended killed a healthy male in his 20’s in two days. Symptoms included vomiting blood, pain in eyes, ears burning. It’s a native of India and
well-established in Florida. I (carefully) used to keep a wine decanter full of these scarlet seeds on my desk, for show, of course. There are some reports that these
most deadly of peas are edible when boiled. I would not bet my life on it.

Rivina Humilis, right, seen on the Orange County Bike Trail north of Winter Garden, Christmas 2007. While not edible, the plant’s berries have been used for ink
and as a red dye — birds like them, too. A cousin of the polk weed, all parts are poisonous to humans. It’s also called the pigeon berry, coralito, and rouge plant.
© Photo by Deane Jordan
© Photo by Deane Jordan
© Photo by Deane Jordan
© Photo by Deane Jordan

Zephyranthes Atamasca, left, seen in Wekiva State Park. Also called rain lilly and atamasco lilly. Zephyranthes means flowers of the west wind, in the west it
pops up after a rain from the west; and atamasca is Indian for stained with red, referring to the color of old roots. All parts of the plant are poisonous, but especially
the bulb. Less than 1% of body weight is fatal. Many sites — copying each other — say this plant is edible, which is grossly irresponsible.
Castor Bean, Ricinus communis, a native of Ethiopia and a trash plant throughout Florida. It is the source of castor oil and the poison ricin. A drying capsule
throws beautifully mottled seeds up to 20 feet. Three can kill a child, eight an adult. This is a common plant next to child day care center fences. Ricin was the
poison of choice in a local attempted murder trial of a father by his son, Montgomery Meeks. During the 1980s, the Iraqi government made weapon-grade ricin,
and it was tested on animals and in artillery shells. In 2003, ricin was found in US Senator Bill Frist's office, and, in January of that same year, Arabs connected to
Al-Qaeda were arrested in a London apartment while trying to manufacture ricin. It is apparently a very easy poison to make.
© Photo by Deane Jordan
© Photo by Deane Jordan
This web page is the property of Deane Jordan. All rights reserved.
Comments or questions about this site, or for permission to use photos and information, contact GreenDeane@cfl.rr.com

Copyright 2008 Deane Jordan

TOXIC AND FATAL PLANTS IN FLORIDA
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Salvia coccinea, left, a native throughout the southeastern United States and naturalized around the world. By most reasoning it shouldn’t be a toxic plant. It
comes from a good family, the Mints, its known oils are in other edible plants, and it does have some herbal applications. However, eating just one tiny red
peppery blossom —blossom only — will impart a severe week-long stomach ache and moments of dizziness starting about two hours after ingestion lasting for
less than an hour. It is not listed among toxic and or dangerous plants. It’s major oils are: Globulol, Acenaphthene, Trans-hex-2-enalis, Aromadendrene and
Dimethoxy-p-cymene.
© Photo by Deane Jordan

© Photo by Deane Jordan

Colocasia esculenta var. aquatilis) called “Wild Taro.” March 2008. It is tempting to think this wild taro clogging Florida waterways is edible but my experience
suggests it is not, or not at least within reasonable preparation. Twice on separate occasions I have tried to render this plant free of its calcium oxalate crystals by
cooking. They were collected on the Saint Johns River and the Wekiva River, the latter at the canoe marina. The first time all was boiled peeled and whole for an
hour. No success. The second time I boiled, peeled and chopped roots two hours in three changes of water: at 30 minutes, 60 minutes and 90 minutes, boiling for
a total of 120 minutes. It did not eliminate the acid in the roots. The acid was clearly present on exposed lips and inner elbow skin. The long-term boiling did reduce
the acid some but edibility is doubtful. Perhaps long term roasting or drying might accomplish the feat. Young leaves, in fact the two shown here, did not display
acid after boiling two hours in three changes of water. The stem did. While the blade flavor was agreeable whether they are edible is an issue not yet explored.
See my taro research blog.
A southern Europe native and naturalized throughout most of North America, Lathyrus latifolius, the “everlasting pea” is a pretty whose seeds can make you ill. It
was established in the United States before 1720 and Jefferson grew it at Monticello in 1807. I have no idea why. Internet writers, copying each other, say it is not
naturalized in Florida... well, there it is and I have seen it many times over the last 20 years. Some plant “experts” just never venture into the field. During the
Victorian times this vine was faddish with hundreds varieties now extinct. They were occasionally eaten but are mildly toxic in small amounts and in larger amounts
can damage your nervous system. Eating their little black/gray seeds is not advisable. A few cooked might not harm, reportedly, but more than that can cause a
severe disease of the nervous system known as 'lathyrism. The active ingredient is L-agr,ggr-diaminobutyric acid, which is also rather antibiotic. Nature, it seems,
gives and takes away. The flowers are showy and this pea can be identified from many others by its winged stems and compound leaves with only two leaflets.
The flowers are about ¾–1" across and they are never fragrant. When I was a kid growing up with pastures “sweet pea” was viewed as a non-edible for humans
and their animals.

Water Hemlock (Cicuta maculata) is arguably the most toxic plant in North America, right up there with its cousin the Poison Hemlock, which prefers dryer ground.
While it does not contain the most toxic of poisons it is among the fastest acting. Death can occur within two hours of ingesting a leaf, sooner if the root is eaten.
The flavor is reportedly quite good. It is also everywhere in Central Florida, in nearly every waterway, pond, lake and drainage ditch. It grows in and among most
foraging edibles that grow in water. It is so toxic it is wise to not even handle it. The water hemlock is a distant relative to the hemlock that was used to kill Socrates
except his hemlock was a gentle death. This hemlock is a very painful death with spasm, convulsions, and a loss of fluids form both ends. One leaf can kill you.
One boy died from making a whistle out of the stem. A unique identifying characteristic is the upper veins on the leaf go to between the teeth, not to the teeth.

3/5/33
 • EatTheWeeds.com

GREEN DEANE

Unresolved Botanical Ponderings

1. 1)Cnidoscolus stimulosis: Can the leaves be boiled and eaten like other species in the genus? I personally know of two account of folks who
mistook the C. stimulosis for a common nettle, either juiced it and drank it raw, or cooked it and ate it raw. Amounts were not conveyed. It may be a possible
green and raw food source. Also, is the root of the C. texanus edible and are the seeds of the C. stimulosis edible?

2. 2)The common taro invading Florida’s Florida’s waterways is an aquatic variety that does not set roots of any size but its stolons might be pickable
and its greenery boiled and maybe made edible. There are reports of said in Vietnam.

3. 3)The deadly rosary pea may be edible if heated above 45C, or boiled for 45 minutes to an hour.

4. 4)The Dioscorea alta may have only single leaves when young and then later develops opposite leaves.Follow-up: Having grown some, it is true that
the yong alata can have only one leaf at nodes.

5) Are the seeds of the Albizia julibrissin edible? I received an email from someone who said his grandmother used to serve them. He wrote in part: I have very
fond memories of this tree, it's flowers, leaves, and especially it's seeds. My grandmother had several of these trees in her yard and I would harvest baskets and
baskets of the seedpods whenever I was staying with her. I remember sitting with her in the evenings peeling open pod after pod scraping and collecting the seeds
as we went. She would warm me up a flower tortillas place maybe half a cup of seeds on the tortilla, squeeze lemon, and dash salt over them roll it all up and hand
it over to me. She called them "Waches" though (In Spanish).

The only Ill effect that I ever noticed from eating the seeds was that it gave me really bad breath. I don't think I have ever seen the seeds for sale in any modern
grocery store but, I have seen them being sold in local markets (especially in Mexican neighborhoods).

6. 6)Is the sap from the Virginia Creeper and or the Pepper Vine drinkable? (Parthenocissus quinquefolia and Ampelopsis arborea respectively.) At
least on man on the internet reported he drank the Virginer Creeper sap with no ill effect. There is also a few reports the berries of each are edible where as
other reports make them fatal.

7: Need to explore chaya and jambul tree

SPECULATIONS
3/20/33
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Comments or questions about this site, or for permission to use photos and information, contact GreenDeane@cfl.rr.com

Copyright 2009 Deane Jordan

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Green Deane

Rat Snake: Elaphe obsoleta quadrivittata on Palm

In over 32 year of hiking in Florida I seen a snake once. I’ve seen more while canoeing or around the house but only one while hiking. (I suspect they get out of the
way.) In March 2009 I was hiking in Spring Hammock when I saw what I thought was a curvy grape vine on a palm tree in the shadow. That struck me as odd so I
stopped and took a good look, then a picture. Then I added flash. The Yellow Rat Snake was close to five feet long and as is often the case, froze in place allowing
me to get these shots. Neither poisonous or aggressive I left this constrictor alone and it left me alone. A win win.

The species, Elaphe obsoleta quadrivittata (thank you Steve Ganci) are known for the ease with which they are
tamed and are reportedly common in the pet trade. Personally, I prefer my pets to have fur but I also know snakes are good. There is considerable variation
between different types of rat snake but most are medium to large, rodent eating snakes. They are found throughout the south-eastern and central United States.
They usually live around 15-20 years, but may live as long as 23 years in captivity.
SNAKE GRAPE VINE
4/11/33
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© Photo by Deane Jordan

© Photo by Deane Jordan
© Photo by Deane Jordan
by Deane Jordan

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Green Deane

Seminole Wekiva Trail

Seven-Mile Appetizer
 The squirrels are in hog heaven, if you’ll pardon the menagerie metaphor.

It’s Thanksgiving, 2007, in central Florida and I am starting a bike trip along a reclaimed railroad bed. The Beauty Berry (Callicarpa Americana) has gone
from a summer wallflower to a fall blooming idiot. Also known as the French Mulberry, it is in full fruit hoping to ensure another generation of Beauty Berries. The
shrub, with fruit clustered along the stem, is extremely popular with squirrels, who will ignore people to get to the berries. Read more about the Beauty Berry and
the great jelly it makes elsewhere on this site.

I’m traveling from Altamonte Springs to Lake Mary, and back, a little over 15 miles. At a road crossing where I have to stop for a traffic light -- an underground
passage was to be finished in 2005 -- I see a few scraggly Amaranth (Amaranthus Hybridus.) Like its close cousin, the Spiny Amaranth, it’s a very local
opportunist, rarely more than a plant or two here and there. In my quarter century of collecting wild edibles in Florida I’ve never seen enough amaranth in one
place to make a good meal (except in my garden.) Even more rare is its distant and tasty cousin, Lamb’s Quarters or Pig Weed (Chinopodium Album.) It’s
rarely seen here in central Florida except for isolated populations.

My first introduction to “Pig Weed” as an edible came in 1960. My parents had built a house and as was common then they threw hay chaff on the ground to
start a lawn. That summer only two kinds of plants grew on the lawn: wild mustard -- see a later blog on that -- and Pig Weed. A neighbor, who was also quite an
amazing vegetable gardener, was visiting one day and saw the six-foot high Pig Weed and asked if he could have some. Getting a yes, he pulled out a half a
dozen plants taller than himself and carried them home for supper. He was absolutely full of joy over what he was about to eat, and with good reason. Only the
Polk Weed (Phytolacca Americana) comes close to Lamb’s Quarters in flavor. For many years I was fortunate in that a field near me in Maitland, Fl., grew
Lamb’s Quarters profusely, though smaller than in temperate climes. But, that field is now a housing development and not one Lamb’s Quarters seed, save for my
garden, seems to have survived. That cannot be said of its more malodorous cousin, Mexican Tea (Chenopodium Ambrosiodes, sometimes referred to as
Chenopodium Anthelminticum though now is has been changed to Teloxys Ambrosiodes. In this case, the word “tea” is used to mean an infusion, not a
pleasant drink. Chenopodium Ambrodsiodes, by the way, means ‘Goose Foot Food of the Gods.’ That should give you some idea.

Unmistakably smelling of varnish, the cultivated version is a common spice in Mexican cooking called Epazote, which in Nahuatl, the Aztec language, means
skunk sweat or skunk dirt. It is well-named. One does not need to cultivate Epazote in Florida. It grows quite happily everywhere and all along the trail I am biking,
especially near Lake Mary. It is one plant I don’t stop to look at, or rub unless I want to smell like a cleaned paint brush. I might have a different view of Epazote if I
had tried it cooked sometime. But, I also don’t have internal worms, another use for the “tea.” And I really don’t want to find out if the line between spice and worm
killer is thin.

On my oversized road bike I puff past many plants that are not high on the food chain for humans but edible in one fashion or another: Huge Camphor trees,
relatives of the cinnamon; Pines, their needles make a vitamin C rich tea and the inner bark edible; the aforementioned Polk Weed, red and rank this time of year
but delicious in the spring when prepared correctly, deadly when not; Reindeer Moss, a true survival food; escaped Honey Suckle and Turks Caps; various cactus
with edible pads and flower buds; Bull Brier, a Smilax with berries that can be chewed like gum when green. The root of its cousin made the original Sarsaparilla.
Ubiquitous on the trail and very weedy, is Bidens Pilosa also called Bidens Alba. It is a lowly straggle with one saving grace many of you have enjoyed.

Known as Beggars’ Ticks and “Spanish Needles” for its two-tooth seeds, Bidens is the third largest source of honey nectar in Florida. All honey from Florida
is part Bidens Alba. Tastes good, doesn’t it. The flowers are edible and Dr. Julia Morton, plant professor and author, says the leaves of the plant are edible as
well. She says Bidens has “medicinal” qualities also but did not elaborate and I have not researched it. Anyway, the raw leaves are too resinous for my tastes. It
might be worth parching the seeds sometime though, burning off the spines as one does Sand Spurs (Cenchrus Echinatus) to see how they taste.

About half way between Altamonte Springs and Lake Mary I pass a lawn that is too close to the trail and spy a bed of plants that would make Florida
gourmets grab a shovel if they knew what was there: Florida Betony (Stachys Floridana). Its cousin, Stachys Affinis, is called Crosnes or Chinese Artichokes and
a few other names. They are described as very expensive and called hard-to-find. Betony is the bane of most Florida lawns. See a separate blog on the Betony
called Seventeen Dollars a Gourmet Pound.

Also in nearby lawns as I pedal by I see two other edibles, one very esteemed and the other rarely known on this side of the world. First is purslane
(Portulaca Oleracea). In fact, its very name, oleracea, means cultivated and it has been for thousands of years. I write about it in the blog Omega 3 Fatty Weed.
Invading the lawns along with the purslane is Pennywort, sometimes the native Hydocotyle Bonariensis and sometimes its imported cousin, Centella Asiatica,
both quite edible. The Pennywort likes its feet wet and one usually finds it around lawn sprinklers or where water puddles on lawns. See the blog “Please Don’t
Step on the Pharmacy.”

This year Thanksgiving in Florida is a warm, pleasant day and I brake to read the historic markers. The trail I’m on, The Seminole Wekiva Trail, built on the
former Orange Belt Railway, was at one time the longest railroad in the United States. It was started in 1885, about the same time both my grandfathers were
born. In 1893 -- the decade of my grandmothers -- it became the Sanford - St. Petersburg railroad then became part of the Atlantic Coast Railroad line and finally
merged in 1967 into the current Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. It cut across the state higher up than the current east-west interstate then went down Florida’s west
coast, with one of the stops in the Greek community of Tarpon Springs, where I got my Purslane. Maybe it came from here first, or even Greece. Many important
communities along the railroad a century ago and worthy of a station are gone, only noted by the cast iron tombstones: An inn stood over there; winter visitors
went to a spring-fed spar across the road; a freeze ended a citrus community here the night of 29 Dec 1894. Occasionally an area is fenced off, and on many of
those fences are ripening Balsam Pears (Momordica Charantia.) They are edible when young and are one of the few wild edibles I see people picking. See my
blog elsewhere about the Balsam Pear.

As I pedal through Longwood -- President Calvin Coolidge stopped here in 1929 to visit the “Senator” the largest Cypress tree in the country -- I notice the
grapes are about past season. The grapes were not prolific this year, but in 2006 they were abundant. There are at least three or four kinds of ‘wild’ grapes in
Florida, two native and two or so escaped and semi-naturalized cultivars. It is easy to tell their ancestry: If the vine’s tendril has one tip, it is native; if the tendril is
forked it’s an escape artist. Along here most of the grapes are Vitis Shuttleworthii and Vitis Munsoniana. However, at one point overhanging the trail there are
some abandoned 1930-era red and white hybrids. Larger and sweeter, they make the trip pleasant. I can just reach a last few from my bike as I go by.

Florida -- as of this writing and perhaps for sometime to come -- cannot grow wines like California or France because of Pierce’s Disease. The disease kills
non-native grapes within a decade of planting by essentially clogging their veins and making them wither. Only common varieties that have been crossed with
native grapes can survive, which the state did in the early 1900s. Since the native grapes are very fruity, hybrid Florida wine, like New York State wine, is a
differentiated product, a fancy way of saying it has its own muscadine flavor. If Pierce’s Disease can be conquered -- they’re working on it -- the South could
become a major grape-growing region of well-known varietals.

As I enjoy my grapes and pedal along I think about the “Senator.” A core ring count says it’s some 3,000 years old. When it was 600 years old Socrates was
arguing against democracy -- why he was later executed -- and Plato was a bright kid with a large derriere (didn’t you ever wonder what Plato meant?) By the time
the Senator celebrated its 1,500th birthday, King Arthur was becoming a legend in his own mind. I wonder how many hurricanes has that king of cypresses
endured in 3,000 years, and which one blew its top off (with the help of lightning now and then.) And if it’s still growing, think how big mom and dad must have
been!

Not far from the grapes, before a long grade that challenges my low-carb knees, grows Spotted Horsemint, also known as Spotted Beebalm (Monarda
Punctata.) Frankly, given its name and appearance I think they missed a linquistic opportunity. They should have called it Pinto Mint. It can be found near the trail
for about two miles. It’s a plant one doesn’t notice until fall when it gets pink and white showy. Last year on private property near the old line, I dug up one small
bush of it and successfully transplanted it into my small yard. It’s pretty and makes a nice tea. The bees are happy, too.

Common along the trail are Live Oaks, (Quercus Virginiana) which are acorning heavily, if one can conjure such a verb. In the white oak family, Live Oaks
have the least amount of tannin in their acorns. But, it also varies from tree to tree. One can often find a Live Oak with acorns that are edible without leeching, a
convenient and time saving arrangement. Acorn meal -- free of tannins or otherwise leeched of them -- has many uses in the kitchen not the least in making
bread.

Less common along the bike path are native Persimmons (Diospyros Virginiana) which means Fruit of the Gods, North America. They are usually small
trees that like to grow on edges of fields and roads, and fortunately, old railroad beds. I counted no less than eight Persimmon trees, several with fruit. There is
very little to not like about the Persimmon, which is actually a North American ebony. The fruit is edible and can be used in any way banana is used, one for one.
The fruit skin can be used to make a fruit “leather.” The seeds can be roasted, ground, and used to stretch coffee. The leaves make a tea rich in vitamin C, though
the taste is bland if not “green.” And the wood can be worked.

On the shy side, the native Persimmon can be small and very astringent. There are many rules of thumb about how and when they can be picked for ripeness
and non-astringency. In my experience, the best persimmons are the ones you have to fight the ants for.

On my return leg I stop half way and watch a place that has, of all things for suburbia, a few milking goats (If you must know, Capra Hircus.) Of Greek
heritage and a farm boy, I like goats and have often fed them some grass that’s just out of reach through the fence. In fact, while feeding them one day I saw a
Sassafras rootling (Sassafras Albidum) looking for a new home. The transplant was successful and I am probably the only homeowner in Florida with an
intentional Sassafras tree in my front yard. It makes me feel special. I also have a Zanthoxylum Clava-Herculis rescued more than a decade ago from a bull
dozer in Daytona Beach. Should I have a tooth ache it will come in handy because its leaves have a natural novacaine. Between the Sassafras and the Hercules
Club my yard has to be a rarity. Red about them both in other blogs.

As I near where I started I cross a small brook that eventually ends up in the Atlantic at Jacksonville. Books can be very wrong on edibility. I know that from
personal experience. Some 20 years ago I thoroughly research a particular aquatic plant here in central Florida and found several authoritative references to it
being edible. While preparing it for cooking my hands began to burn severely. Only washing with Naphtha Soap stopped the burning (every outdoorsman should
carry Naphtha Soap with him.) If you are indeed going to collect wild edibles check with a local expert first. Even I should have about that particular plant. Watch
the local expert gather a wild plant, prepare it and eat it. If they are still alive the next day, then you try it. You can find such experts through your local Native Plant
Society, in the phone book.
Since this is my inaugural blog -- following entries will be shorter, I promise. Oh, and for Thanksgiving, I cooked a duck and had homemade elderberry wine.

One penultimate word of caution: As always, never run out after reading something like this and eat a wild plant. It could kill you. Then I’ll have fewer readers.
Study with someone knowledgeable and build up your courage safely.

If you have any questions or comments you can post them or mail them to GreenDeane@cfl.rr.com
SEMINOLE’S RAILS TO TRAILS, PEDALING PAST PETALS
On Thanksgiving Day 2007 your gastronomic explorer took a short 14-mile round-trip bike ride along a reclaimed railroad right-of-
way in Florida looking for wild edibles. The route that once saw many train stops for now abandoned communities wends its way
past back yards, sports complexes and shopping malls.
On Thanksgiving Day 2007 your gastronomic explorer took a short 14-mile round-trip bike ride along a reclaimed railroad right-of-
way in Florida looking for wild edibles. The route that once saw many train stops for now abandoned communities wends its way
past back yards, sports complexes and shopping malls.
© Photo by Deane Jordan
This web page is the property of Deane Jordan. All rights reserved.
Comments or questions about this site, or for permission to use photos and information, contact GreenDeane@cfl.rr.com

Copyright 2008 Deane Jordan

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by Deane Jordan

22 Nov 2007

• EatTheWeeds.com

See Green Deane on the Wekiva on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW5xmNW98cY

Canoeing Rock Spring’s Run & The Wekiva

Canoes are the best way for you to sneak up on deer, unless of course you’re the kind of canoeist who uses the paddle and canoe like a drum set.

On a recent Sunday, I had barely turned up Rock Springs Run from the Wekiva River when four fat does spied me. They hesitated as they always do with a canoe,
then ran into the brush, only to turn around and ford right in front of me. No, I did not get my camera out in time, but I have an excuse: I was actually in a skinny
kayak, not my luxury liner canoe. Sudden moves in a kayak are wet moves. There will be another time. Farther upstream, I saw a doe and a near-independent
fawn, both plump, as they should be, dining in on Cat O’ Nine tails.

It is said that if a lost person has found cattails, they have four of the five things they need to survive: Water, food, shelter and a source of fuel for heat—the dry old
stalks. The one item missing is companionship. As a life-long bachelor and pseudo-hermit I am not sure about that. Seeing the deer reminds me the rivers of
Florida were sources of food for Indians for thousands of years.
Surprisingly perhaps, all creatures living in Florida’s streams are edible, this includes snails, bivalves, fish, turtles, snakes, alligators and the like. They do have to
be cooked, however, and many of them aren’t too tasty, especially the sails and bivalves. They are not Southern Escargot. They harbor bad bacteria and must be
cooked. Even little lakes are full of “fresh water clams” in the mud, just off shore. But you absolutely must cook them, and make sure the lake water is wholesome.
As for alligator, no matter how they cook it, it always has a swampy taste. It would be a good survival food but it does remind me of a minor incident in 2004 or so.

I was canoeing in the same area with a friend, Joe Guida. We were floating through a very narrow area during seasonal low water, about seven feet wide and five
deep. We startled a sunning alligator on the bank that nearly jumped in the 18-foot canoe with us. Joe’s version of the events are a bit more dramatic but then
again he and the alligator were on the same end of the canoe. I was about 20 feet away....

If I may digress even further a moment... I used to do a lot of hook and line fishing. In recent years I have switched to castnets almost exclusively but way back in
the 70s I was bass fishing in a lot of Florida’s one-acre lakes. One day while fishing a “lake” no bigger than a baseball field I got a good tug on my line. I was using
a plastic purple worm. I pulled, it pulled. I pulled more, it pulled more then stopped. I started to reel it in, which is actually a matter of prospective because the
alligator on the other end was now swimming towards me. It was about five feet long and it did not seem pleased... That I can relate this stories attests to how fast
I can run....

The number of edible plants along the run and river is numerous... pickerel weed, water hyacinths, wapato, lemon bacopa, spatter dock, oaks … But for the record
I also saw non-edible wild begonias, vining milk weed, asters, several lilies and water hemlock, definitely not an edible. It was a hemlock species, read a close
relative, that was used to knock off Socrates.

The hemlock —not related to the hemlock tree — grows in many wet spots in central Florida and can kill you in less than 15 minutes, certainly within an hour. The
last death of said on record was a park ranger who mistook its roots for wild parsnip. He reportedly said, before the symptoms hit, that it was quite tasty. The state
of Florida says in an official publication that the hemlock (Cicuta maculata et al) is the source of a lot of accidental “poisonings and death.” I would guess
intentional poisonings and deaths would be called attempted murder and murder. A mouthful is a fatal dose, and the demise is not as gentle as Socrates’ was. It
induces extremely violent symptoms which are “practically impossible to administer.” I have often joked that if any acquaintances of mine die from a plant
poisoning my door is the first one the police will knock on. The practical truth is you can’t know which plants are edible without knowing which ones are poisonous.

When I missed the photo opt with the deer, I was kayaking up a stream I have canoed virtually dozens of times. I know the log-strewn stream, its bends, its
stopping places, a little strip of pseudo rapids, and its plants and animals. It was the kayak that was the new element. Canoes and kayaks are as different as cars
and planes. One rides on a canoe, but one wears a kayak.

If man plans his paddling trip well, all he needs is a little salt and pepper and a rod or net, catching and foraging for his needs along the way, just as everyone’s
ancestor did not long ago. Most of the people in everyone’s family, save for the last 100 years, foraged for food most of the time, even when they grew some.
There is also evidence that hunters and gathers were healthier than herders and growers.

If the civilized world were to end tomorrow and the survivors had to fend for food, the best advice is “get thee near water.” Life grows in and about water, be it
fresh or salt. Water is where the food is. The two streams I was on have been a source of food for Indians for thousands of years.

Rock Spring Run is fed by a 14-million-gallons-a-day spring that fire hoses out of the side of a small cliff, if 12 feet can be a cliff. That is 441 gallons a second, 38
million a day, and 14 billion a year. The 72-degree water actually shoots horizontally out of a limestone grotto. Nowadays the grotto is barred like a jail – above
and below water – and swimming is no longer allowed at the spring or basin. Years ago one could snorkel into the grotto, against the powerful current, and look for
sharks teeth (all of Florida was once under ocean.) I can remember doing just that many holidays more than twenty years ago when the park was closed and I
was young, foolish, and in much better shape.

The runs joins the Wekiva River eight miles down stream near a second spring, called Wekiwa Springs. Wekiva is Seminole for flowing water, and Wekiwa — with
a ‘W’ — their word for bubbling water. Wekiwa Spring produces some 509 gallons a minute, 44 million a day, 16 billion a year. Combined at nearly 1,000 gallon a
minute, 30 billion gallons a year, these springs create the run and the river. The water from both of these springs is called “young” which means the water flowing
out today was rain 42 years ago, as opposed to hundreds of years ago or more. Further, the rain fell much farther north, all the way up into Georgia.

There are several such springs in the area of smaller size and occasionally one will even see a blind, white crayfish floating up from the rocky deep. I even have
some pictures of one. They are edible I imagine, but it just doesn’t seem right, eating a blind, albino crayfish.

The Wekiva River flows north to the St. Johns River, and that flows north through the middle of the state exiting to the ocean at Jacksonville. The St. Johns is the
only river in North American that flows north most of its length, and only the second one in the world to do so, after the Nile.

As for the deer, I now own my second waterproof camera. Let the kayak rock and roll. As for my first waterproof camera.... Maybe I will tell you some day what
happened to it on Christmas Day, 2000.

ROCK SPRINGS RUN AND THE WEKIVA RIVER

5/14/33
© Photo by Deane Jordan
This web page is the property of Deane Jordan. All rights reserved.
Comments or questions about this site, or for permission to use photos and information, contact GreenDeane@cfl.rr.com

Copyright 2008 Deane Jordan

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by Deane Jordan
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Green Deane

Merry Christmas, Florida Style

Lake Maitland, Florida

16 Dec 2007, 08:22

Lake Maitland, Florida

16 Dec 2007, 08:22
Only hungry bass ripple the mirror reflection of the lake. The single sound is the rhythmic whisper of my paddle. Dawn is creeping through a low layer of night
clouds. It is soft, and clear, and calm. Near the middle I stop paddling: Turtles occasionally noodle up their heads to examine the intruder. While I enjoy the
immense silence, the temperature begins to rise, ever so slightly, but just enough. Within minutes the lake is thick with fog. As I drift, a dark figure appears in the
mist. It’s a lone cypress, some 30 feet tall. Hanging from its branches are.... soccer-size red ornaments: A Christmas Cypress. May the season and the new year
bode well for you. Thank you for visiting my site.

MERRY CYPRESS CHRISTMAS

7/28/33
© Photo by Deane Jordan
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This web page is the property of Deane Jordan. All rights reserved.
Comments or questions about this site, or for permission to use photos and information, contact GreenDeane@cfl.rr.com

Copyright 2008 Deane Jordan