Show 250: Heavenly Bamboo, Prickly Pear Cactus and Ninebark

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The name down to the clan, the clan to the.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Hey, y'all, welcome this week's show. Today we're going to
talk about a couple of really interesting plants. The first
is one everybody loves to hate. It is nandina, also
called heavenly bamboo. If you have this in your yard,
you have probably spent a goodly amount of time trying
to keep it under control or even trying to eradicate it.

(01:52):
I'm going to tell you a little bit about its
medicinal use, which will probably surprise you. But then we're
going to get into one of my favorite medicinal herbs
and also edible plants, and it's prickly pear cactus a puncha.
It is delicious and really quite useful. It's actually one
of those herbs that could save your life. So if

(02:14):
you don't have any of that one growing, you know,
maybe you don't want to grow nandina because it can
be pretty weedy and takeover. But some prickly pear cactus,
whether it's the large or the small, there are several varieties.
A fella even got in touch with me about a
week ago to let me know that he had some
growing at Zone I can't remember if you said five
A or five B in the Midwest, and it was

(02:39):
hardy and it had really good fruit, and that's really cool.
I hope he propagates it and saves some seeds and
gets that one going, because normally prickly pear like so
much warmer environment. In fact, well it doesn't well. The
varieties that I'm aware of don't grow where I live
in the mountains in North Carolina. Maybe I can get

(03:00):
some from him. I give him a try. But also
it's just too wet. I mean, we get so much rain.
I think it could probably be too wet for any
variety of cactus. But just down the mountain apiece maybe
one thousand and two thousand feet, it grows just fine
and was a major food source for Native Americans and
early settlers. So we'll get into that, but start with

(03:23):
we'll go with the nandina. It's often called heavenly bamboo,
and I think it's actually a very pretty plant. It's
not a true bamboo. It's a little bush that has
bright red berries, attractive foliage. It's one that is super
pretty in winter. I mean it's when everything else out
there is, you know, barren and bleak looking. You see
the nandina with its green leaves and bright red berries

(03:48):
along with holly, those are about the only two green
with red things you see out there. It just looks
really christmasy, and so I like it. Honestly, I think
it's worth growing it. I actually do have some try
to keep it under control. It does have all parts
of the plant. It contains some toxicity. The berries are

(04:10):
especially poisonous, so it's one you wouldn't want to have
around kits. Birds eat them just fine, but people can't.
The root well, really all right, the entire plant is
strongly medicinal, okay, but I am giving you a warning
about toxicity. You're gonna want to do your own research

(04:30):
on this. The according to Plants for Future, the roots
and stems are antitussive. That means it helps stop a cough,
same word as robotuscin, mostly with spasmodic coughs. We're talking
not really an irritated cough. But it's also stringent and febrifuge,

(04:53):
which means it can help with fevers. Stematic help settle
it upset stomach, or stimulate digestion, and is a digestive tonic.
A Decocian has used the treatment of fevers and influenza,
and acute bronchitis, whooping cough, in ingestion, acute gastro enteritis too.
The absesses pain in the bone and muscles and traumatic injuries.

(05:16):
It is especially useful in children's cough. There is a
danger that an overdose could cause respiratory paralysis, so that's
when you want to be really careful with a dicoca.
The leaves is tonic to the stomach, and the fruit
is actually both febrifuge and tonic. Then there is some

(05:37):
I want to put controversy over whether all of them
are toxic or not. Some sources say that the nandina
do you have on the bamboo is not toxic or
mildly toxic at best. Some says it's very poisonous. It
may have to do with the variety. I have not

(05:57):
been able to find an answer on this one. So
you're gonna want to do your own homework. You're going
to want to make sure a proper plant id and
then if you use it, use it with caution and
care and just like poke fight a lack of Americana.
Just like many plants that have toxicity Lily of the
Valley would be an excellent example. We can learn to

(06:18):
use those plants safely, but we don't just go in
there with you know, reckless and taking large doses of
a poisonous plant. That's stupid, and you want to make
sure if you have kids not to let them go
over and start snacking on those berries. Obviously, the root
is anti rheumatic. It actually is good for arthritis and

(06:40):
the I guess it's about it. Really it's a very
useful plant, but you're really going to want to do
your research on it. As I said, I find it
pretty pretty, but most people just curse it because it
does take over, especially just depending on where you live.
Now we'll get to the a puncha or prickly paar

(07:02):
of cactus. As I have said, this is one of
my all time favorites, mainly because you know, I love
to eat and I love to eat food from the wild,
and prickly pear cactus is great. I've actually had some
people say, wait a minute, that's an invasive plant. I
don't really know why they say that. Now, maybe in

(07:24):
some areas of the country it is, but the prickly
pear has been cultivated here in the Carolinas since long
before the settlers got here, So maybe Native Americans brought
it in. I do know the smaller one, called Indian fig,
is native. The larger ones may have been brought in
from the Southwest and cultivated. I don't know. But if

(07:48):
you're driving around, especially especially in the eastern part of
the state, if you see a big stand of prickly
prepare cactus, you can pretty much be assured that there
was once a homestead there, just like if you're in
the mountains and you see an old apple tree, there
was once a cabin there. Somebody grew that plant for food,
and in both cases they last for generations. I have

(08:12):
no problem with planting prickly pear cactus. I don't really
care what any so called expert says. I mean, they
always when you're talking invasive plants to the question to
ask is native to win? Every plant came here from
somewhere else. It's just a matter of when it got
here or if we're going to say that invasive plants
for those that came over with European settlers or whatever,

(08:35):
or later, you know, imported from Japan, like kudzu or something,
and we're going to cut the put the line, cut
it off at like the minute Columbus touch soil. Do
we assume that every plant here before then was a
native plant? Well, that's scientifically impossible. They all came from somewhere,

(08:55):
whether the seeds were carried by humans or by animals
or on the wind, And they all came here from somewhere.
And I really like prickly pear it's The pads are
mostly used in Mexican and South American cuisine. They call
them nepali's, or you may see them called tuna's. I

(09:17):
think tuna may be a mispronunciation of the Latin of puncha.
It kind of makes sense. I don't know otherwise where
they got that name, But Nepoli's are really good. Those
are the big pads, especially of the larger prickly pear cactus,
but you can use the other one as well. I
think there are at least twelve varieties. Of course, they're cacti.

(09:39):
They are covered in spines. So what you want to
do is do not I guess what you don't want
to do is pick these by with your bare hands.
You want to put on gloves if you're going to
use your hands I find it much better to use
a pair of tongs like kitchen tongs, or simply to
hold a bucket under the plant, cut the pad or

(10:01):
fruit off, let it drop into the bucket. When I
get home, I take it out with tongs and I
burn the spines off with a carpenter's torch, a plumber's torch.
You do the same thing over a gas stove. You
can do the same thing of a campfire. That's how
it's been done for, you know, thousands of years. And
I guess I would say the pads having an Okra

(10:24):
like texture, somewhat similar in flavor, but really more the texture.
And if you like okraor you'd love them. Okay, if
you go to a good Mexican restaurant, an authentic place,
and they have no Poly's tacos, that is like the
one vegetarian dish I will eat in a Mexican restaurant
and really be happy. Sure, maybe you know quesadillas with

(10:46):
some peppers that you know, that's good stuff too, that's
not really authentic. New Polye's tacos have been eaten by
for thousands of years, and it's just a matter of
taking the pads, roasting them up, slicing them, putting them
on a taco with maybe a little bit that coke
with cohto cheese and some pickled red onions and a
little bit of hot sauce, and man, that is good.

(11:07):
That is really good. You can absolutely have them with
behetas really very good, and you could. You don't have
to have them, you know, Mexican or South American style.
You can cook them. It's just a vegetable and your stovetop.
Eat them as a side dish. There's a little salt
and pepper. You're good to go. They're very good cooked
with bacon, grease or olive oil. You can put them

(11:28):
in soups. Absolutely, you can put soups, make soups with them,
anything that you would use a mild green vegetable. And
if you like the texture of okra, and it isn't
as slimy as akra, it's actually more meaty, very good.
But the real treat with the prickly pear cactus is

(11:48):
the fruit. The fruit will turn dark purple when it's ripe.
When you slice into it, it's got the same color
as like dragon. I mean, it's just just dark red
purple and it's kind of like a kiwi, a seedy kiwi,
if you want to think about it that way, really delicious.

(12:11):
What you want to do with that again, burned the
spines off, peel them with a vegetable peeler. If they're
nice and ripe, you can actually just press them through
a wire screen like a sieve to take out the seeds. Otherwise,
pick the seeds out, and then they can range from
mildly sweet without a lot of flavor, to really nice

(12:31):
and bright and sweet and really worth eating as a fruit.
Excellent with a little splash of lemon juice and some salt.
I like that a lot, really really good for making
a granita, you know, where you would mash them up,
basically push them through a sieve and freeze it. Make
almost like a Surbert type of an ice cream type
thing out of it. You kind of freeze it, take

(12:53):
it out, scrape the ice up with a fork, put
it back in. Do that a couple of times. I
suppose you could do it in an ice cream mixer
as well, but it's not going to have that granita texture.
Really good in margaritas, by the way, when done that way,
and probably one of the best uses for it is
to make wine out of the juice of the fruit.

(13:13):
It is so packed with antioxidants, that bright color. It's
like pomegranates, it's like dragon fruit. I mean, it is
so very nutritious and very good for you. And our
early ancestors relied on it heavily for vitamin C to
prevent scurvy. So, whether you want to say it's invasive

(13:35):
or not, I think it's a pretty plant. It has
beautiful yellow flowers in the spring and early summer, and
it's an edible plant. It's a medicinal plant. It's incredibly useful.
There have been one of the main uses, and we'll
get into some of the more medicinal uses here in
a minute, but one of the main uses of the
cactus is the paths used as a poultice. You've just

(13:58):
basically split them in half and put the open side,
the wet side down on whatever is inflamed, or if
you could be used as a drawing poultice. It's great
for insect bites and staying snake bites. Even I have
spoken with and read several stories of herbalists who were

(14:19):
bitten by copperheads or rattlesnakes who used prickly pear as
a drawing poultice and didn't have tissue damage, survived, obviously,
didn't have to go to the hospital. Had a rough
time because that's a pretty serious venom. But they put
that on there. I don't know exactly how it works.
They say it draws the venom out. I'm not sure

(14:39):
how that works. But it's been used that way for again,
hundreds of not thousands of years. And they say, you
put the open side of that pad down on the
bike and in like fifteen minutes to take a look
at it and it'll be completely black. Put another one
on there. This time it should last fifteen to twenty minutes.
You keep doing that until it stops coming up black.

(15:02):
And as that happens, the swelling's going down, the inflammation's
going down. It's soothing the pain. It's a stringing the tissue,
and supposedly it's doing something to neutralize that venom. All
I know is people swear by it. I don't understand it.
I hope I never have to use it, but it's there.
If I do. In cases like a bee sting or something,

(15:22):
you could spit pole to subplantain. It seems to do
the same thing. It's definitely a stringent. It's definitely soothing,
it's definitely healing. Whether it's pulling the venom out or not,
I don't know, but that's another way you can use.
The Prickly pair of cactus is on stinks, any kind
of swelling, really good for sunburn. The pulp is sort

(15:43):
of like aloe, very good for sunburn, very good for
any kind of burns. You can use it interchangeably with
aloe in that regard. Yeah, it's just really a first
aid plant to have around. And that's why I said
it could save your life, because if you were out
in a remote area and you got bitten by a
poisonous snake, you're in bad trouble, and it's least worth

(16:05):
a try at that point if that's the best thing
you can do, if you can't get to a hospital,
it's at least worth to try. So let's see what
Resources of Southern Fields and Forest tells us about Prickly Pair.
It said that the fruit is edible and the leaves
cut transversely are applied to tumors as a discutechant. That

(16:27):
means it would help reduce well, he actually said tumors.
So again, I don't know quite how that works, but
it's worth a shot. Decoction is mucilaginous and as much
used in Alabama as a demulsion drink in pneumonic and
pleurotic inflammations. Okay, so dimulcon means softening essentially, and this

(16:53):
is actually talking about inflammation of the lung, so it
was taken as a drink for that. It's also very good,
of course, for both diarrhea and constipation. It can be
a laxative in certain doses, but it's also somewhat astringent,
and it can help with diarrhea. Botany in a day,
says Medicinally. The pads are very similar to alvera, and
like alo, a punch of poultice osmodically draws out waste material. Okay,

(17:20):
that makes sense from bruised, burned, or ender tissue while
soothing the tissue with its mucilaginous properties. So it's saying
it's a matter of osmosis. So you know, and I said,
you put the cut side of the pad down on
the snake bite and you look and it's black. It's
apparently pulling, as they said, waste matter or contamination out

(17:41):
of the tissue, which is actually that makes sense. It's
actually very interesting. A similar muco polysaccharide forms a hydrogel
between your body cells. Oh, that makes a lot of sense.
So the juice the pulp of the cactus is more
to the hydrogel between your body cells, which is why

(18:04):
it's able to cross what would otherwise be a fairly
imprevious barrier. That makes a lot of sense. I have
to highly recommend Thomas j Elples bought me in a day.
Always an excellent resource, not just on identifying plants, but
learning how to use them. He says, this gael can
dry out and break and break down after an injury,

(18:25):
especially after sunburn. Yeah, that's why it helps with sunburn.
It's sort of replacing that hydrogel. Your body will absorb
the muclage out of a cactus pad to strengthen your
own muco polysaccharide. Jel wipe a cactus pad over the
burn and you will feel how quickly the mucilage is
absorbed into the skin. Keep rubbing in fresh muclage and

(18:45):
you can recover from many otherwise serious burns. So yeah,
definitely a good one to have on hand. He also
says that prickly pear has a hypoglycemic effect for adult
on site diabetes, so it can actually lower blood sugar.
The effective dose average from four ounces of juice per day.
Refer to Michael Moore's Medicinal Plants of the Desert, South

(19:06):
Desert and Canyon West for more information. You know, I
stayed with Michael Moore, so his stuff was pretty great,
and I think most of it's available for free online
now if you want to check that out. And that's
not Michael Moore of the Fat Communist film director, that's
Michael Moore, the unfortunately de cease may rest in peace.
Fat communist. Terribleist he was, and I think he would

(19:31):
readily admit to that and laugh at my description. Plants
for a Future said that medicinal use of Eastern prickly
pear a poltice of the peeled pads is applied to wounds, sores, etc.
The juice of the fruits is used as a treatment
for wartz. A team made from the pads is used
in the treatment of LNG alments. Yeah. So yeah, that's

(19:52):
exactly what Resources of Southern Fields and Forests was saying
over one hundred years earlier. And yeah, medicinal use of
prickly pair the flowers and stems are anti spasmodic. I
have never used the flowers. They're just so pretty. I'll
have to give them a try. They don't really have
a stem, though, so I'd kind of take that with
a grain of salt. If it is, it's sort of

(20:14):
like a real short based stem, so you'd basically be
using the flower. They're diarrhitic and emollient. Split stems have
been bound around limbs as a first aid measure. Stems Huh.
I wonder if they mean sort of the joints between
the pads. That could be it. Yeah. Maybe the flowers

(20:35):
are astringent and are used to reduce bleeding and treat
problems of the gastro intestinal track, especially diarrhea, colitis, and
irritable bowel syndrome. So that's very interesting. I know they're astringent.
I know the plant I have it. Like I said,
I have used the flowers. Colitis and irritable bowel can
be really difficult to treat. I mean basically, if you

(21:00):
go to a doctor, they're going to want to put
you basically chemotherapy for it. But there are several herbs
that can help. I've used with people who've needed help
with his family members. Essentially Canada flea bang O rigeron
works very well. It's a nice as stringent plant. Cold
sage tea, yarrow cold yarrow tea can help. Golden rod

(21:26):
flowers can help. We think it is anything mullein can
help plantain, but yeah, the flowers of prickly pear cactus
would be yeah, probably quite effective. We'll have to give
that shot. Sometimes the flowers are also used in the
treatment of enlarged prostate gland, so another really good use.

(21:46):
Another reason you should have this plant growing at least
in a flower pot. You could get the little Indian
figs growing in a flower pot. Just be sure to
get a cactus potting soil mixture. Give it as much
sun as pots and dolt over water and should be
good to go. Really, Peterson feel good to Eastern Central

(22:08):
medicinal plants tells US American Indians poultice the peeled pads
on wounds, applied, the juice of it of its fruits
applied the juice of its fruits for wartz drank pad
tea for lung ailments. In folk medicine, it was used
for rheumatism, and the juice used for gravel, kidney stones,
or other urinary gravel. Baked pads were used for gout,

(22:31):
chronic ultcers, and wounds. So I think it's a very
useful plant. It certainly would make my top ten if
I was planting, you know, not just an herb garden,
but one that would double as a wild foods garden,
because as I said, those things are really good. Those
things are really good. You take those pads, get the

(22:53):
spines off of them, roast them up. You can put
them on the broiler. It's even better to put them
on a grill and get i mean just really grill
through on each side, slice them up, take a litt
little bit of marinad skirt, steak or chicken, you know,
whatever you like, shrimp, you know, whatever you like, and
some peppers and onions and tomatoes and roast them up

(23:13):
real well on the grill and chop them up, a
little garlic, you know, get everything nice and chart. That's
what I'm trying to say. You want char your tomato,
You want to char your tomatillos, you use them. Make
sure your onions charred, make sure your garlic's charred. Make
sure your peppers are charred. And you can take those
peppers and tomatoes once they're charred, and just stick them
in a bag and then the skins will slip right

(23:34):
off if you won't, if you care about that, I
usually don't bother and just take that slice it up,
Slice those cactus pads, put them on a flour tortilla
with some good sausa and some hobby Nero hot sauce.
That's what I prefer. You could, Taco brand is my favorite.
If I don't make my own hot sauce, good and hot,

(23:55):
nice cold beer, some sour cream and guacamole, and your
good go. I mean that's tex mex with an authentic
twist that would please even the most discerning palette. I mean,
everybody's gonna be happy with that, and you think about it.
I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've

(24:16):
driven down the road and there's just like this massive
stand of prickly pear cactus just you know, in a
parking lot or in a public right of way, and
nobody's using it for food, which is crazy. I mean,
we have so many Mexican and South American immigrants, I'm
surprised they're not out getting it. But they'll go to
the t end and buy it from the store. I guess,
you know, maybe they've forgotten too how to wild harvest.

(24:39):
And I may have been known once or twice to
pull up in my pickup truck, which is a white
Ford that could easily pass for a state or county vehicle,
and put on an orange vest and go out and
harvest a whole bunch of prickly pear cactus into five

(25:00):
gallon buckets, letting everyone assume that I am there on
official business. No one ever questions me. I mean no,
if you put on that orange vest, they just think, oh,
state employee, you know. And it's not illegal. It's not
like imitating, you know, im person a police officer or something.
You just say, hey, i'm beside of the road, I
don't want to get hit back car, so I put

(25:22):
on an orange vest, you know, or they think you're
part of a road crew or something. No one ever,
that's an eye at that. And it's amazing what people
do take for granted, because there's so many instances where
just putting on a certain hat or a certain jacket
can get people into some actually really sensitive areas where
they could do some damage. So it's not a good thing,

(25:44):
that complacency. But it sure works for me when I
see something that is going to go to waste and
needs to be harvested and is in a good clean spot.
And Prickly Pair really does go into that category because
it grows nice and tall. You don't have to worry
about it being in many locations, I mean, obviously I

(26:04):
wouldn't want and contaminate soil. You want to stake a
steer clear of that because it's going to take up
anything from the soil. But in many areas you've just
got these big stands that are within easy walking access
from the side of the road, and they're on public property,
and there is no reason, in my opinion, why they
should go to waste, because I've seen many of them

(26:26):
just sit there until the fruit's rotten fall off, and
you know, then maybe the animals, you know, the birds
leave the seeds least, so I guess they don't go
totally to waste. But man, that's like, that's like walking
by free food. I mean, yeah, free food and medicine,
And you know that's that's not me. My entire life
kind of revolves around seeing such things and harvesting them

(26:49):
and making use of them, and uh, let's see, do
we have time for one more? Oh? Why not? It's
a short entry Eastern nine bark. This is an interesting one.
It's a physocarpus and it's easily confused with wild hydrangea.
So I want to make sure you know that if
you use nine bark, you need to be very sure

(27:13):
of your plant identification. Do not just rely on a
phone app for this one. You want to use a
field guide. Use a phone app if it helps, but
use a field guide and be absolutely sure of your identification.
Because the hydrangea has different properties. It could be somewhat
dangerous if it was mistaken. Nine barque was popular, I think,

(27:37):
especially on the Cherokee as a medicinal herb, and was
used to some extent in colonial in early American herbal medicine,
but it's really always been considered more of a Native
American remedy. It's called nine bark because the bark's in layers.
By the way, it's part of the way you can
identify it. Plants for a future says A team made

(27:59):
from the inner is laxative and emetic, so it makes
you go. It makes you throw up if you have
too much it is used internally to treat women's complaints.
That's especially how it's been used. It's been used for
a lot of minstrel type issues, also used for ganerrhea, tuberculosis,
and to enhance fertility. It is also used as a

(28:19):
wash on scropulous neck glands that's infected in flamed glands
in the neck. Some cautions advice to deserve is best
used only in the supervision of a qualified practitioner. It
does have some toxicity, so put this in with nandina.
It's one that you might want to look into if
you have some growing on your property, maybe learn how
to use it. But it's not what I would call

(28:41):
beginner's herb. Petersonfield Guide says American Indians use the inner
barktee for female maladies, goneriea, tuberculosis, to enhance fertility, as
an emetic, an laxative warning potentially toxic. So there you
have it. And yeah, I mean nine bark and kind
of belong together on the same show. You know, they

(29:03):
are useful, but they're not commonly used in herbal medicine,
and you're gonna have to do your research on that
and be very sure of your idea. All right, y'all,
have a great week. Enjoy this hot, wingering summer weather.
It'll be over soon enough and we'll be missing the heat.

(29:24):
You know. Don't take anything for granted. Have a good
one and I'll talk to you next time.

Speaker 3 (29:30):
The information in this podcast is not intended to diagnose
or treat any disease or condition. Nothing I say or
write has been evaluated or approved by the FDA.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
I'm not a doctor.

Speaker 3 (29:41):
The US government does not recognize the practice of verbal medicine,
and there is no governing body regulating herbs. Therefore, I'm
really just a guy who says IRBs. I'm not offering
any advice. I won't even claim that anything I write
or say is accurate or true. I can tell you
what Earth has been traditionally used for. I can tell
you my own experience, and if I believe in.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
Herbs help me.

Speaker 3 (30:01):
I cannot, nor would I tell you to to say.
If you use an herb, anyone recommends you are treating yourself,
you take full responsibility for your health. Humans are individuals, and.

Speaker 2 (30:11):
No two are identical.

Speaker 3 (30:12):
What works for me may not work for you. You may
have an allergy of sensitivity and underlying condition that no
one else even shares, and you don't even know about.
Be careful of your health. By continuing to listen to
my podcast or read my blog, you agree to be
responsible for yourself, to your own research, make your own choices,
and not to blame me for anything ever

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.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

The Joe Rogan Experience

All Episodes

Show 250: Heavenly Bamboo, Prickly Pear Cactus and Ninebark

Stuff You Should Know