Pineapple weed tea

[rwc1969]

Mmm Mmm! Nuff said! :chef:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAYV4T6flqQ

and how I typically go about identifying wild plants...

http://youtu.be/lolbCoCx6YY

I rarely use keys for plant identification and only use technical terms when researching or explaining key features.

[your_comforting_company]

I have not been able to find pineapple weed yet. I'd like to try this tea.

When I run across a mystery plant, I first try to put it in a family, and short of that, I'll use keys. Technical terms can be confusing and really aren't so important unless you are explaining the plant to someone else. Usually if you're explaining it, they don't know the terminology anyway.

[rwc1969]

Being green all over, small, and lacking showy flowers it can be a hard plant to spot. I must have walked over it a hundred times before finally realizing it was right their under my nose.

On Identification:

If I can fit it into a family then it becomes much easier to simply google that family and narrow it down from there. Most popular wild plants will be at the top of the google list and comparing images/ features becomes pretty easy from there. In the case of this plant that might not be the case as Aster family makes up a huge amount of plants, many which are popular ornamentals. But, the strong smell and lack of flower "petals" is a trait that not many plants share, the "scarious" or somewhat transparent bracts narrows it down even further.

One could google petalless flower and likely come up with the answer without ever referring to a book.

For example:

I googled petalless flowers and came up with a bunch of irrelavent stuff that would have required a great deal of sifting through to find the answer.

I then googled petalless flowers with strong aroma and came up with a bunch of non-descriptive links, again, lots of sifting.

Then I googled the same in Google images and the fifth picture was in fact pineapple weed and the link took me to a page describing some aspect of the plant.

http://www.google.com/search?q=petalless+flower+with+strong+aroma+images&hl=en&biw=1280&bih=715&prmd=ivnsb&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=7jckTo-pG8TmsQKhjqGgAw&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ

The only question now would be are the descriptions accurate enough for me to put the plant in my mouth? Are the sources of those images/ descriptions trustowrthy or half-baked?

I found the identity of Japanese knotweed similarly by googling bamboo impostor or something along those lines.

As long as you are very observant in plant features, can manipulate search engines, and winnow out the chaff, many ID's can be found by Googling.

BUT, I always either start with or go back to the books once an ID is apparently found. Then, I refer to the technical terms which describe leaf, stem, seed, root, and flower structure. And, I then look to finding possible impostors or side-effects that could cause problems for me.

By referring to 3-5 books I usually feel quite confident in my ID, whereas it may take referring to 30-50 different websites to get the same level of confidence.

The real benefit of doing my own research, using books or other factual sources, is that in the process of doing so I typically identify or become aware of 3 or more other closely or not so closely related plants. That speeds up the process dramatically and gives me a much broader view of the subject. Having a broad view can help determining where certain plants live and such, and what possible uses they share, which makes finding them in quantity and using them much easier in the long run.

For example:

I found when researching this plant that it belongs to the Chamomile tribe as Tom Elpel puts it, and then I also found out that at least two of the plants in that tribe are reported to have insect repelling properties, and one plant in that tribe is sitting on my shelf, was bought at the store, and is a great herb used in cooking. I also found that they have potential medicinal qualities that I wasn't aware of, one of which seems to be true.

I find many times that the ones I was never aware of before the search began, are as good or better than the original plant I was searching for. Plus, I find out lots about potential uses that I wasn't awre of before. And to me, multiple uses is important.

Researching plants on my own opens up a lot of doors that I would have never knew existed if I simply were to have asked someone "is this edible?" and they responded with utmost confidence, "yes it is!"

[woodsnwater]

Never explored this too much! This is fantastic info, thanks to you all!

[rwc1969]

It makes a great tea, I'm hooked on the stuff.

[Rick]

RWC - For some reason I missed post 3. Excellent job!!! That's a great explanation. I had to give you some rep for that.

[rwc1969]

Thanks Rick!

[wareagle69]

it is great for tea..also bugs and the wife loves it in her bath, as any chamomile is good for aroma therapy, so far i have not seen any other plant that looks anywhere near like this one and grows very abundantly in my a/o one of the first plants i think i learned back in the day,
great info as always rwc

[rwc1969]

Thanks, and I agree, I've not found anything that looks like it either, should be a good plant for a beginner I would think and a nice intro to the Aster family of plants.

Good to hear from you WE.