| Neutral | Monocromatico | On Oct 4, 2003, Monocromatico from Rio de Janeiro
Brazil (Zone 11) wrote:This plant, known in Brazil as caruru (along with several other unrelated species), comes from eastern South America. Itīs cultivated specially in northeastern Brazil, where the leaves are prepared and eaten in several ways.
This is a short herb, reaching around 15-50cm tall depending on the local conditions, with fleshy leaves. Flowers are pink arranged on a long inflorescence, usually with only a few flowers. Seed heads are easily formed, turning yellow before ripen. At this point the heads should be collected, and the several small seeds inside must be sown as soon as possible. You can also obtain new plants from simple stem cuttings.
The leaves can be cooked or eaten fresh with salad. I never tried it myself, but they say it doesnīt have a remarkable taste. In the northeastern Brazil, this is one of the only plants that can survive the hard semi-desertic climate, so itīs always cultivated as one of the few sources of food there.
It needs full sun, but will be fine even under some shade. It can survive on both organic soils and sandy ones, even on white sand. Regular watering is recomended, specially if your are gonna try it on sand - organic soil has already a natural moisture, so you donīt need to water it so much. It only requires lots of heat all the year.
By these variable characteristics, plus the high germination rate of the seeds, this plant can become invasive. |
