Michael raises a good point. Most of the food available in the wild
for opportunistic browsing by a hiker is not too worthwhile nutritionally.
Mequite beans, for example, are very fibrous with just a hint of sugar
taste. All you can do is suck on them for the flavour. When you spit stuff
out later, you lose a lot of water. Unless you get lucky and something is
fruiting and hasn't already been eaten by the critters (like I did that
hike with zillions of Jojoba beans), wild foraging is pretty ineffectual.
(Hunter-gatherers spend a long day gathering!) If you really want to make
worthwhile food in the desert, you have to dig tubers and root masses and
go through the dreadful steps of extracting the useful starch. I'll just
eat my candy-bar and chomp on the occasional leaf or canyon grape for fun.
>same... The "traditional" walkers mix around here is called "Scroggin" and
Why is it that Australian terms for thing always sound kind of goofy and
playful? Scroggin?! Here in the US we use the infinitely more sensible
term "Gorp." :) The mix sounds the same.
Anyone out there with mature _S.rubra jonesii_ or (even better) the
anthocyanin-free form of that plant? I have a hybrid between _S.r.jonesii_
and _S.psittacina_, where both parents were anthocyanin-free. The
hybrid is a nutty plant. It is constantly forming new growth-crowns from
the rhizome, and the plant has developed into a tangled mass of pitchers.
I've never seen anything like it. The _S.r.jonesii_ I have or have seen
are not like this. My anthocyanin-free specimens of _S.r.jonesii_ and
_S. psittacina_ are just seedlings---I wonder if mature specimens of either
plant show this trait...
>I'm interested to see the Sarracenia seed discussion. The two lots I
>sowed over the past few years were frozen in the ice-cube compartment
>of the 'fridge for a few weeks, following instructions from Chiltern
>Seeds which said EITHER freeze or just keep cool for a while. Both
I'm interested to hear that the frozen seeds survived the experience.
But really, for these seeds use their place of origin as a guide.
Most _Sarracenia_ come from places that rarely suffer more than a hard
frost. So don't expose their seeds to much more than a good cold cycle.
Northern plants, like _S.purpurea purpurea_ could stand a longer and more
vigorous cold treatment.
Pekka---You seek _U.sandersonii_? My plants have never produced seed.
Do you live in the US?
BAMR