African Wildlife & Environment Issue 83

FAUNA, FLORA & WILDLIFE

dysentery, lowering high blood pressure, treating hemorrhoids and external boils. It was grown extensively as a healing food in India for thousands of years, and used in ancient Coptic medicine for swollen joints and feet infections, inflammation and as a skin lotion. More recently it has been cherished by the Italians and French for its health benefits, easy growth and unusual crunchy light flavour which suits most palates. France is a major producer of purslane as a vegetable and salad ingredient. The French also turn it into tasty pickles. Dried, purslane is popular for tea in winter and added to soups and stews for its extraordinary tonic properties in boosting the immune system and fighting inflammation. France also cultivates Purslane for the pharmaceutical industry and research shows that Purslane is one of the few plants with incredibly rich omega-3 fatty acid content. This makes it a very important plant for treating pain, preventing heart attacks and heart disease, for strengthening the immune system and for treating enteritis, mastitis, appendicitis, and high fever. It also clears toxins and acts as a diuretic. A major benefit of raw fresh purslane is that it's effective against bacterial infections, which is proving valuable in the face of our overuse of antibiotics. Just two Purslane sprigs in a daily green salad can help to lower high blood pressure; no salt should be added. Used externally, Purslane juice and poultices made from the pulped plant are used to treat eczema and bring boils to a head, to treat insect bites and bee stings. (PORTULACA OLERACEA) From its popularity overseas, one would imagine that ‘Purslane’ would be a large overbearing succulent plant growing rampantly, but it is quite the opposite, with a fascinating history and medicinal value. It is foragers dream and easy to find in the veld. As a cosmopolitan weed, it is a survivor in most environments and especially in South Africa. FORAGING FROM THE VELD – PURSLANE

This small bright green, spoon-leafed, succulent, flat-growing weed has been used for thousands of years as a nutritious additive in the diet as it grows easily everywhere all through summer and autumn months. It does not like the cold but flourishes in full sun, grows in any type of soil and easily reseeds itself.You will find it growing in odd places along the roadsides, in your garden and in the veld, and it is possibly one of the most prolific, easy growing weeds along with the ‘Blackjack/. Who would imagine such an irritating weed would be so useful, nutritious and quite unusually delicious? All one needs to do is to gather the flat red dish-like bracts together without crushing the leaves and twist the plant out of the ground. It has a main shallow hairy taproot which makes it easy to harvest. Much used and loved over the centuries, Purslane has proven its medicinal properties throughout the world. It was well known to the ancient Egyptians, who used it for treating

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