I’ve heard it said that everything in Texas bites, stings,
or sticks. Now we all know that Texas is
full of lovely flowers and can be home to many varieties of our favorite
vegetables. That being said however,
Horse Nettle lives up to the old Texas folklore.
Here is a picture of one of the plants in our garden:
I wanted to show the flowers and fruit, but the flowers are
a week or two off and they won’t have ripe fruit for a month or two. Here is a link to some good photos to help
you recognize it easier:
Horse Nettle (Solanum carolinense) is found in the eastern part of the U.S. and
as far west as West Texas. Our garden
is full of them and they are full of thorns!
The stems and leaves both play host to some nasty, rather large ones (thorns
that is). I won’t go near them without
gloves. The root system boasts a long
tap root, making it hard to pull out and, also puts out rhizomes to help spread
the plant far and wide. It is a member
of the nightshade family and like a lot of nightshades, it is poisonous. The root, leaves, flowers and fruit all
contain an alkaline that can cause it to be potentially fatal. Don’t be fooled by the lovely tomato like
fruit it bears – it can be dangerous stuff.
That being said,
the flowers do attract bees and some moths and a few birds and small rodents
are known to eat the fruit. In the past, it was used by some American Indians as as a sedative and antispasmodic, and although it
isn’t considered by most people today to have any value medicinally, there are
some herbalists that still use it. Here
is an informative page that claims horse nettle can be used in the treatment of
epilepsy, asthma, bronchitis and other convulsive disorders.
I also read an article that claims the leaf can be applied
directly to the skin to treat poison ivy.
I would think you’d have to de-thorn it first!
Medicinal uses or not, for now I do my best to keep the
horse nettle out of our garden. Whether
you choose to cultivate it or kill it, be careful!
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