Florida Betony 

A misrepresented native edible & medicinal herb 

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR 
May 6, 2022 
By Christine Sparks, Permaculture Hobbyist 

Each spring I see people on social media putting up post after post of “what is this weed and how do I kill it” in the various gardening & permaculture groups I’m part of. While some OP’s live in various bordering southern states, and are correct to label the plant in question a weed, others are Florida state residents and don’t know that they’re mad at a wonderful native edible & pollinator friendly plant for daring to disrupt their lawn or man-made garden. I’m not going to make this piece about American’s toxic lawn obsession, because it’s all about the betony’s!

Stachys floridana (STAY-kis flo-ri-DAN-ah) is a species of betony in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It also goes by the following names: Florida Betony, Florida hedgenettle and rattlesnake weed. Florida Betony is a perennial herb, with the above ground portion of the plant growing during the cooler spring and fall seasons, and becoming dormant during our hot summers. It grows from a network of rhizomes with edible tubers. The grub-like looking tuber is several inches long and is segmented in such a way that it resembles the rattle on the tail of a rattlesnake. The tuber can reportedly grow much longer in loose sandy soils.

It has oppositely arranged leaves with pink/purple blooming flowers in clusters of 3 to 6 from the upper leaf axils. The tubular, hairy calyx of sepals has pointed lobes. The two-lipped corolla is white to pink with purple spots or darker lines.

It is a Florida native, but is known throughout the southeast as an invasive/introduced species since the 1940’s, due to shipped topsoil and container plants to other states. Even though this plant produces seeds, it spreads more predominately via vegetative reproduction (it’s rhizome/tubers) much more quickly. Even tiny segments of the rhizome can produce new plants. This makes it vehemently hated by yardists, but also makes it an easy and excellent crop to keep. Although, if you don’t want it spreading, you should treat it like most mint family members and keep them in a contained pot.

Let me repeat this part again, in case it was missed above: IT IS A FLORIDA NATIVE!

Yet, our beautiful Florida Betony has repeatedly been shamed by the University of Florida in various posts, articles and videos as a weed. It was UF|IFAS “Weed of the Week” for the week of November 26, 2019, and they did a YouTube video June 10, 2021, with commentary specific to what kind of herbicides to use on it --how rude!!!

At least the Florida School of Holistic Living didn’t put betony in a corner and crowned our pretty native April 2019’s “Plant of the Month”!

Rather than continuing to slander our native plant as a “common weed”, let’s focus on it as an edible, and abundant, food crop/herb!  After all, its cousin, stachy affinis, AKA crosnes, doesn’t seem to that the bad PR problem that ours does, despite being nearly identical in appearance, taste description, or culinary preparation.  Crosnes, originally from China, got discovered and moved to France where it became famous in the culinary scene, then booked a ticket to continue its fancy restaurant career in New York City. Now the bougiest of betony's is grown and sold up north for around $150 a pound!  Why pay that much when we’ve all got these growing somewhere on our properties or in container pots for free!? 

Harvesting & Cooking

Florida betony should be harvested in the spring, when the tubers and plants are young. While the entire plant is edible, the tubers/roots are the most common edible choice for most. Not to mention they have prebiotic and Tubers should be firm and bright creamy white--once the tubers mature and turn brown, they’re past their edible stage. After giving the roots a good wash, they can be eaten raw, pickled or cooked. Raw; they’re crisp, crunchy and has a sweet immediate taste followed by an earthy radish-like flavor. Cooked, they add a nice mouth feel similar to water chestnuts. I’ve personally not had any pickled ones yet, but many websites and youtubers share their recipes and sing high praise for this little plant. Bat Lady Herbals is a great start, as she shares 5 different ways to prepare and eat this root, as well as a much more in-depth breakdown of its many medicinal uses. The young plants and leaves can also be cooked like greens, but are considered more of a famine food due to its musty taste unless pared up with other greens. Tea can also be made from the leaves and is said to be a remedy for a myriad of maladies including; cold & flu symptoms, headaches, skin & wound care (antimicrobial & astringent properties), digestive aid, as well as anxiety.

There’s also a lesser-known use for Florida betony; a sugar called Stachyose, manufactured by Schuttl et Benth. It’s less sweet than cane sugar and is used as a bulk sweetener. Because of the non-digestible fibers that make the tubers an excellent prebiotic, stachyose is also prebiotic and, according to Schuttl et Benth, can inhibit the growth of bacteria that can cause pneumonia and vaginal infections. What can’t this plant do!?!

At the time of researching and writing this, no one has done a nutritional analysis for the Florida Betony. After calling three different labs qualified to do the analysis and create an FDA approved label, I concluded that my cheerleading for this plant to be better represented isn’t quite worth the $1,250 price tag. However, I DO have the nutritional analysis for the culinarily accepted Crosnes!

While this editorial may not make everyone suddenly love Florida betony, I certainly hope I’ve imparted some knowledge that, should you still want this plant gone; instead of using chemical warfare and harming way more than just one “weed”, perhaps you can just eat it instead? You might even like it!

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamiaceae https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stachys_floridana

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/life/home-garden/2015/05/22/florida-betony-become-invasive-nuisance/27765919/ https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/duvalco/2019/11/26/florida-betony-weed-of-the-week/

https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/news/2021/06/14/whats-that-weed-new-weed-id-video-series-available/

https://www.holisticlivingschool.org/2019/03/14/april-plant-of-the-month-fl-betony/

https://www.holisticlivingschool.org/2014/04/07/floridas-radish-betony/

https://www.eattheweeds.com/florida-betony-150-a-pound/

https://specialtyproduce.com/produce/Crosne_240.php http://www.batladyherbals.com/2020/05/five-ways-to-eat-florida-betony.html http://www.batladyherbals.com/2020/05/florida-betony.html

https://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/Plant.aspx?id=650

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3722405/ Schuttl. ex Benth Stachyose abstract

https://www.bio-starch.com/products/organic-stachyose-powder