From a blog named The Chaterlaine's Keys as recommended by Southernrata
"16. Sumac. No, not the poison stuff, but yes, I mean the weedy tree that grows along the roadsides here. That weedy tree, you may not realize, has many virtues. Besides its flaming fall color and value for wildlife habitat and food, sumac makes a lovely beverage. If you harvest the red fruits in July or August and soak them, you’ll get a lemony tasting beverage, as high in vitamin C as lemonjuice. Since sumac grows essentially over the entire US area that won’t support lemons, this is enormously valuable. You can can freeze or can sumac lemonade for seasoning and drinking all year round. Poison sumac has white or greenish white berries, so they are easy to tell apart. Sumac’s other value is as a restorative to damaged soil – densely planted sumac returns bare sand to fertility fairly quickly, as a University of Tennesee study shows."
I've been exploring the possibilities for growing citrus down south and while I've seen some successes, even an orangery that I've written up for the NZ Gardener (December issue), these sumach sound very interesting.
I don't know yet whether they are available here, but will soon.
Monday, October 18, 2010
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5 comments:
Hi Robert,
I've been looking at Sumac too. It's grown as an ornamental (small tree) in Central and I've seen it in Arrowtown too. My mum says they had one at the back door when she was growing up in Eastern Southland. I'm not sure of the species yet though - am waiting for leaves and flowers to do a proper ID. Would love to know what you find out.
cheers,
lus
Hi wildcrafty!
What a marvelous blog you have! Now I've got some reading ahead of me and I'm really looking forward to it!
I'm sure that sumac will grow well down here (what doesn't? Rice I suppose, and of course oranges! :-)
I've got a range of dogwoods growing strongly in my forestgarden and they will doubtless prove to have their uses - I'll do some research about those at the same time. Do you know the Geulder rose? It has berries/fruits that might interest you.
Once I've done some reading on your blog perhaps we'll have a lot to share.
Thanks Robert :-) I've heard about your forest garden! I don't know the Geulder Rose, but there is another viburnum that is common in gardens and I've been trying to find out if it's also medicinal. So many plants to discover...
I have seeds if you want them.
The fruits are reputedly edible, certainly attractive in a glowing, juicy red sort of way.
Is it only medicinal plants that interest you?
Any plant that teaches us how to live sanely on the planet ;-) But yes mostly medicinal, and edibles. I don't have my own garden at the moment though so am a bit limited in what I can take. thanks for the offer.
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