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The New Crops listserver is a mail system managed by the new crops group at Purdue University and specifically dedicated to the subject of new crops. The purpose of a listserver is to create a vehicle for rapid and easy communication over the Internet via Email. All subscribers to the system can communicate regularly with each other very cheaply. Subscribers write in and ask questions, make announcements and raise issues for discussion. Each subscriber receives this information and can file it, reply to the specific individual or to all subscribers or delete it.
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New Crops and Weeds
The following exchanges occurred on New Crops LISTSERV during a 24 hour period last February. The discussion was prompted by an announcement of an amaranth meeting. The following demonstrates the potential value of this form of communication.
The editors gratefully acknowledge all the original contributors who could be contacted for their cooperation in making this information available.
To the Purdue New Crops LISTSERV
From Mike Laidlaw
Email: mikelaid@comcirc.com.au
24 February 1998 7.29pm
Re: Amaranth meeting 1998
Excuse my ignorance, but what is amaranth?
Here in Australia I know of a weed by that name but no crop.
To the Purdue New Crops LISTSERV
From Klaus Wiegand
LUFA Speyer, Institute for Agricultural Analytics & Research
67346 Speyer, Obere Langgasse 40 Germany
Department of Seed science, Microscope Analysis and Plant Pathology
Email: Wiegand@LUFA-SP.mhs.compuserve.com
25 February 1998 7.19am
What is a 'weed' in one country, might very well be a valuable crop in another.
The genus of your native weed surely is the same (on the species I'm not quite sure). Not very far from here in Hungary you can find thousands of acres cultivated with Amaranthus retroflexus for bread-making.
Almost the same effect with Plantago lanceolata (buckhorn plantain). Farmers in Germany will cry 'fire', while their colleagues 1000 miles away in Portugal sell it for a good price for the purpose of milling and bread-making.
That's why our seed certification department some time ago stopped differentiating between crop and weed. On the international ISTA certificates you will only find the term 'other seeds'. It's up to the specific country, where the buyer resides, to decide if it is seen as crop or weed.
To the Purdue New Crops LISTSERV
From Anne Bertinuson
Email: abertinuson@morrill.reeusda.gov
25 February 1998 8.44am
Yes, one person's weed is another's food...
When I lived in Botswana, I noted that there seemed to be less consumption of wild-gathered plant foods than I had expected. Perhaps because the Botswana, who had essentially been pastoralists for most of their history, only settled down in current Botswana a couple of hundred years ago. One day a Ugandan colleague came to work and said he had been astonished to find his neighbor cutting a large area of amaranth to clear land, with no intention of eating it. My colleague grabbed large amounts to bring home, but his neighbor was disgusted at the thought of eating 'something that grew on garbage dumps'.
So, Mike, go out and pick some of that weed and steam up the leaves. You might like it. Another good wild green is lamb's quarters, Chenopodium
album. My father has taken to saving the seeds to plant in the garden - my mother is not convinced of the necessity of this!
To the Purdue New Crops LISTSERV
From George 'The Grower' Mannoe
Email: nursery@iaw.on.ca
25 February 1998 10.13am
Well, even black nightshade is an edible leafy vegetable, cooked. But try breaking preconceived (cultural) notions. How interesting this topic indeed may be. Imagine my amazement when I first saw marihuana growing in a ditch in New Delhi.
To the Purdue New Crops LISTSERV
From Connie Falk
Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics and Business
New Mexico State University
Email: cfalk@nmsu.edu
25 February 1998 10.57am
I only wish Purslane, which is edible, would be widely adopted in salads. It is an invasive weed here...but could be food.
To the Purdue New Crops LISTSERV
From Martha Wells
Email: flylo@txcyber.com
25 February 1998 11.18am
We have a very determined weed here we call 'pigweed'. It has a bright thick red stalk, and about a zillion stickers all over it. It seeds out rampantly and is pretty hard to get rid of. When I read about amaranth, I thought, here is pigweed's nicer cousin!
Occasionally, I'll strip some of the seeds and pop them in the microwave like popcorn for the birds. My goats will eat pigweed when it's small, but after it gets large, they won't touch it. We also have a strain that is green stemmed, no stickers, otherwise identical, but nothing will eat it at all at any stage.
I know there are several types of amaranth, a leaf variety for greens and one used for the seeds in cereal and bread making. I'd sure like to know more about the connection between my nemesis weed, pigweed and amaranth.
(If I plant amaranth, will my seeds hybridize?)
[...my statement is just as true today (19 July 1998 in correspondence with the editors) as it was earlier this spring. However, note that in our Texas drought situation right now, the grasshoppers are devouring the pigweed before anything else. And, it's not making like it usually does. I think it's a very shallow rooted plant and in extreme conditions, just will not thrive.]
To the Purdue New Crops LISTSERV
From Karen Shelton
Web Page: http://edge.net/~nature
Email: nature@edge.het
25 February 1998 11.31am
Supposedly, early pigweed leaves make good pot greens, as do goose-foot leaves.
25 February 1998 1.40pm
Another delicious wild plant ( which is in season now here in Tennessee) is chickweed. Try it raw in salads like alfalfa sprouts or cooked like spinach. It's hard to believe what some folks call weeds. Even my fussy daughter liked it! And of course it is also dandelion leaf season, one of the most nutritious vegetables we have. Of course if you use chemicals on your lawn, you best look elsewhere for edible wild plants.
There are links to edible plant sites on my web site links page. Why ignore all this free food? I think we have a mindset that weeds can't taste good. Well if one had ever sucked honey from a red clover blossom, one would know better. I tasted a tiny wild onion this morning and was very surprised to find it was quite tasty, like the little green onions you get at the store. I suspect, however, that large ones would have a taste too strong for most folks.
Alternative Nature Herbal Web Site: http://www.altnature.com/
Ginseng Cooperative Group Web Site: http://www.altnature.com/ginseng/home.htm
Home Page: http://edge.net/~nature
To the Purdue New Crops LISTSERV
From Greg Massa
Email: eatrice@concentric.net
25 February 1998 1.27pm
The problem with common names of organisms is that they change from place to place, but here in California, 'pigweed' is most likely Chenopodium album, in the family Chenopodiaceae. Amaranth is in the genus Amaranthus, in the family Amaranthaceae. The two families are somewhat related (same taxonomic order), but they probably will not hybridize.
To the Purdue New Crops LISTSERV
From Eligio Bruzzese
Email: E.Bruzzese@nre.vic.gov.au
25 March 1998 8.40am
I am a weed scientist working for the State of Victoria, Australia. An emerging issue is the introduction into Australia of weedy species which are mistaken by some migrant communities for closely related vegetable species which they traditionally use in their native country.
Current issues are:
Does anyone have information on similar introductions/substitutions? Any information will assist us to predict the potential introduction of new weeds.
Eligio Bruzzese , Acting Director
Keith Turnbull, Research Institute for Integrated Pest Management
Agriculture Victoria
Department of Natural Resources and Environment
PO Box 48
Frankston Vic 3199 Australia
Telephone: 03 9785 0106
Facsimile: 03 9785 2007
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Any claims made by authors in the Australian New Crops Newsletter are presented by the Editors in good faith. Readers would be wise to critically examine the circumstances associated with any claims to determine the applicability of such claims to their specific set of circumstances. This material can be reproduced, with the provision that the source and the author (or editors, if applicable) are acknowledged and the use is for information or educational purposes. Contact with the original author is probably wise since the material may require updating or amendment if used in other publications. Material sourced from the Australian New Crops Newsletter cannot be used out of context or for commercial purposes not related to its original purpose in the newsletter
Contact: Dr Rob Fletcher, School of Land and Food, The University of Queensland Gatton College, 4345; Telephone: 07 5460 1311 or 07 5460 1301; Facsimile: 07 5460 1112; International facsimile: 61 7 5460 1112; Email:
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