Plant ID

[osage outlaw]

Does anybody know what this thing is?

[RidgeRunner]

Jach in the pulpit...  I Think...

David

[YosemiteBen]

is it a viny thing? shrubby thing> or from singular stems on the ground? kind of looks like a honey suckle type thing.

[upthecreek]

My Great Grandfather called them Indain Turnips. The root/tuber will burn your tongue off. May be harmful or poisonous so don't try it just because I did.

[Pat B]

Jack in the pulpit like RR said.

[osage outlaw]

Thanks for the ID.  It really stuck out in the dry and crispy underbrush.  Is it good for anything beside setting your mouth on fire?  I wonder if you could make red dye from it?

[Eric Krewson]

I ran into a similar plant last year on the place I hunt. At first I thought it was ginsing but what I found turned out to be an indian turnip. The plant i found had a lot more leaves on the stalk. The leaves where the same shape and size as a ginsing plant but didn't  come out of a central hub like ginsing.

[mullet]

Can someone post a good picture of what Ginsing looks like? I haven't found one in any book I have that is a good representation. They say it grows in Central Fl. but I wouldn't know what I was looking for.

[Hillbilly]

Eddie, ginseng has never been verified growing anywhere in FL as far as I can tell. It grows in the mountains of Georgia, with a few scattered records from the piedmont. In SC, it's only recorded from the mountians along the NC line. Even here in NC, it pretty much just grows in the mountains, mostly on shady, cool, north-facing slopes. I've dug ginseng most of my life, and the only place I've personally ever seen it outside the mountains was in central TN.

[Pat B]

There is a bunch at Twin Oaks.

[Hillbilly]

Yep, that's central TN.

[Eric Krewson]

Ginsing

[osage outlaw]

We are supposed to have quite a bit of it around here.  I've never seen it, but I've never really looked for it either.  Maybe I should.  How much is it worth?

[turtle]

Indian turnip. I used to dig ginseng here in ohio but now your not allowed to on public land and i dont have anywhere else to dig it.

[turtle]

When i was around 7 or 8 years old there was a guy that told my father that there wasnt anything to hot for him to eat. So dad brought him an indian turnip and told him to cut it in half and just touch it to the tip of his tongue. Instead the guy popped half into his mouth, chewed it up and swallowed it. An hour later they took him to the emergency room with badly blistered mouth and throat. He inded up halving to drink soup through a straw for over a week before he could chew and swallow solid food.