Egyptian Tree Onion - Walking Onion - Multiplying Onion Allium x proliferum bulbs

 

Egyptian Tree Onion - Egyptian Walking Onion - Topset Onion  (Allium x proliferum) is a very hardy perennial multiplying onion that will flourish from Canada to Florida (this plant is not from Egypt). The onion multiplies by an expanding clump and by topsets, which are baby onions that form at the top of the plant once per year. Even the topsets make their own topsets. When the topsets become heavy enough, they fall over to the ground and can eventually take root and make clumps of new plants, hence the name "walking onion". These onions multiply so prolifically that you generally need to plant only once. When topsets form, replant those to multiply your crop. Egyptian onion is not a sweet or mild onion but can range from mildly hot to fairly hot. Enjoy fresh onions and green onions year-round.

Egyptian onions are available at select times of the year. Inquire by email for availability information.

More photos...(click to enlarge)

One small bulbil turns into a large clump in less than 6 months

Topsets that form at the top of the leaves. These topsets even make their own topsets, hence the name "tree onion".

Wild Garlic/Wild Onion (Allium drummondii) bulbs

This is a good tasting wild onion that multiplies into clumps and topsets, providing continuous fresh bulbs and leaves like chives. Leaves go dormant in summer and regrow at the first hint of cooler fall weather. Returns every fall even after a long, hot summer with little or no rain. This is one of two wild onions in this area, the other being Allium canadense, which has almost identical growth habits. Very tasty in eggs and other dishes and may be pickled. An American native plant.

30 bulbs $19.99 (price includes U.S. Priority Mail shipping)

More photos...(click to enlarge)

Western Soapberry Sapindus saponaria var. drummondii seeds

Western Soapberry is native to Texas and other states. Very drought tolerant. Excellent choice for xeriscaping.

30 Seeds $8.99 (price includes U.S. shipping)

More photos...(click to enlarge)

American Pokeweed Phytolacca americana seeds

American Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) is a large herbaceous perennial plant growing up to 10 feet (3 meters) in height native to eastern North America. It is also known as American nightshade, cancer jalap, coakum, garget, inkberry, pigeon berry, pocan bush, poke root, pokeweed, poke salad, poke salet, redweed, scoke, red ink plant and chui xu shang lu (in Chinese medicine). Parts of this plant are highly toxic to livestock and humans, and it is considered a major pest by farmers. Nonetheless, some parts can be used as food, medicine or poison. The tender young leaves are commonly cooked as greens by boiling twice.

The plant has a large white taproot, green or red stems, and large, simple leaves. White flowers are followed by purple to almost black berries, which are a good food source for songbirds such as Northern Cardinal, Brown Thrasher, and Northern Mockingbird.

Habitat and Range

Broadly distributed in fields and waste places, and usually found in edge habitats. The seeds do not require stratification and are dispersed by berry-feeding birds. Adapted to coarse or fine soils with moderate moisture, high calcium tolerance but low salinity tolerance, pH tolerance from 4.7-8. Grows well in sun or shade and readily survives fire due to its ability to resprout from the roots. In recent years the plant appears to have increased in populated places. Found in most of the United States except the Mountain states, Alaska and Hawaii.

Known constituents

Triterpene saponins: Phytolaccoside A,B,C,D,E,F,G (esculentoside E), phytolaccagenin, jaligonic acid, esculentic acid, 3-oxo-30-carbomethoxy-23-norolean-12-en-28-oic acid, phytolaccagenic acid, oleanolic acid.

Tripertine alcohols: alpha spinasterol, alpha spinasteryl-beta-D-glucoside, 6 palmityl-delta7-stigmasterol-delta-D-glucoside, 6 palmytityl-alpha-spinasteryl-6-D-glucoside.

Other: phytolaccatoxin, canthomicrol, astragalin, protein PAP-R, mitogen (a series of glycoproteins), caryophyllene, lectins, tannin, starch.

Nutritional Information per 100 grams dry weight of shoots:

• Protein: 31g; Fat: 4.8g; Carbohydrate: 44g; Fibre: 0g; Ash: 20.2g;
• Minerals - Calcium: 631 mg; Phosphorus: 524 mg; Iron: 20.2 mg; Magnesium: 0 mg; Sodium: 0 mg; Potassium: 0 mg; Zinc: 0 mg;
• Vitamins - A: 62 mg; Thiamine (B₁): 0.95 mg; Riboflavin (B₂): 3.93 mg; Niacin: 14.3 mg; B₆: 0 mg; C: 1619 mg.

Standardization: Phytolacca is not generally standardized since it is not marketed to public and various properties are being considered for standardization for different uses. For example Phytolaccoside A,B, C et al. from leaves are being considered for antiviral use and Pokeweed antiviral protein, with subtypes taken from leaves in different seasons for AIDS. Oleanolic acid would be the constituent of choice for standardizing for the purposes of cancer since it is present in an ethanol root extract and has significant anticancer properties, for several types of carcinoma as well as leukemia.

Uses

Traditional medicinal uses

Historically used for syphilis, diphtheria, conjunctivitis, cancer, adenitis and emesis or as a purgative. Used topically for scabies. Heroic and toxic class herb which requires professional training.

Physiologically, phytolacca acts upon the skin, the glandular structures, especially those of the buccal cavity, throat, sexual system, and very markedly upon the mammary glands. It further acts upon the fibrous and serous tissues, and mucous membranes of the digestive and urinary tracts. Phytolacca is alterative, anodyne, anti-inflammatory,antiviral, anti-cancer, expectorant, emetic, cathartic, narcotic, hypnotic,insecticide and purgative.

Tincture of the Root: Alterative, for lymphatic disorders including breast lumps and skin conditions (especially when accompanied by a poultice on the lesions.) Also for arthritis, rheumatism, conjunctivitis, tonsillitis, infectious disease, edema, and cancer.

Root poultice: the root roasted in ashes and mashed is used as a poultice for breast abscesses. Also used for rheumatic pains, and swellings.

Root wash: used for sprains or swellings.

Root infused oil: The freshly dried root can be steeped in oil for breast abscesses and is often used in cancer protocols.

Berries: eaten without biting into the toxic seeds for arthritis. One is taken the first day, two the second, up to 7 and back down to one. The berries can also be soaked in water and the water drunk for rheumatism and arthritis. Juice has been topically applied for cancer, hemorrhoids and tremors.

Leaves: Cathartic and purgative.

Ash from plant: Potassium rich, used in cancer salves.

Anti-cancer: The anticancer effects appear to work primarily based upon anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory properties, along with immune stimulant functions. Additional support for fighting cancer may come from antiplasmodial or cytotoxic fractions of the phytolacca toxin. And, although it has not been confirmed as a cause or factor of cancers, the antimicrobial, antiviral and antithelmetic properties of certain constituents might also play a part in anticancer activity. Further there are aromatase inhibitors and antioxidant properties that may affect cancer. Anti-cancer, antileukemic or anti-tumor constituents include: ascorbic acid, astragalin, beta carotene, caryophylline, isoquercitin, oleanolic acid, riboflavin, tannin and thiamine. Of the constituents known to fight cancer, oleanolic acid appears to be the most significant with its anticarcinomic; anticomplement, antihepatotoxic; antiinflammatory, antileukemic; antileukotriene, antinephritic, antioxidant, antiperoxidant , antiPGE2, antiplasmodial, antisarcomic; antiseptic, antiTGFbeta, antitumor (Breast, Colon, Kidney, Lung, Pancreas); antiviral, aromataseinhibitor; cancer-preventive; hepatoprotective; immunomodulator;leucocytogenic; NF-κB-Inhibitor; phagocytotic; and prostaglandin-synthesisinhibitor properties.

Anti-inflammatory constituents include saponins in poke root and triterpenes in the berries: alpha spinasterol, ascorbic acid, calcium oxalate, caryophylline, isoquercitin, jialigonic acid, and oleanolic acid.

Immune stimulant constituents include astragalin, ascorbic acid, beta carotene, phosphorus and oleanolic acid.

Antiviral: PAP, oleanolic acid, ascorbic acid, tannin, mitogen.

In addition: Betanin and oleanolic acid are antiperoxidative and the vitamins plus caryophylline and oleanolic acid are antioxidant. Astragalin, isoquercitin and caryophylline are aldose-reductase-inhibitors.

Modern pharmacological research

Anti-AIDS: Pokeweed antiviral protein (a Single Chain Ribosome Inactivating Protein or SCRIP) is being considered as a potent inhibitor of human immunodeficiency for AIDS There are also well-known three different pokeweed antiviral protein (PAP)isoforms from leaves of Phytolacca americana (PAP-I from spring leaves, PAPII from early summer leaves, and PAP-III from late summer leaves) that cause concentration-dependent depurination of genomic HIV-1 RNA.

Food uses

Although the seeds are highly toxic, the berries are often cooked into a jelly or pie, and seeds are strained out or pass through unless bitten. Cooking is believed to inactivate toxins in the berries by some and others attribute toxicity to the seeds within the berries. The leaves of young plants are sometimes collected as a spring green potherb and eaten after repeated blanchings. Shoots are also blanched with several changes of water and eaten as a substitute for asparagus. They become cathartic as they advance to maturity. The cooked greens are sold commercially in the South, but any food use of the plant is controversial because of toxins in the plant.

Toxicity

Pokeweed poisonings were common in eastern North America during the 19th century, especially from the use of tinctures as antirheumatic preparations and from ingestion of berries and roots that were mistaken for parsnip, Jerusalem artichoke, or horseradish. Deaths are currently uncommon, although there are cases of emesis and catharsis, but at least one death of a child who consumed crushed seeds in a juice has occurred.

The toxic components of the plant are saponins based on the triterepene genins phytolaccagenin, jaligonic acid, phytolaccagenic acid (phytolaccinic acid), esculentic acid, and pokeberrygenin. These include phytolaccosides A, B, D, E, and G, and phytolaccasaponins B, E, and G. Phytolaccigenin causes hemagglutination.

Other uses

A patent has been filed to use poke toxins to control zebra mussels.

40 Seeds $8.99 (price includes U.S. shipping)

More photos...(click to enlarge)

Osage Orange - Bois d'arc (Maclura pomifera) seeds

Osage-orange, Horse-apple, Bois D'Arc, or Bodark (Maclura pomifera) is a small deciduous tree or large shrub, typically growing to 8–15 metres (26–49 ft) tall. It is dioeceous, with male and female flowers on different plants. The fruit, a multiple fruit, is roughly spherical, but bumpy, and 7–15 cm in diameter, and it is filled with a sticky white latex sap. In fall, its color turns a bright yellow-green and it has a faint odor similar to that of oranges. It is not closely related to the citrus fruit called an orange: Maclura belongs to the mulberry family, Moraceae, while oranges belong to the family Rutaceae.

Osage-orange occurred historically in the Red River drainage of Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas and in the Blackland Prairies, Post Oak Savannas, and Chisos Mountains of Texas. It has been widely naturalized in the United States and Ontario, as well as being occasionally planted.

The fruit has a pleasant and mild odor, but is inedible for the most part. Although it is not strongly poisonous, eating it may cause vomiting. However, the seeds of the fruit are edible. The fruit is sometimes torn apart by squirrels to get at the seeds, but few other native animals make use of it as a food source. This is unusual, as most large fleshy fruit serves the function of seed dispersal by means of its consumption by large animals. One recent hypothesis is that the Osage-orange fruit was eaten by a giant ground sloth that became extinct shortly after the first human settlement of North America. Other extinct Pleistocene megafauna, such as the mammoth, mastodon and gomphothere, may have fed on the fruit and aided in seed dispersal. An equine species that went extinct at the same time also has been suggested as the plant's original dispersal agent because modern horses and other livestock will sometimes eat the fruit.

Cultivation

It is native to a deep and fertile soil but it has great powers of adaptation and is hardy over most of the contiguous United States, where it is extensively used as a hedge plant. It needs severe pruning to keep it in bounds and the shoots of a single year will grow 3–6 feet (0.91–1.8 m) long. A neglected hedge will soon become fruit-bearing. It is remarkably free from insect enemies and fungal diseases. A thornless male cultivar of the species exists and is vegetatively reproduced for ornamental use.

Uses

The Osage-orange is commonly used as a tree row windbreak in prairie states, which gives it one of its colloquial names, "hedge apple". It was one of the primary trees used in President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "Great Plains Shelterbelt" WPA project, which was launched in 1934 as an ambitious plan to modify weather and prevent soil erosion in the Great Plains states, and by 1942 resulted in the planting of 30,233 shelterbelts containing 220 million trees that stretched for 18,600 miles (29,900 km). The sharp-thorned trees were also planted as cattle-deterring hedges before the introduction of barbed wire and afterward became an important source of fence posts.

The heavy, close-grained yellow-orange wood is very dense and is prized for tool handles, treenails, fence posts, electrical insulators, and other applications requiring a strong dimensionally stable wood that withstands rot. Straight-grained osage timber (most is knotty and twisted) makes very good bows. In Arkansas, in the early 19th century, a good Osage bow was worth a horse and a blanket. Additionally, a yellow-orange dye can be extracted from the wood, which can be used as a substitute for fustic and aniline dyes. When dried, the wood has the highest BTU content of any wood, and burns long and hot.

Today, the fruit is sometimes used to deter spiders, cockroaches, boxelder bugs, crickets, fleas, and other arthropods. An article posted by the Burke Museum in Washington State claims that this usage, in the case of spiders, has no evidence to support it.

History

The earliest account of the tree was given by William Dunbar, a Scottish explorer, in his narrative of a journey made in 1804 from St. Catherine's Landing on the Mississippi River to the Ouachita River. It was a curiosity when Meriwether Lewis sent some slips and cuttings to President Jefferson in March 1804. The samples, donated by "Mr. Peter Choteau, who resided the greater portion of his time for many years with the Osage Nation" according to Lewis's letter, didn't take, but later the thorny Osage-orange was widely naturalized throughout the U.S. In 1810, Bradbury relates that he found two trees growing in the garden of Pierre Chouteau, one of the first settlers of St. Louis (apparently "Peter Choteau").

The trees acquired the name bois d'arc, or "bow-wood", from early French settlers who observed the wood being used for war clubs and bow-making by Native Americans. Meriwether Lewis was told that the people of the Osage Nation "esteem the wood of this tree for the making of their bows, that they travel many hundred miles in quest of it." Many modern bowyers assert the wood of the Osage-orange is superior even to English Yew for this purpose, though this opinion is by no means unanimous. The trees are also known as "bodark" or "bodarc" trees, most likely originating from a corruption of "bois d'arc." The Comanches also used this wood for their bows.^] It was popular with them because it is strong, flexible and durable. This tree was common along river bottoms of the Comanchería.

 30 Seeds $8.99 (price includes U.S. shipping)

More photos...(click to enlarge)

Spring Starflower Ipheion uniflorum bulbs

Spring Starflower is native to Uruguay and other areas in South America. Its bulbs naturalize in large expanses in shade or sun. The gray-green leaves resemble Liriope/Lily Turf but are lighter. The leaves go dormant in the hot summer heat but return at the first hint of cooler fall weather and remain green all winter here in zone 8 (central/north central Texas) and burst in bloom around the first week in March and bloom about a month. I have many of these flowers growing in hot, dry sand and get no water except for a rare rainfall and still survive year after year. The plant grows even better and makes its most showy display when crowded in clumps. Good companion plant to other flowers. Also multiplies by seed. Your plants will be the color shown in the photos. Occasionally there are random blooms that are slightly whiter or slightly darker blue. I consider this plant truly bulletproof.
USDA Zones 3-9

Quantity

30 Bulbs $15.95 50 Bulbs $19.95 100 Bulbs $29.95

More photos...(click to enlarge)

 

Rough-leaf Dogwood Cornus drummondii seeds

 

Native Texas small deciduous tree with beautiful spring blooms, similar to Elderberry. Drought tolerant once established.

40 Seeds $8.99 (price includes U.S. shipping)

More photos...(click to enlarge)

 

Love in a Puff - Balloon Vine (Cardiospermum halicacabum) seeds

 

Love In A Puff, Heartseed, Balloon Vine is a drought tolerant plant useful for climbing, ground cover or hanging basket. Has black, pea-size seeds with a white heart shape on them, usually three seeds per puff. Can become invasive in some situations but can be easily conrolled in a garden or home setting.

50 Seeds $8.99 (price includes U.S. shipping)

More photos...(click to enlarge)

Texas Wild Gourd seeds

Bagpod - Bladderpod (Sesbania vesicaria) Seeds

Fabaceae (Pea Family)

This legume (non-edible) grows up to 8 feet tall and has a light, airy feel. The pods rattle in the breeze even when green. Native to the southern U.S. Can be grown in a pot for an unusual specimen. As with many plants, parts of this plant are poisonous and care should be taken when growing around young children and pets. Rare, hard to find seeds.

30 Seeds $8.99 (price includes U.S. shipping)

More photos...(click to enlarge)

 

Dried seed pods with seeds inside

Four O'Clock (Mirabilis jalapa) seeds

Four O'Clock forms a bulb that returns every year and blooms profusely until frost. You normally only have to purchase Four O'Clock seeds once since they reseed freely and multiply every year. You will get the color you see in the pics here.

50 Seeds $8.99 (price includes U.S. shipping)

More photos...(click to enlarge)