publishing and a study protocol completed - thus I have not been doing much else. Also I'm booked to do 2 garden club "edible weeds" talks and another on "The Paleolithic diet" next month so that has needed some revision as well. Anyway - enough excuses.
binomial name : Galinsoga parviflora
common name : yellow weed, potato weed, or gallant soldier
This weed occurs at the foot of some aquaponic grow beds, in the orchard and also in a vegetable garden. There are small yellow daisy like flowers and soft leaves about 4-6cm long. It is quite prolific and we have largely ignored it until recently when we have started to harvest it and use it as a potherb.
Taste wise it is bland and seems to lack any bitterness.
Pubmed search was really interesting: (search term : Galinsoga)
abstract 5 : 2 compounds described - one with antioxidant activity and the second had inhibition of alpha reductase . This enzyme converts complex carbohydrates to simple ones for absorption from the gut. This means galinsoga would be useful in diabetes in reducing blood sugar after a meal. A similar drug already used like this is Acarbose that works the same way by blocking this enzyme pathway.
abstract 6: this is a bit hard to assess as the detail is not really given but reading between the lines it seems as if Galinsoga as used traditionally is useful as a healing agent for wounds. One would need the complete journal article to confirm this though.
abstract 7: another really interesting report that an extract of Galinsoga blocks ACE ( angiotensin converting enzyme). Thus this is another blood pressure reducing weed.
Nutritional content: 41kcal/100gm 4gm protein small amounts Ca, P04, Na, Mn and modest Mg( 681) It also has modest anti-oxidant activity .
It certainly is not as good for us as Purslane or Sowthistle but is nonetheless another useful edible weed.
(ref : Journal of Food Composition and Analysis Volume 20, Issue 5, August 2007, Pages 430-435)
This is actually quite a good article to purchase as it details the nutritional content of quite a few of the weeds
I did not find any warnings on this plant in my searches regarding oxalic acid
levels or other adverse chemicals present.
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