Abelmoschus esculentus (L - the University of Maine at Fort Kent

Kermath, Bennett and Pulsipher - Food Plants in the Americs
PORTUGUESE: jará
SPANISH: cucurito, yará
USES/NOTES: Liquid endosperm of the small, flattened, 2.5 cm fruit
tastes like coconut (Cocos nucifera) and is sipped from open
fruits as a snack by inhabitants of the middle Rio Negro near
Barcelos, Brazil.
NATURAL RANGE: Rio Negro margins of Amazonas, Brazil, Colombia, and
Venezuela extending to the upper Orinoco, and rarely along whitewater
streams elsewhere in Brazil’s Amazonas state
REFERENCES: Henderson et al. 1995, Kermath (notes), Listabarth 1999,
Silva et al. 1977
Lepidium campestre (L.) Br.
FAMILY: Cruciferae (mustard) or Brassicaceae (brassica)
ENGLISH: bastard cress, cow cress, field pepergrass, pepperwort
USES/NOTES: Peppery greens and seed pods are added to salads.
NATURAL RANGE: North temperate regions
REFERENCES: Facciola 1990, Fernald 1950, Peterson 1977
Lepidium fremontii S. Watson
FAMILY: Cruciferae (mustard) or Brassicaceae (brassica)
ENGLISH: pepperweed
USES/NOTES: Seeds are eaten as flour or used as a flavoring agent.
NATURAL RANGE: Southwestern U.S.
REFERENCES: Uphof 1968, Yanovsky 1936
Lepidium latifulium L.
FAMILY: Cruciferae (mustard) or Brassicaceae (brassica)
ENGLISH: dittander
USES/NOTES: Ancient Greeks added the peppery greens to salads, and
roots and seeds may be used as spicy condiments.
NATURAL RANGE: Mediterranean region, Europe and North Africa
REFERENCES: Facciola 1990, Mabberley 1987, Uphof 1968
Lepidium meyenii Walp.
FAMILY: Cruciferae (mustard) or Brassicaceae (brassica)
ENGLISH: maca, Peruvian ginseng
SPANISH: ayak, ayak willku, chichira, chijura, maca, maca-maca,
maíno, maka
USES/NOTES: Sweet, brown, turnip-like roots of this rare, highland
species are eaten baked and roasted (sometimes in earthen pits),
made into porridge (called mazamorra) after being dried and
soaked or boiled, and fermented into maca chicha, a beverage
sometimes mixed with other alcoholic beverages to make coctel de
maca. Roots also are used to flavor aguardiente, an alcohol
derived from sugarcane. Small leaves are used as salad greens and
are fed to guinea pigs, an Andean delicacy.
NATURAL RANGE: Central Andean highlands from southern Peru through
Bolivia into northwesterm Argentina, now nearly restricted to the
Lake Junín region of Peru
DRAFT - DO NOT DUPLICATE OR DISTRIBUTE
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