wildflowers

[Wilson Gray]

Jim, would you happen to know whether poke(weed) and poke/polk salad
are the same thing? I know what poke(weed) is, but I know the term,
"polk salad," only from a song. Do you recall a bit of blue-eyed soul
by one Tony Joe White from Louisiana? He had a one-hit wonder entitled
"Polk-Salad Annie," i.e. "Poke-Sallid Aynih," described as "a mean,
vicious, straight razor-totin' 'oman"?

-Wilson

On May 18, 2005, at 10:25 PM, James C Stalker wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       James C Stalker <stalker at MSU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: wildflowers
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> In the spring, I used to follow my mother around our ex-urban
> neighborhood,
> in development but not developed, as she collected up greens for
> supper--dandelion, poke, and other stuff.  Even in the spring they were
> pretty strong tasting, but good.  My regret is twofold: as a linguist,
> I
> didn't pay attention to the names; as an eater, I can't replicate her
> search.
>
> Jim
>
> Arnold M. Zwicky writes:
>
>> On May 17, 2005, at 12:01 PM, sagehen wrote:
>>
>>> arnold writes:
>>>
>>>> and there are strains of some weedy
>>>>
>>> wildflowers -- even dandelions! -- that are meant for cultivation,
>>> though i tend to be wary indeed of them.<
>>> ~~~~~~
>>> Those dandelions that are cultivated for food are usually not
>>> actually the
>>> same as the wild ones, /Taraxacum/, but are a variety of chicory,
>>> /Cicchorium/.
>>
>> i've seen both offered for sale.
>>
>>> Wild dandelions are a wonderful food plant. In our cool New England-
>>> like
>>> summers we can eat them from early spring until well after frost in
>>> the
>>> fall.
>>
>> yes indeed.  in my eastern pa. childhood, the beginning of spring was
>> signaled by my pa. dutch grandmother going out and grubbing in the
>> snow for dandelion greens, which she'd prepare with "endive
>> dressing" ["endive" here = chicory], mostly curdled milk and bacon.
>> yum.
>>
>> arnold
>>
>
>
>
> James C. Stalker
> Department of English
> Michigan State University
>