{"id":6647,"date":"2016-09-05T11:07:23","date_gmt":"2016-09-05T09:07:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edimentals.com\/blog\/?p=6647"},"modified":"2016-09-05T13:35:12","modified_gmt":"2016-09-05T11:35:12","slug":"joke-plants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.edimentals.com\/blog\/?p=6647","title":{"rendered":"Joke plants"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jokeplants\"<\/a>
From top left and clockwise: Medicago radiata, Medicago scutellata “Sava” and Scorpiurus spp. (picture from my garden on 31st July 2004)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"HPIM3868_chorogi\"<\/a>
Chorogi or chinese artichokes (Stachys affinis)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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I read some\u00a015 years ago (but would love a proper reference*) that the Victorians (and some more recent jokers too) were fond of practical jokes and would add various plant parts that resembled caterpillars, snails, worms etc to their salads. I call them collectively joke plants<\/em>.\u00a0I should grow them again…I love humour in the garden <\/i>:)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Scorpiurus muricatus and S.\u00a0vermiculatus (Prickly caterpillars, prickly scorpionstail \/ skorpionurt),\u00a0Medicago scutellata “Sava” (snail medick),\u00a0Medicago radiata (ray-podded medick) and chorogi or chinese artichoke (Stachys affinis) are examples. Pictures below (yes, I’ve grown them and smuggled them into my salads for the entertainment of unsuspecting visitors!)
\n*I find the following reference in Google Books: \u00a0A Joy of Gardening by\u00a0Victoria Sackville-West (Harper, 1958). On pages 184-186, there’s a section called “Joke plants” which I’d love to get hold of! Anyone have this book?
\nAdd 050916: Thanks to Alison Tindale who mentioned joke plants in her great blog \u00a0The Backyard Larder having seen a reference in the classic book by Fearing Burr “The Field and Garden Vegetables of America Containing Full Descriptions of Nearly Eleven Hundred Species and Varietes; With Directions for Propagation,Culture and Use”\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0(1863). See\u00a0<\/span>
\nhttp:\/\/backyardlarder.blogspot.hu\/2013\/06\/rhubarb-vegetable.html<\/a> (at the bottom)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              I read some\u00a015 years ago (but would love a proper reference*) that the Victorians (and some more recent jokers too) were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,23],"tags":[949,1038,1626,1618,1623,1625,1619,1621,1622,1624,1620],"class_list":["post-6647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annuals","category-salad","tag-alison-tindale","tag-chorogi","tag-fearing-burr","tag-joke-plants","tag-medicago-radiata","tag-prickly-caterpillars","tag-prickly-scorpionstail","tag-scorpiurus-muricatus","tag-scorpiurus-vermiculatus","tag-snail-medick","tag-victorians"],"views":3663,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.edimentals.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.edimentals.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.edimentals.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.edimentals.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.edimentals.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6647"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.edimentals.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6658,"href":"http:\/\/www.edimentals.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6647\/revisions\/6658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.edimentals.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.edimentals.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.edimentals.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}