Please help me identify these

I have Gourds and i am at a loss as to what kind they are, please help me indentify them. thanks bunches~~

white pear gourd~~~~~~~



This message was edited Jul 27, 2004 9:30 PM

2. martin house maybe?

This message was edited Jul 20, 2004 6:14 PM

3.

4.

bushel basket~~~~

This message was edited Jul 27, 2004 9:30 PM

I am pretty sure this is Luffa but please verify for me

found name ~~~~dipper

This message was edited Jul 27, 2004 9:29 PM

Number two is called either a birdhouse or bottle gourd-depends who you ask. :) The last one (and number 4) is usually called a dipper or spoon gourd. Is that one of the mini ones or is it a big one? Is the plant next to it in #4 a big pokeweed?? I think you are right on the luffa.

yes, it is a poke weed we have them every where here. When i was young, my parents, father being from missouri, used to cook the small plants like turnips and eat it.Have you ever heard of this? We must of been very poor and hungry at the time LOL

This message was edited Jul 21, 2004 5:33 PM

I concur with Badseed's IDs. Number one might be a White Pear, but the neck is a little short. They vary a bit that way, but it might have some White Egg in its background. Number 2 will be difficult without a look at the leaves

Yes Pokeberry makes an excellent boiled green. Have to parboil it, then cook it but is is delicious. Still a favorite in this are of Georgia- Carolina. I supply several people so it stays cut back pretty well around here.

RE: the Poke weed ... Got a question for ya.

The wild plant that you guys are calling poke weed - - Is this just another name for the Poke Salad plant ? Are (they) one in the same .. or two completely different things?

I'm asking only because I remember my momma and daddy referring to picking the leaves off of Poke SALAD plants and cooking them down just like mustard or turnip greens, and sometimes with them for that matter .. but avoiding the hard main trunk and stringy stems.

Vaguely remember something about being sure to harvest the leaves before the plant went to flowering and seeding. Just not sure if the leaves simply got bitter, or a more serious nature .. such as being 'poison' -?- ...

Sure curious about this. Any one have any further info, would be much appreciated!

Yes it is the same . and it would be posionous, I was told. you had to cook them for a long time. I never liked it much myself but i was made to eat it, now i love turnips, but poke salad was bitter to me, my mother said not to eat it raw but I am not sure if it is truely poisionous raw or not.

It's contains oxalic acid and possibly other toxins when raw. Even the young shoots need to be boiled, drained, then boiled and drained again to reduce the toxicity.

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/11707/67315

OK Here is an expert on POKE weed. At 5 years old my cousing and I were digging in my Mother's flower garden...it was after the frost and no flowers around. Well...we found these things we thought were a type of white radish....long story short...we ate a wee bit...they were very bland...went in the house for salt...got SICK...doctor came...POISONED...2 little girls that can't stand the taste of coffee to this day...it may have been because that is one of the things they poured down us to counteract the poison. The Doctor said an ounce of the roots were fatal to a child. Thank God I LOVE salt!

The greens had to be picked when they first came up...after they matured they were not very good.

scary!!! i tell my kids don't eat anything in the yard!!!!!!!! they will try anything that looks etible, whew

Ah but, the mocking birds here love the berries!