Monday, April 16, 2012

Ground Ivy Invasion!

A new wildflower has sprung up all over my yard.  It's beautiful, it's everywhere, and it's highly invasive!  As you've already guessed, I've decided to make it next in my identification list.


Glechoma hederacea


Scientific Name:  Glechoma hederacea

Common Name: Ground Ivy, or Creeping Charlie

Leaf: Simple leaf with scalloped edges

Flower:  Irregular flower, shades of purple

Growth Habit:  Prefers partial to full shade, propagates through seeds and through cuttings.  Roots easily grow from stems that have bent toward the ground, thereby producing a 'creeping' effect.

Height:  Grows to 5-8 inches high

This plant is highly invasive in my area.  It's been kept reasonably in check this season, however, because this spring has been rather dry.  Ground Ivy needs decently moist soil to survive.  It looks like I'm going to have a great deal of work ahead of me if I want to keep it from covering my lawn.

There are some relatively nice aspects to ground ivy, however.

For one, it's a member of the mint family, which means that when you pick any portion of the plant a very pleasant scent is produced.  I imagine it's also quite wonderful after the rain, but as mentioned previously, it's been pretty dry around here.

Naturally, upon discovering that ground ivy is part of the mint family I raced to discover whether it's edible or not.  It is.  Hooray!!!

I rushed out to pick a leaf and test it.  Sure enough, it had a minty taste.  It wasn't exactly like the taste of mint, and was actually pretty strong, but palatable.  Ground Ivy is slightly bitter, however, so I don't think I'll be using it in a salad.  Violets are much better, in that regard.  If however, you enjoy a bit of a bite in your salad, this may work for you.  Just be sure you're using this same species!  I have no frame of reference for any of the others.

The Forest Service actually has a great wealth of information on the subject of ground ivy, and on the subject of edibility I've discovered that it's toxic to some species of livestock, especially horses.  On the flipside, however, it was also used historically in place of hops for beer, and the federal database also mentioned that it's cultivated for use in herbal medical treatments.

Naturally, I had to learn more about this.

It turns out that people tend to use ground ivy for several different types of ailments, such as bronchitis, diarrhea, arthritis... the list goes on.  For the most part, the dried leaves are what have been used, and mostly in teas, though I've also seen it suggested that the whole plant is used. 

Before you get too excited, however, I have seen a list of problems associated with this plant.  It's considered unsafe for pregnant women, and a free online medical dictionary I located referred to ground ivy as a toxin that can cause emphysema.  It's considered inadvisable to use this if you have epilepsy, and warned against in the case of kidney disease, as well.

Now, this is obviously a small sampling, and not a complete list, so with this in mind it would probably be a very bad idea to use ground ivy to treat any medical condition.  It seems to me that there is just too great of a chance that you'd end up making a bad condition worse. 

With that in mind, I don't think you'll be seeing any crazy ground ivy salad posts from me!  For now, violets and dandelions will suffice.

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