I finally got to encounter some non-cultivated velvet beans in the wild – and they are definitely unpleasant. It’s one thing to hear – it’s another to experience.
And you know me, I like to experience all kinds of unpleasant things.
Now I really feel sorry for Keith’s wife and her brush with murderous Mucuna!
Here’s my hunt from the other day:
“Down the road by the burned car”
I set off on my hike to hunt for wild velvet beans with the idea of asking a neighbor if he knew where any might be growing. It didn’t take long, as I came across a local farmer a minute after leaving my driveway. He asked where we were walking.
I told him we were hunting for the wild stinging beans and his eyes widened. “Why???”
I said they were good medicine and he told me, skeptical, that they were down the road by the burned car. And he also warned me to be careful… and handed us a few ripe sapodilla for the road. My neighbors are great.
I found the beans without trouble, and I thought I was careful handling them. I had gloves and jeans on, plus a plastic bag for the beans.
I wasn’t careful enough.
The itching creeps up on you. It’s a bit of a tickle, then a sting, then an insistent stinging itch that will drive you mad.
Though I didn’t touch any of the beans, the fine hairs drift off the pods when they are disturbed… and where those hairs will land, no one knows.
Granted, I didn’t get it too badly. My arms were driving me crazy for a while and got worse when I washed them. I carefully peeled out of my outer clothes and scrubbed my arms with soap and water. Eventually the itching subsided.
Eventually.
The beans we found in the wild were smaller and uglier than the ones Keith grew, and they definitely weren’t as large as the stingless types. They almost looked a bit mangy.
Originally I planned on planting these somewhere and using them like I used the stingless velvet beans I used to grow back in Florida.
Now? No. Too unpleasant a plant for the homestead, as much as saying that makes me feel like a loser.
If I ever get an “itch” to plant them, I’ll go back and watch this video again.
6 responses to “Stinging Velvet Beans REALLY Sting”
I will be growing the non stinging variety this year for sure. Happy wife … happy life… and I got stung several times myself (i’m a slow learner sometimes). They are pretty but not worth the pain as long as the non stinging ones are just as good then I will be growing them in the future. Side note… it is suppose to get down to 35 on Thursday. IT is supposed to almost be spring. Where the heck is that global warming when you need it?
sorry bout them there run on sentences.
Heh. Run-on sentences are a sign of a active mind.
That doesn’t say much for my punchy style, though. I use shotgun sentences. Comes from writing lots of radio ads in the past.
35? That’s nuts, man. Global warming is a total bust!
Grow your own itching powder
That’s it! You never know when civilization might collapse and you’ll need itching powder.
Mizoram, India we have many of them.