It sure sounds and looks weird but it tastes like regular radish. Great in hot climates
The aerial Rat Tail Radish came from Asia in the
early 1800's. It was in vogue in the U.S. around the Civil War, but has
been virtually unobtainable since.
Delicious, unusual, yet surprisingly versatile, the pods are produced by the dozen in great masses.
Unlike the more familiar radish, which is grown for it's roots, the rat's tail radish is harvested for it's crunchy pods. They resemble chillies, but taste like a young rooted crisp radish. Rat's tail radishes are quick to mature you can expect to harvest your crop within six weeks and pick all summer long..
Pick the seedpods when they are mild, crisp and about 6 inches long. Unlike other radishes, rat-tail thrives in summer heat will bear all summer long. Eat raw, stir fried, or pickled.
Rat Tail Radish Seeds
Another weird plant. Devils Claw.
Proboscidea parviflora is a species of flowering
plant in the family Martyniaceae known by the common names doubleclaw
and red devil's-claw. It is native to the desert southwest of the United
States and northern Mexico, where it grows in sandy, dry, and disturbed
habitat and blooms during the hot summer.
This is an annual herb
growing from a taproot and producing sprawling, spreading stems.
The flower is white to pink or purple, sometimes with mottling or lines
of spots in the throat, and often a purple blotch on the upper lip.
The fruit is a large seed pod are a few inches long. As the fruit dries
the tail cracks open and splits into two hooked, claw-like halves. The
young fruits and seeds were used for food and the dark-colored hardened
dry fruits were used in basketry local Native Americans. Pods are much sought after by artists.
Seeds found here
More from this artist:
Here is an awesome set of sculptures made with Devil Claw Pods by "Art from the Heart".
http://art-fromthe-heart.deviantart.com/gallery/7318792
