Well, if #2 is a closeup picture, it looks like coffee. Unfortunately, the flowers are a bit out of focus, so it’s hard to tell.
#1 could be so many things! There’s Acacias that look like that, Royal Poinciana, etc. Are you sneaking flowers-only into the Food Gardening section?
Here’s a winner! I mean not a definitive answer so you only get half the prize.
It is coffee.
You get the full prize
Yes. I add them to lots of Indian dishes, always more than a recipe calls for as I really like their flavor.
Deep fry them, and mix with fried peanuts, fried garlic, and a little bit of salt to taste. You’ll love it.
That sounds good. Thanks for sharing
What were the final, correct answers?
1.
2. Coffee
3.
There’s someone interested in knowing the answers
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Phyllanthus emblica – some common names are Indian gooseberry, Amla, Nelli
A very important medicine in Ayurveda.
It’s sour/bitter when you bite/eat it, and if you drink water after eating it, the water tastes very sweet. -
Coffee
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Careya arborea – some common names are wild guava, Ceylon oak, Kahata
It’s found in the upcountry especially in tea estates. It’s found in other countries too but I don’t know in which conditions there.
The fruit is a tasty curry when cooked properly.
Thanks for solving the mysteries! It’s always good to learn about some new (to me/us) plants. There’s so many out there!
Thank you! Next!
One appears to be sweet potato (Ipomoea). Two looks like a cat walking around some unknown, skinny leaved plant Three looks like a yam (Dioscorea) and four appears to be tea.
In #2, is the green stem part of the plant, or are the skinny leaves coming out of the ground like a ginger relative?
Is #2 a grass, like vetiver?
You are an expert. First one is sweet potato, yes. This one is the yellow one.
Third one is yes Dioscorea esculenta or the lesser yam. We call it kukulala.
Four is tea, yes.
Yes the green stem is the creeper. It’s not relative to ginger at all. Since you got 3 of the correct, here’s the answer. It’s Asparagus racemosus, it has several kinds I think, so this is the one known as Hathawariya, shatawari, buttermilk root, and climbing asparagus etc. It’s a highly nutritious leaf in the ayurveda medicine. Here’s the details We usually get the juice of the leaves and make a porridge mostly for breakfast.
Isn’t he?!?
That’s a new one for me! Thank you for the information.
The twining, climbing vine gave a clue for the Yam. We have a Chinese yam growing wild here, Dioscorea polystachya. But, the tuber is very deep in the ground, say, a meter, and it’s flavor isn’t my favorite: like bland potatoes mixed with okra juice (slimy)! Other cultivated yams are much better. The Dioscorea native here (Virginia, USA) is not edible.
Do you eat sweet potato foliage/greens?
That’s “nagaimo” (長芋) in Japan/Japanese and the literal translation of the name in English is “long potato”. It and its close relative, “yamaimo” (山芋), (scientific name: dioscorea japonica), whose name translates to “mountain potato” in English are both important and widely used in Japanese cuisine. They’re often used grated and raw in hot or cold soba dishes and with tuna sashimi over bowls of rice (raw and grated they’re called “tororo”).
I don’t care for the texture you perfectly described, but grated and used as an ingredient in okonomiyaki, they’re quite good. If you don’t wear gloves when peeling them, they can cause people to itch badly.
Wild “yamaimo” are called “jinennjo” (自然薯) and are both highly prized and expensive because they generally can’t be cultivated and are difficult to harvest without the “potato” breaking into one or more pieces.
And yes, any of these can also be found translated into English as “〜yam”.
Dioscorea esculenta or the lesser yam is grown in prepared beds, growing just below the soil. It has mainly 2 tastes as I’ve experienced. The most common one is bland, or a little bit bitter, while the other one is sweet.
We don’t eat sweet potato foliage but I believe it would be alright to be added to mixed herbal porridge.
Interesting! I’ll have to try it raw, grated, instead of cooked, with sushi or tataki-style tuna. Thanks for the warning to wear gloves when peeling! I doubt I’ll dig the wild ones here, too many rocks! The local Asian market has them sometimes. They look tedious to dig.
I’ve eaten sweet potato tender tips, leaves and stems. They’re a lot like Water Spinach, Ipomoea aquatica. Given both are morning glory relatives, the taste similarity isn’t surprising.
However: I don’t cook many sweet potato tips because it must lower the total yield of tubers. Water Spinach doesn’t have that concern and it grows like crazy, cooks in a flash and tolerates our very hot, humid growing season.
You’re welcome.
Here are over 150 different recipes using nagaimo (dioscorea polystachya)