You went for a walk by the Nepean River on the weekend and found a beautiful patch of Wild Radish, Raphanus raphanistrum.
The plants is the subject of several international researches at the moment as is showing an incredible resilience to various chemical control methods, to the point of changing its own DNA make-up at a rate never seen before. It has been noted to have changed its own reproduction cycle from six-seven to four weeks in the space of few decades!
Do check out this study been completed by Dr Muhammad Ali Bhatti for the University of Western Australia here.
Wild radish is a declared noxious weed, mostly because of the grief inflicted to wheat growers, therefore various agencies have busied themselves in trying to find the perfect extermination process.
From the CSIRO site:
Wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum L.) (Brassicaceae) is one of the most important weeds of crops in southern Australia. Control of this weed is usually by a combination of herbicide, crop and pasture rotation and management. One result of the current shift to minimum till cropping systems has been a rise in herbicide resistance in wild radish. Some populations of this weed have developed multiple resistance to herbicide groups B, C and F. To widen the management options we are examining the potential to apply inundative or classical biological control to wild radish.
Of course you have a different story, a story of an undervalued wild plant, whose fruits you enjoy immensely, slightly peppery, fantastic in seasonal salads.
Below you paste a recipe from Isil Simsek, found in her blog about vegan living, VeggieWAy
Ingredients: (serves 2-3)
A bunch of wild radish greens
4-5 potatoes
a few spring onions
Dressing:
3 tbs olive oil
1 ts dijon mustard
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 lemon juice
1)Boil the potates, when cool enough peel and chop them. Transfer them to a salad bowl.
2)Throw the wild radish greens in a pan full of boiling water,leave them for about ten minutes.
3)Strain them and pour cold water over them to avoid discoloration.
4)Then chop the greens, transfer them to the salad bowl.
5)Whisk all the ingredients of the dressing, pour it into the salad bowl, mix well and serve.
There’s plenty out there of the plant, maybe that could be yours, reader, introduction to a different way to relate with the environment, fields are not just for playing footy or growing wheat after all.
