Moat and gatehouse at Borreby near Skelskør in Denmark
Last weekend I attended Danish Seed Savers relict plant excursion with botanist Bernt Løjtnant.
Relict plants are plants that once was grown, and which since has survived in the environment surrounding the original growing sites. The plants grow only around human settlements or ruins, as they have not been able to invade the forest or field. Therefore, we searched for them around the old manors Holsteinborg and Borreby, in the old fishing village Bisserup and at port and village on island Agersø.
There is also a time factor in the concept of relict plants. The plants must have survived since medieval times, i.e. before Columbus. Therefore no plant originating in America is recognised as a relict plant. Plants originating in America can have great cultural value, but they are not as old as the true relict plants.
Greater Burdock, Gobo (Arctium lappa)
Relict plants was originally grown for a purpose, typically food or medicine. I was surprised to meet Gobo, an exotic root crop. All commercial varieties are of Japanese origin as far as I’m aware. It is a medieval vegetable that we have forgotten to use. Both roots and leaves were cooked. It is not impossible that we could find better varieties among our relict plants (for our climate) than the ones we find commercially. Some of the burdocks were much higher than I!
White Bryony (Bryonia alba)
Every time we were presented with a medical plant, Bernt Løjtnant had an earnest word to us. They are toxic – very toxic! They contain not one but several poisons. The contents of toxins varies greatly from plant to plant, from leaf to root, from season to season. They are very capricious in use. White Bryony is one of them. We must not use them medically. Those who are not outright dangerous he considers to be ineffective, such as German Chamomile (extensively used in danish households).
I don’t entirely agree, either entirely disagree.
I love to use my Calendula tincture internally, can’t imagine having to do without it. But it might not be effective. I believe in it and that’s enough for me. I prepare it my at home, so it is cheap. If it doesn’t help my health, it brightens my life anyway 🙂
Borreby near Skelskør
More photos at Flickr (click here)
Wolfberry, Goji (Lycium barbarum)
Goji berries have become fashionable as a power food. I knew that it is wolfberry, that grows wild in Denmark, but I thought they were imported as late as in the 1800s. So it was exciting to hear Bernt Løjtnants explanation on the use of wolfberry in eelgrass fences in the countryside in Denmark back in the medieval times.
I captured Bernt Løjtnant explanation on wolfberry and rural fencing in Denmark. Sorry, I didn’t have time to dub the video, language is Danish.
In the toad's garden 
July 31, 2010 at 22:25
I read your page on grey peas with interest. My Grandparents left Friesland before I was born, but I was raised in a neighborhood full of Dutch immigrants, so “Grauwe Erten” was a common staple. (It’s great with sausage.) Since then, I have tried to find more of these but no one seems to sell them either as food or seed, (Other than wholesalers). Anyone know where I could get some? I live above 45N, so I think growing them would be no problem.
August 1, 2010 at 11:30
You probably want some true Dutch “Grauwe Erten”, or even a variety from Friesland. My varieties are Danish and Swedish. Patrick of Bifurcated Carrots live in Amsterdam, could probably direct you to a source.
By the way – where in the world do you live? I tried to google 45N and had this cosmopolitan list:
45, Taranaki, New Zealand
45, Colombia
45, Kroatien
45, Finland
45, Tokke, Telemark, Norge
45, Gjesdal, Rogaland, Norge
45, Tjekkiet
45, Ungarn
August 1, 2010 at 15:45
Sorry, I thought everyone would understand that I meant I lived North of the 45th parallel, a bit over halfway to the pole. Pellston, Michigan U.S.A. is home. On the map, Michigan looks like a left handed mitten surrounded by The Great Lakes. The local joke is that when you ask Michiganders where they live, they point to their own hand. People speak of living on “The thumb” or the “Tip of the mitt”. Many Dutch immigrants settled in the southwest. I live on the Northernmost tip of the mitt, very near the Mackinac Suspension Bridge.
I have found “Winter peas” for sale online as a cover crop and as animal feed, but I’m not interested in buying by the ton. Apparently they are being raised for nitrogen fixing as much as anything and selected for SMALLER seeds.
Anyway- cutting to the chase, where do I go to talk to Patrick? I began by looking for a simple bag of peas for my table, but at this point, I would go so far as to raise my own. It sounds as though this variety is simply disappearing.
Thanks for your help. The wife is the gardener in the family, so if things get technical on me, I may have to bring her in.
August 1, 2010 at 19:03
Thanks, now I understand where you live. Looking on a map, I understand why it Michigan is compared to the left hand.
Patrick is a blogger and a fond gardener:
http://www.patnsteph.net/weblog/
October 19, 2010 at 21:47
Hi Søren
Just stumbled into your blog as I was discussing relic plants with someone here – I remember discussing Allium victorialis in the Lofoten islands with him at the Plants that tell Stories seminar – one of our probable relic plants from the Viking era. I would have loved to have come along on that trip with Bernt – fascinating guy!
October 19, 2010 at 21:54
Forgot to say that Bryonia dioica is actually the secondmost wild sourced edible in a large study on wild food traditions I read from Spain – the young shoots are eaten but they must be cooked to detoxify them. Haven’t dared try yet, but I did eat cooked Clematis vitalba shoots this spring for the first time without any negative effect (very popular wild food in Italy)
October 29, 2010 at 23:08
Hello Stephen
You probably met Bernt at the Plants that tell Stories seminar!
Interesting how they are able to consume poisonous plants in countries around the world. The have the necessary knowledge, accumulated in generations, to turn them in to safe food.