Electric Daisy: Yes, It Makes Your Mouth Feel Like its Being Electrocuted
Electric Daisy Flower grown happily from a clay pot in Colorado.
Acmella oleracea is an attractive/edible ornamental plant from the Pará state of northern Brazil that keeps a bizarre secret. If you munch on a fresh leaf, your mouth is met with a mild buzzing sensation akin to putting a near-dead 9-volt battery to your tongue, but if you chew on a fresh flower, things turn out much differently.
When you chew on a flower, you’ll not immediately notice any apparent effect. You start to doubt the power of this plant, and then… AND THEN… a strange numbing electric buzz introduces itself. You may say, “I think I feel something.” By the time these words leave your mouth, you’ll realize that something is obviously going on. Your eyes begin to water and saliva starts flooding your mouth as it becomes harder and harder to talk without sounding like your trying not to vomit. Your mouth turns into a chamber of sizzling electricity. You may be asked, “hey, are you alright(?)” by a guy named Phil in a hallway as you continuously swallow with glassy red eyes and a look of latent distress on your face. You can almost hear Philip decide you are drunk as you grunt sounds at him and quickly access a restroom. There you spit a half-cup of suddenly manufactured saliva into the sink. The intensity of the experience crescendos for about 10 minutes before it starts to diminish, slowly. In all, this freakishly entertaining ordeal lasts for about fifteen minutes. Let me put the somewhat-alarming power of this experience in a different way:
If you were captured by lunatics who forced you to eat unknown plants, you’d consume this flower and think “yep, I am going to die shortly.”
In fact, Acmella oleracea is not poisonous. It is a widely used cooked green in the Brazilian Amazon and unlike most medicinal plants, the toothache plant seems more widely studied and esteemed as a source of therapeutic compounds by scientists and chemists than herbalists. So whether you are looking for an attractive medicinal plant for your garden, a local anesthetic to releive your toothache pain, an ingredient for an exotic cocktail, or a hilarious prank to play on your siblings… Acmella oleracea is your pal.
Welcome to the buzz worthy world of of Acmella oleracea: the Electric Daisy.
Jambu Electric Daisy in its clay home.
Binomial Etymology — Acmella oleracea
Acm- is “a point;” -ella is “small;” oler- refers to the plant being a vegetable and -acea is a generic plant name ending (Borror, 1960).
Aliases — Brazilian Cress, Para Cress, Toothache Plant, Eyeball Plant, Electric Daisy, Buzz Buttons, Sichuan Buttons; Jambu (BRAZIL); Phak Khrat Hua Wan (THAILAND); Gui Yuan Ju (CHINESE); Cresson du Brazil {meaning: cress of Brazil}, Cresson du Para {meaning: cress of Para} (FRENCH); Agrião do Pará {meaning: cress of Para}, Belém do Pará (PORTUGUESE).
Binomial Pronunciation — Ack-mell-ah Ol-er-Aye-cee-ah
Family — Asteraceae
Family Characteristics — Plants in the Asteraceae family have composite flowers, meaning, what appears to be one flower will be composed of hundreds of smaller flowers.
History of the Electric Daisy
With regard to its use in fighting toothaches, a widely marketed remedy called “Paraguay Roux,” was peddled in the 19th century. The active ingredient of this tincture was, of course, Acmella oleracea (Spach, 1848).
After some curious digging, I realized that somebody apparently spilled the nuggets on this “medicine” in the late 19th century because the recipe for Paraguay Roux started popping up all over the world in several different languages. All featured the same ingredients in the same ratios and a professed enthusiasm for its effectiveness. Having tried electric daisy flowers on many occasions, I am confidently assuming that this tincture — made with fresh flowers — should produce a powerful effect.
Paraguay Roux
Combine and macerate:
4 parts of electric daisy flowers, 1 part pellitory root (Anacyclus pyrethrum), 1 part Italian elecampane leaves and flowers (Inula bifrons).
Place macerated vegetation in 8 parts ethanol or a strong/clear liquor like Everclear.
Let stand for 14 days.
Filter out vegetation and put it in a dropper.
Apply to toothaches by first drying the teeth, and applying the tincture with a cotton ball.
Edible Uses of Electric Daisy
When used fresh, the leaves and flowers produce a taste and tingling sensation in the mouth that marries two logically unrelated experiences: the taste of fresh spinach and that famously metallic 9-volt-battery flavor (you know it). This pseudo-electric effect is often utilized to create interesting coctails either by making an infusion of the fresh flowers, running the fresh flowers around the rim of the glass, or both.
The cooked leaves, called jambu, are of great use in Brazilian cuisine. I have included a recipe for Arroz de Jambu (Jambu Rice) and a fancy-pantsy cocktail in the “Recipe Challenges” section below.
Ethnobotany of the Electric Daisy
The ASHANINKA communities of Peru utilize this plant as a remedy for diarrhea (Luziatelli, Sørensen, & Mølgaard, 2007).
Rural BRAZILIANS use Acmella oleracea as a natural cough suppressant (Lozano et al., 2014), and for the relief of stomatitis, colds, and pain (Nascimento et al., 2013).
Traditional healers in THAILAND use this plant to treat toothaches (Maneenoon et al., 2015). This use can be understood when the flowers of the plant are chewed.
People from the PHILIPPINES utilized the roots as a purgative and an infusion of the plant to treat psoriasis and itching. Further, the plant was used to dissolve bladder stones and treat ulcers. The bruised leaves were used topically to aid in healing wounds (Tavera, 1901).
In the early 19th century, the FRENCH used to make a syrup of the flowers that would be given to children as a cough suppressant (Descourtilz, 1829).
Pharmacological Effects of Electric Daisy
Acmella oleracea has been heavily studied as a plant source of anesthetic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antipyretic, antiobesity, and diureticmedicine (Nascimento et al., 2013).
The chemical, Rhamnogalacturonan, contained within the plant shows very promising healing activities in the treatment and prevention of ulcers (Maria-Ferreira et al., 2014).
Electric Daisy in Magic
The native Asháninka peoples of Peru use Acmella oleracea as a wash to cure two supernatural conditions (chacho de cerro & chacho de agua) that are reported to present with physical symptoms: body pain, fever and vomiting. Chacho de cerro is caused by wandering in a forest when the forest itself forbids trespass, and chacho de agua is caused by malevolent spirits that reside in the rivers from which water is gathered (Luziatelli, Sørensen, & Mølgaard, 2007).
Recipes Challenges
Conclusion
From experience, the Electric Daisy is extremely easy to grow from seed in a clay pot and is a great source of adventurous fun for guests in your garden. This plant is simply fascinating! if you have any stories or information related to the Electric Daisy, let me know in the comments below. As with all of my articles, I will be updating from time to time.
