You've probably heard or read about the edible local native plant known as Warrigal Greens (Tetragonia tetragonoides).
It's a rambling, low ground cover that is well adapted for tough coastal conditions where it deals with salt spray and some soil salinity. It can spread rapidly to provide cool pockets for fauna, such as lizards, and it helps shade and protect the soil below from losing moisture on hot, sunny days.
You can see Warrigal Greens in beachside areas right around the region, from Stanwell Park to Perkins Beach, easily detectable by its succulent spade-shaped leaves, often with a whitish tinge to the leaf margins and major veins. It has teeny-tiny yellow flowers and chunky-prickly brown fruit.
I love this species for its tolerance of harsh conditions and outstanding habitat value. But let's face it: I'm not writing about Warrigal Greens because I love it; I'm writing about it because this plant has been in the news lately, and not in a good way.
A frightening report about someone who had a live parasitic worm (species Ophidascaris robertsi) extracted from their brain captured public attention. Media reporting suggested that they may have picked up the parasite while foraging for wild plants, including Warrigal Greens, in an area frequented by carpet pythons.
Who cannot be concerned on reading these reports? It reminds us all of the lessons we've previously learned about foraging: good hygiene is essential, make sure you are not collecting plants from a risky area (containing herbicide spray, asbestos or glass, or snakes or other venomous or poisonous fauna) and make sure you have correctly identified your target species.
I want to reiterate those lessons and add that Warrigal Greens should be cleaned and cooked, preferably by boiling, before being consumed, to reduce the amount of oxalic acid contained in the leaves.
But at this stage, the implications of this unprecedented occurrence are not clear. Careful hand-washing may be useful, in case parasite eggs are on your hands rather than on the leaves. Beyond that, we don't know what else we should be doing.
Zooming out, though, it's worth remembering that food hygiene, food safety and phytosanitary issues are commonplace across our food systems. While Warrigal Greens are in the news right now, we also see regular reports on salmonella poisoning, foods treated with herbicides or insecticides not permitted for use in other countries, and so on. And carpet pythons are widespread in the Illawarra region, on public and private property across the region, many of which have vegetation beds – is there any reason to believe that Warrigal Greens are uniquely susceptible to hosting python parasites? We don't know!
Back to earth now: Whatever your concerns about their edibility, Warrigal Greens are a very attractive and hardy plant, and will do well, particularly in coastal gardens. Please stay safe around them.
