Cardamine laciniata, Dentaria laciniata, Brassicaceae Family (Mustard). Cardamine pronounced kar-DAM-in-ee, comes from the Greek word kardamus, which refers to plants in the bitter garden cress family. Concatenate means "linking together. Cardamine from the greek kardamus, which is confusing because neither the name nor the plant is in any way related to cardamon seeds, which come from an entirely different plant. Cardamine and cardamon are related only in spelling by the alphabet. Linnaeus was referring to plants like Cardamine hirsuta or C. sativa, or C. penslyvanica which have a strong arugula bitterness. The bitter cress of Pedanius Dioscorides (c. 40-90 CE), who wrote Materia Medica, in the 1st century was used as a bitter tonic in red wine as a food/medicine plant. Also considered part of Cruciferae family, Latin, meaning 'cross-bearing' for the flowers in reference to its four 'crossed petals'. Some mustard family botanical traits, leaves are variable but frequently alternate along the stem with basal leaves present. Flowers are perfect, symmetrical, with 4 extending sepals, usually green. There are also 4 petals, typically arranged like either the letters "X" or "H", four-parted and arranged in terminal clusters/raceme occuring in a circular pattern. Fruits are two-parted with rows of seeds in a pod.
Emergent from earth through a covering of red oak, and beech fallen leaves. Before the deciduous tree canopy above them finishes leafing out, they make their moves. They are quick with above ground dynamics. They bloom, develop fruit, make their seeds. As the canopy densifies above their above ground visible parts fade back. They spend the rest of the seasonal cycle storing vital energy in their below earth root systems. Paused waiting for their window when Persephone returns the following spring.
Mustard family plants have a long synchronous history with folk. All mustard family plants are edible and occur in a continum of hot peppery, horseradish wasabe taste to broccoli taste. What is observable with the senses outside is also analogous inside the observer. As above below, without within. So the observer checklists the sense perception as external. Seeing is looking out while tasting is looking in. There are complex multiple glucosinolate compounds in plants which exist along this continuum of horseradish to broccoli taste. We have these same lock and keys and they signal within us the same messages. The lock and keys are not only in the tongue as taste. The lock and keys as organoleptic testing are indicators of lock and keys throughout the body.
“Organoleptic comes from the french, organoleptique, -organo meaning 'organs of the body', thus the senses and -leptique from the greek leptiqos, disposed to take. So through the organs of sense we take in information about the plant directly in front of us. So using all your senses including tongue, nose, touch sensorial input, and the gestalt of biosense, the whole terrain and lay of the land, we can frequently learn something about the plant. Not only tasting the herb, but seeing the patterns in the landscape. Probably being alone with the plant where it grows. Then taking this style of knowledge which is non-verbal and letting it do its own thing developing connections as it goes. Spending time in the bio-environment of whorled mountain mint. Organoleptic perception allows me to get a sense of the herbal nature of the plant and what that herb does in my body. So you get a sense of how the herb lends itself to certain actions within the body.” (The perfect milagro Wild Herb Ways https://pgmanski.blogspot.com/2022/08/whorled-mountain-mint-pycnanthemum.html )
(from The miracle teachings of Wild Herb Ways
From the tongue, down the food pipe and down further in the gut. The taste is a thought in the world’s mouth. We can view these compounds through multiple lenses. They are inside and outside. The scientific lens of words tends to objectify. The experience happening as an aspect of science talk reduced to chemicals. Taste occurs on the edge of the tongue front of within. So to use the metaphor of external mechanistic science, a chemical marker. Taste for the mechanist becomes the measurable molecular marker. The quantity of which exists frozen in an objectified given. In the words of reduction, they have additional chemical markers resembling phenylthiocarbamide PTC and 6-7i-propylthiouracil (PROP). “In northern europeans the non-taster percentage (or those that can’t taste PTC at all) is 31.5%, but for some other ethnic groups the non-taster percentage is much higher.” It would be accurate to say the taster is the tasted in a circular loop.
“ “ A crucial and important part of herbal study is the actual tasting of plants, this is called the organoleptic approach so that we engage our senses of touch, taste, smell, sight, where the plant is growing. We work with the plant to develop a sense of the energetics of the plant in the human body. So as herbalists we spend time looking, seeing, touching the plant and tasting the plant in various locations to find out the medicinal properties of the plant. One particular plant can vary greatly in its medicinal qualities through different seasons of the year. One specific plant can vary greatly in its energetic and medicinal qualities with regard to where it's growing, what type of year it's been in terms of wetness and warmth. Based on this hands-on, organoleptic approach to plant medicine we begin to understand that specific plants can be vastly different depending on where they're growing and what time of the year we encounter them.
Within this folk tradition, because of this, we have plants that have developed a reputation within the historical context of bioregional herbalism of nourishing and protecting and nourishing the body in disease states, yet also nourishing the spirit.” (Perfect Dharma from Wild Herb Ways, meeting the perfect teacher https://pgmanski.blogspot.com/2016/09/wild-herb-ways-medicine-road.html )
So like a needle in a haystack, the search for the needle in the dark becomes a search where the light can penetrate, not related to the search for where the needle was lost and is. They look for the needle lost in the dark They look where their flashlights can point. The PTC, PROP, T2R bitter taste receptors, and other bitter taste gene receptor family has implications for BMI hence metabolic syndrome. PTC non-taster status has been associated with a higher accumulation of chunk around the middle adiposity, and unhealthy food preferences and dietary habits (e.g., a higher consumption and acceptance of fat) that favor the development of chronic non-communicable diseases diabetes, obesity and certain types of cancer. "The discovery of extra-oral T2Rs in several metabolically active tissues has generated intense interest in their physiological significance and potential health impact [44]. T2Rs, which are expressed in enteroendocrine cells, can be involved in nutrient-gut interactions that modulate the secretion of gut hormones such as ghrelin, cholecystokinin, and glucagon-like peptide 1, thereby influencing gastrointestinal motility, appetite, and glycemia [41]." So it's not only that the chemical compounds exist in the plant, they simultaneously exist in the human body as part of the communication mechanism. Which has implications for the herbalist in tissue states and plant energetics in a vitalist tradition.
The hot watery, acrid (bitter) juice; peppery taste (due to mustard glucosinolates). Brassicaceae Family Mustard family plants have a long history with people as garden plants, with various cultivars selected for their varying degrees of flavor hot, peppery as horseradish radish to broccoli taste continum. Some in the roots as radish. Some in elaborate flowers as brocoli. Some in the leaf as arugala or collard greens.
The important take on isolated bitter chemical markers, reduced and quantified for approachable study. Is this, our resilient ancestors saw the emergent green and gobbled them up. Thus they survived. That the plants are bitter means we are bitter.
“Trusting your own judgment. Use your heart, use your intuition to see the patterns and realize that most of what you see is a reflection of yourself. The things that you have to work with are close by. We work with our eyes, with our hands, with the tongue. This is the organoleptic approach to herbs we take. we taste them, smell them. we touch them we look at how they grow. where they grow. when they grow. Wevwill use that information to speak to us with the herbs. this is the approach to take with herbalism. We work with them, and allow the nature of the herb to enter into her being so that we can remember, knowing the thoughts that fill our mind, taking seriously whatever the herb wants to give us in terms of information. with sight, with smell, with the taste and form of the herb where it grows before our eyes. on this path of herbal medicine you have to go directly to the plant. On this path of my herbal medicine you have to go directly to the place where the plant is growing and meet the plant in its own space. You need to meet the plant where it is growing. And you need to look at the total picture of you as the person in the place with the plant.” (From the Miraculous Wild Herb Ways, The Commune of Being https://pgmanski.blogspot.com/2016/06/ligusticum-porteri-osha-diaries.html )
Trius-Soler, M., Bersano-Reyes, P.A., Góngora, C. et al. Association of phenylthiocarbamide perception with anthropometric variables and intake and liking for bitter vegetables. Genes Nutr 17, 12 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12263-022-00715-w
Feeney, E., O'Brien, S., Scannell, A., Markey, A., & Gibney, E. (2011). Genetic variation in taste perception: Does it have a role in healthy eating? Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 70(1), 135-143.
McDonald, J.H. 2011. Myths of human genetics. Baltimore: Sparky House Publishing. 2011
