Category: Edible

Wild Basil

Wild Basil (Clinopodium vulgare), is an herbaceous perennial, and member of the Lamiaceae (mint) family. True Basil is also part of the Lamiaceae family. Being in that family, it has a square stem like so many mint plants that I have growing in my gardens.

Flowers, 1/2 inch long are formed together in fuzzy clumps. Fuzzy because of woolly bracts that surround each of the flowers. Each clump, which generally has about 30 flowers, only has a few flowers blooming at a time.

Milder than its relative, true Basil, Wild Basil has a lovely, though faint fragrance and can be eaten in moderation. The leaves are opposite, covered in fine hairs and have short petioles. The plant’s stems are also covered in fine hairs.

Here, a fuzzy seedhead.

Wild Basil is native to northeastern United States. Bloom time is July and August. Right now!

Correction: Not Creeping Cucumber But Mexican Sour Gherkin

UPDATE: There was great surprise when these cute miniature watermelon looking things were discovered in the vegetable garden. The two of us scratching our heads. What in the world could these be? I immediately put on my detective hat and began digging through the vast world of the Internet. I thought I found the answer and wrote and published the article you have seen, on September 29, 2021.

But there was more to be uncovered, more to be remembered. Several days after I wrote my article on what I believed to be the native plant, Creeping Cucumber (Melothria pendula), which I figured had magically appeared in the garden as natives often do, he had a recollection. Turns out, several weeks before, he found a diminutive plant labeled “Mexican Sour Gherkin” at the Greene Farmer’s Market. He bought it, brought it home and planted it in the vegetable garden. Not giving it much thought beyond the planting and nary a word to me. He had no idea what the plant would look like. What the plant would produce. But it quietly grew, unbeknownst to either of us. Then the discovery of a mystery. Until today. The meeting of minds. The sharing of thoughts. Realization.

The scientific name for Mexican Sour Gherkin is Melothria scabra. A plant nearly identical to the plant I thought we had. Mexican Sour Gherkin is native from Mexico to Venezuela. AND there is no worry about its edibility. We can now enjoy these tiny watermelon looking things with no concern at all.