Beggar's Lice and Greenbriar Traditional Cache
Beggar's Lice and Greenbriar
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Beggar's Lice and Greenbriar...the scourge of geocachers.
We have all had our encounters with these two devil plants. Cuts from the greenbriar and trips to WalMart to buy new socks and shoe laces after having to throw away ones covered with the velcro beggar's lice. You will get to experience LOTS of both during your three and a half + mile hike to find this cache.
Very few know of the benficial uses for these two plants.
Beggar's lice which looks much like Queen Anne's Lace is known as the plant that wants to “conquer the world”. Interestingly, it is a plant that is protected in England. It is used in Chinese medicine for bug bites, diarrhea and snakebite. Folk Medicine uses are for appendicitis, diarrhea, and rheumatism. The leaves were used to make a tea by the Cherokee to expel worms and the leaves were also chewed as a remedy for sore throat.
Greenbriar young shoots can be eaten raw or cooked and are said to taste like asparagus. It's powdered roots can be used to make a concoction as a remedy for the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. As early as 1590, it was used as a cure for syphilis. Native Americans used stem segments to rub on skin to relieve pain and muscle cramps, tea from leaves and stems for rheumatism and stomach troubles, and tea from the roots to help expel afterbirth.
MustanJoni and I were in the neighborhood hunting xfalcon1's “REDHEAD~Hawk Alley” and SweepGuy's “Sit and take a rest” and thought that the area needed another cache. I highly recommend doing these caches also while here.
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