Talk:Psoralidium tenuiflorum

This is actually a poisonous plant, and inedible -the sources are bad!
Lucky the thin woody taproot is also impossible to harvest, and so distasteful poisonings are rare -but poisoning by this plant causes a disease in sheep where they ram their head into a wall until they die. Don't believe Wikipedia! 86.83.56.115 (talk) 19:52, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Can you cite a reliable source for this information? Cwmhiraeth (talk) 20:06, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Yup, I can! Here's another ref, and another. As far as I can tell, what has happened is that the old common name was Indian turnip, and that caused George Usher, the author of the 1974 work A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man, to be confused with the species Psoralea esculenta (which it resembles). He appears to be the first to claim it can be eaten. Let me see if I can find a copy, if Usher also claims it has succulent tubers (which looks likely), he's clearly mistaken. This species is differentiated from its congeners by being the only Psoralidium with a rootstock which goes vertically down, instead of growing horizontally. No Psoralidium species have tubers. Cwmhiraeth, do you know Dr. Duke's Database? If there is no mention of a US plant being eaten in this database, it's a reason to be suspicious. 86.83.56.115 (talk) 21:06, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Nope, oldest source is H. D. Harrington, Edible Native Plants of the Rocky Mountains, 1967, who claims it was consumed dried and pounded by the Kiowa. I have a good book about this group, see if I can corroborate him... 86.83.56.115 (talk) 21:43, 2 June 2021 (UTC)