The American Indian Bread Plant Found in Florida
The Alabama and Seminole Indians traditionally used the roots of the American native cycad called coontie (Zamia floridana) as a food starch in the extreme southeastern U.S. A cycad is a cone-bearing plant that looks like a fern or palm. The Seminole name for coontie is "contihateka," and other English names include Florida arrowroot, Seminole bread and white bread-plant. The coontie's native growing range extends from southeastern Georgia southward across Florida and including many islands of the West Indies. This range correlates to U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 8b and warmer. Some literature uses the outdated botanical synonyms of Zamia pumila or Zamia integrifolia. Does this Spark an idea?
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Plant Description
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Coontie grows as an evergreen clumping perennial, somewhat shrub-like, to a mounding height of 2- to 4-feet and 4- to 6-feet wide. It grows from a starchy underground trunk that may or may not branch. The leaves are dark green, smooth but leathery and resemble a simple fern or palm frond. Coontie does not flower. Plants are either male or female in gender as determined by the cone produced at the plant base in spring. Male cones are slender and shed pollen while female cones are rounder and produce shiny red seeds that are shed in autumn.
The Starchy Root
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The deep taproot of the coontie contains neurotoxins and cannot be safely eaten fresh. No other parts of the plant should be eaten, especially the seeds. The "breadroot" needs to be first rinsed and fermented. According to Diana L. Immel of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Plant Data Center, the roots are cut up and mashed with mortar and pestle and then soaked in water so starch settles to the bottom of the container. The water is drained, and the starch muck ferments for several days. The powdery starch is fully dried in the sun, thereafter used like flour to make bread.
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Growing Coontie
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Coontie is a subtropical plant that tolerates mild subfreezing temperatures. Grow it outdoors in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 8 and warmer. Coontie tolerates partial, dappled shade as well as full sun exposures in any fertile, moist but well-drained soil. Plants in lightly shaded gardens develop more robustly than those in full sun. It also may be grown in containers and as a houseplant if given adequate light. However, it is slow growing and resents transplanting since it disrupts or destroys the roots. Harvesting wild coontie plants is unethical as they are protected and regulated in Florida as part of the Commercially Exploited Plant List.
Distribution in Florida
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Two distinct forms of coontie grow across the Sunshine State, both now increasingly rare from habitat destruction with development. The thin-leaf form dominated along the east coast from St. Lucie County to the Keys and on the west coast from Taylor County to the Everglades. The wider leaf coontie grew widely in a pocket from Jacksonville to Brevard County in the vicinity of the St. John's River basin and slightly inland. Today, coontie is widely used as an ornamental plant, especially in Central and South Florida landscapes.
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