![]() ![]() Although this plant did not come from the Cape region, its early cultivation and derivation of the name is interesting. Gordon Rowley in “Succulent Compositae” notes that he could “find no scientific evidence to support its supposed beneficial properties. In the 1928 "Standard Cyclopedia of American Horticulture" by L.H Bailey this plant is described as being one of the earliest of the "Cape plants" to be cultivated in Europe, with plantings dated around 1570, and that the name "anteuphorbium", or Ante-euphorbium as it was commonly called, was in reference to its being "a reputed antidote against the acrid poison of the Cape Euphorbia ". Trim out low horizontal stems as needed to show off the more upright ones. Makes an interesting and wild plant in the garden or in a large pot. Though often listed for frost free gardens this plant has proven stem hardy to 25° F during our January 2007 freeze. Plant in full sun to light shade and give little to no irrigation but with occasional summer irrigation will hold the leaves on the stems which otherwise fall off. This plant comes from North and Northeast Africa from Morocco to the Arabian Peninsula. Although not particularly showy in bloom the flowers lightly sweet fragrance is a pleasant surprise given the usually fetid smelling flowers of other succulent Senecio species. In fall appear the fragrant rayless flowers that have white disk flowers with yellow stigmas and anthers. Senecio anteuphorbium (Swizzle Sticks) - A summer dormant deciduous shrub that has a generally upright growth habit to 3 to 5 feet tall with long arching pale gray green segmented round stems striated with darker longitudinal lines and small gray-green lanceolate leaves that lie appressed along the stems near the branch tips. Your bartender might swizzle up a tropical storm with a plastic stirrer, but remember: Actual swizzle sticks only come from one place, and that’s the swizzlestick tree.Senecio anteuphorbium at San Marcos Growers But today, the Oxford Dictionary defines the beverage as “a mixed alcoholic drink, especially a frothy one of rum or gin and bitters.”īy modern definition, the act of “swizzling” (that is, stirring with a fancy tool) makes the drink “a swizzle” and the tool “a swizzle stick.” But this doesn’t give credit to the original, obscure Caribbean tree that inspired so many imitations. According to a 1908 account of historical beverages in the West Indies, the recipe for a “swizzle” is “six parts of water to one of rum and an aromatic flavouring.” Brought to the Caribbean by British imperialists, the swizzle cocktail is a relative of the colonial American refresher known as switchel. A drink named after the tool, however, has been around since the 18th century or earlier. ![]() No one knows when West Indians first started using the stick to mix their beverages. In California, the plastic flamingo that graces the iconic tiki cocktail known as the Zombie gets called a swizzle stick, even though it bears no resemblance to its natural namesake. But its associated function-swizzling-is recognized around the world, leading to countless adaptations. ![]() When dunked in an unmixed cocktail and rolled between one’s palms, the sticks work much like simplified immersion blenders.īecause the swizzlestick tree grows almost exclusively in the Caribbean (specifically on the southern islands of Antigua, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Trinidad, and Martinique), the species is relatively unknown elsewhere. These small, perennial plants sprout branches that end in tiny spokes, which spread out like the points of a star. ![]() For something to be a true swizzle stick, it must come from the Caribbean swizzlestick tree, or Quararibea turbinata. The verb “to swizzle” is simply defined as “to stir (a drink) with a swizzle stick.” But what is a swizzle stick, exactly? Some might imagine a plastic cocktail stirrer topped with figures of exotic flora or fauna, while others think of a polished wooden stick encrusted with colored rock sugar.īut those are mere imposters. ![]()
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