Extension Communications
Extension 4-H Youth Building
Ames, Iowa 50011-3630
(515) 294-9915
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Extension Communications |
7/1/04
Contacts:
Linda Naeve, Reiman Gardens, (515) 294-8946, lnaeve@iastate.edu
Jean McGuire, Continuing Education and Communication Services, (515) 294-7033,
jmcguire@iastate.edu
For the week of June 28, 2004
Take a Peek at the Peek-A-Boo Plant
Linda Naeve
Extension Coordinator
Reiman Gardens
Iowa State University
Not only is the name whimsical, but this week's Reiman's Pick, the peek-a-boo plant, also known as the toothache plant, has some strange sensory characteristics as well.
Long ago, someone must have been surprised when they decided to munch on the blooms of this plant and found it caused drooling and numbness. Although it is not something most of us would try today, chewing on these flowers was used as an effective, temporary relief from toothache pain, similar to the local anesthetic effect of Novacain®. These flowers were also used by natives in the tropics as a urinary antiseptic and as a preventative treatment against malaria. The active ingredient, an antiseptic alkaloid known as Spilanthol, is found throughout the plant, with the highest concentration in the flowers.
The peek-a-boo plant, Spilanthes oleraceae, is a unique, little-known annual garden flower that is native to tropical regions. It is a member of the same plant family as asters, daisies and coneflowers, but the flowers look quite different. At first glance, the blooms on a peek-a-boo plant resemble daisy-like flowers but with all the petals removed and only the round centers left at the ends of the stems. The blooms are olive-shaped, about one inch in length, and yellow with a dark red center. Because these strange flowers look like the eyeballs of a large animal or alien creature, its common name is peek-a-boo or even eyeball plant.
Peek-a-boo plants grow only 12 to 15 inches tall and about 18 inches across. They are covered with blooms from mid-June through September, making them excellent accent plants, edgers in a border garden or container specimens. They coordinate and contrast well with yellow or red-blooming plants and many coleus varieties because of their unusual flowers and dark, bronze-green foliage and red stems.
Peek-a-boo plants prefer a location that receives full sun to partial shade. The soil should be kept moderately moist. Saturated, soggy soils results in poor growth and possible stem rot. Space the plants approximately 10 to 12 inches apart in the garden. Peek-a-boo plants are easy to grow because they are rarely attacked by insects, diseases or rabbits.
Whatever, you chose to call them - toothache plants, eyeball plants or peek-a-boo plants - you will find them at Reiman Gardens looking back at you from the edges of perennial borders and containers.
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Editors: A color photo, suitable for publication, is available at right. Click on the thumbnail photo to go to the fullsized photo. The picture's fullsize photo is 432K. Caption: The peek-a-boo plant, also known as the toothache plant and eyeball plant, is a unique, annual garden flower that grows only 12 to 15 inches tall. It produces an abundance of round, 1-inch diameter, yellow flowers with dark red centers that resemble large eyeballs. It grows well when planted in full sun to partial shade. |
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