Spilanthes

On Saturdays I accompany Matt to the farmers market in Dallas, PA, where I help sling loaves in the Mockingbird Bakery stand. Our neighbor, Don of Dancing Hen Farm, often has something interesting on his table. Last week he opened up his van and immediately tempted us with a "surprise" that we couldn't have if we had any family history of epilepsy. That made me a teensy tiny bit wary of the surprise.

But Matt and I are suckers, so we just popped the surprises in our mouths. You know how sometimes experiences are described as eye-popping? I think that's what this was. There was so much intense tingling, accompanied by so much salty saliva... I thought I was gonna lose it. So I did, preemptively, and whilst hiding behind the truck.

The surprise was a Spilanthes (or toothache plant) flower, which this article by Richard A. Cech aptly describes as inspiring an "indescribable profusion of stimulatory responses... as if the teeth have begun to play musical chairs, springing painlessly from their moorage and rioting about in chaotic dance..." I don't really ever want to try another one, but I don't doubt this plant is a good toothache remedy. It's also very pretty, and the whole experience was, if not entirely pleasant, definitely thrilling and educational.