3 ms·

Bhoochakara Gadda https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wTzOU-tt4U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wTzOU-tt4U

• Renaud 5y ago
  Seems more likely. Texture and size seem to match the article. Good find.
  • vore 5y ago
    Doesn't the article debunk this in the first paragraphs? That night, I googled Bhoochakara Gadda. There wasn’t much. Wikipedia identified the scientific name of the plant as Maerua oblongifolia, but had no photos of it. Maerua oblongifolia is a low, woody, undershrub found in India, Pakistan, parts of Africa, and Saudi Arabia, whose tubers are sold as snacks and used as a stimulant in the ancient medicine system of Siddha, I read. Research papers showed its leaves and flowers but not the root. So I decided to dig in. I had a breakthrough a few months later when I came across a thesis paper by Dr. MS Rathore, who had propagated Maerua oblongifolia in the lab in 2011. He had seen the tree many times in the desert state of Rajasthan. “But I haven’t heard or seen anybody eating the root,” the scientist said over a call, sounding puzzled. “Its roots are sparse and inedible,” added Dr. NS Shekhawat, his thesis adviser and a retired professor of botany. “Growing in dry regions, where will it have so much water to develop big roots and be fat and juicy? [The snack] can’t be Maerua oblongifolia.” Additionally, the plant in the video looks nothing like Maerua oblongifolia: http://inaturalist.org/taxa/505837-Maerua-oblongifolia http://inaturalist.org/taxa/505837-Maerua-oblongifolia