Friday, 14 April 2023

Spring Beauty - Claytonia perfoliata

 


Also known as Miners' Lettuce this green is having its spring flush just now.  It is an introduced plant that has escaped into the British countryside.  I have grown it as a vegetable crop on my allotment for a couple of years now. Here I am sure it has not been sprayed with herbicide.  It looks rather straggly throughout winter, as below, but then it takes off in advance of everything else. Stalks, leaves and flowers (probably root too) are edible. To my surprise it is still mild in flavour after flowering, bot raw and cooked like spinach or lettuce. High in vitamin C it is said to have been used to combat scurvy.




It is worth growing an overwintered row. Like any overwintered crop it is also worth making next year's sowing plan before sowing!


2 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing something that can be harvested now. It’s usually a rather sparse time of year (though our PSB has been late this year, so we have that)

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  2. I don't fancy foraging either- it's the not knowing what had been done to aything gathered.

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