Cardamine bulbifera
(L.) Crantz.
Coral root
(c) Leonid Rasran, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Leonid Rasran
(c) else15, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by else15
(c) Degtyarev Nikolai Ivanovich, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Degtyarev Nikolai Ivanovich
What to Eat
Edible parts: Leaves, Root
The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked and have a hot, cress-like flavour. The bulbils are also edible raw or cooked; they are quite small — roughly the size of a lentil — but have a pleasant, mild cress-like flavour. The root can be eaten raw or cooked as well; it has a hot flavour and is pleasant, though it is rather small.
Where to Find It
It is a temperate plant.
Britain, Europe, Luxembourg, Slovenia,
How to Identify
Cardamine bulbifera is a perennial growing to 0.5 m tall, hardy to UK zone 4 and not frost tender. Flowers April to June with seeds ripening May to July. Hermaphroditic and self-fertile, insect-pollinated. Tolerates light sandy, medium loamy, and heavy clay soils, including very alkaline soils. Grows in semi-shade or full sun and prefers moist soil.
How to Grow
Propagation: Seed is best sown when ripe, or in spring if that is not possible. Where seed is plentiful it can be sown in situ; otherwise sow in pots in a cold frame and prick out seedlings into individual pots when large enough to handle, planting out in summer. Bulbils can be collected in early summer and potted up, overwintered in a cold frame, and planted out when in active growth in spring.
Medicinal Uses
None known.
Other Uses
None known.
Wikipedia
Source ↗Cardamine bulbifera, known as coralroot bittercress or coral root, is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. It is a perennial with upright, mostly unbranched, stems to 70 cm (28 in) tall, and leaves made up of between three and 13 leaflets. At the base of each leaf there are bulbils which can fall off and grow into new plants. The flowers have petals that are 10–15 mm (0.4–0.6 in) long collected in corymbose few-flowered racemes and are generally light purple, pink or almost white. It is found in damp places.
Notes
There are about 160 Cardamine species. They are mostly in damp places in temperate regions.
Names & Synonyms
Brstična konopnica
References (2)
- Plants for a Future database, The Field, Penpol, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, PL22 0NG, UK. http://www.scs.leeds.ac.uk/pfaf/
- www.theplantlist.org
