Streptopus roseus
Michx.
Scootberry, Rosybells
What to Eat
Edible parts: Fruit, Leaves, Shoots
Young leaves and shoots are added to salads to impart a cucumber flavour. They can also be cooked and used as greens. Fruit - raw or cooked. A sweetish flavour, though it is said to be cathartic if eaten in quantity, especially if you have not eaten this fruit before. A watermelon flavour. The fruit is about 12mm in diameter.
Where to Find It
Eastern N. America - Newfoundland to Manitoba, south to Georgia and Michigan.
NORTHERN AMERICA: Canada, Québec, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Alberta, Manitoba, British Columbia, United States, Alaska, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia,
How to Identify
Streptopus roseus is a PERENNIAL growing to 0.5 m (1ft 8in) by 0.3 m (1ft). See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 3. It is in flower from May to July, and the seeds ripen from September to October. The species is hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs). Suitable for: light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils. Suitable pH: mildly acid, neutral and basic (mildly alkaline) soils. It can grow in full shade (deep woodland) or semi-shade (light woodland). It prefers moist soil.
How to Grow
Requires a cool leafy soil in shade or partial shade. Thrives in a moist light soil containing organic matter. Hardy to at least -20°c. A very ornamental plant.
Propagation: Seed - best sown in a cold frame as soon as it is ripe in the summer. Sow stored seed in a cold frame as soon as it is received. The seed, especially if it has been stored, can be very slow to germinate, sometimes taking 18 months or more. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots once they are large enough to handle and grow them on in a shady part of the greenhouse or cold frame. It will normally take 2 or more growing seasons before the roots are large enough to plant out - this is best done when the plant is dormant in the autumn. Division as the plant comes into growth in early spring. Larger divisions can be planted out direct into their permanent positions. We have found that it is best to pot up smaller divisions and grow them on in light shade in a greenhouse or cold frame for their first year, planting them out in the following spring.
Medicinal Uses
Cathartic Diaphoretic Ophthalmic Pectoral Tonic Women's complaints. The fruit is cathartic. An infusion of the roots has been used in the treatment of a fallen womb. A cough syrup can be made from the root. A poultice of the steeped root has been applied to the eyes in the treatment of sties. The flowers are diaphoretic. They can be used to induce sweating in the treatment of colds and fevers. The plant is tonic. An infusion of the plant has been used in the treatment of coughs.
Names & Synonyms
Rose twisted stalk, rosybells, rose mandarin, scootberry, liverberry, rose-bellwort.
