Aponogeton distachyos
| Aponogeton distachyos | |
| Light: |  |
| Moisture: |  |
| Hardiness: | 9 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-8.4 |
| Blooms: | Mid Spring-Mid Fall |
| Native to: | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
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Aponogeton distachyos (common name: water hawthorn)
Propagation: Seed - best sown in a pot as soon as it is ripe and kept emmersed in 3cm of water. The seed can also be stored in water and sown in spring[1]. It usually germinates in 1 - 2 months at 20°c[1]. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in just covered in water in a greenhouse for their first winter. Plant them out in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts.
Division can be carried out at any time in the growing season, though mid to late spring is probably best. The divisions can be planted straight out into their permanent positions.
Cultivation: A water plant, growing in water 15 - 60cm deep. it can also grow in wet soil but is then very restricted[2]. It requires a rich soil[2].
The tubers are not winter hardy[2]. Another report says that the plants are hardy in the milder areas of Britain[3]. They have withstood a fairly severe winter in Cornwall, when the ponds had thick ice 30cm or more deep, with very little damage[K].
A very ornamental plant[4], the flowers have a hawthorn-like scent[5].
Range: S. Africa. Occasionally naturalized in Britain[6].
Habitat: Pond margins in water 15 - 60cm deep[4].
Edibility: Tuber - roasted[6][7]. Starchy[8]. Considered to be a great delicacy[9].
Flowering spike - pickled or used as a spinach or asparagus substitute[9][6][10][3][11][12][8].
The young shoots are used as an asparagus substitute[11][12].
The flowers are used as a flavouring[2].
Soil: Can grow in light, medium, and heavy soils.
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
Links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Rice, Graham. Growing from Seed Volume 2. Thompson and Morgan, 1988.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Muhlberg, Helmut. Complete Guide to Water Plants. Sterling Publishing, 1982.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Taylor, Jane. The Milder Garden. Dent, 1990.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chittendon, Fred. RHS Dictionary of Plants. Oxford University Press, 1951.
- ↑ Genders, Roy. Scented Flora of the World. Robert Hale, 1994.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Clapham, Arthur and Tom Tootin, Edmund Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, 1962.
- ↑ Tanaka, Tyōzaburō. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing, 1976.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Facciola, Stephen. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, 1990.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Hedrick, Ulysses. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications, 1972.
- ↑ Uphof, Johannes. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim, 1959.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Brouk, Bohuslav. Plants Consumed by Man. Academic Press, 1975.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Kunkel, Günther. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books, 1984.