Cicerbita alpina
| Cicerbita alpina | |
| Light: |  |
| Moisture: |  |
| Hardiness: | 4 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-7.3 |
| Self Pollinated | |
| Height: | 3' |
| Width: | 1' |
| Blooms: | Mid Summer-Early Fall |
| Native to: | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Medicinal Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
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Cicerbita alpina (common name: blue sow thistle)
Propagation: Seed - sow spring in a cold frame. Only just cover the seed and do not let the compost dry out. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out into their permanent positions in the summer.
Division in spring[1]. We have found it best to pot up the clumps and grow them on in a cold frame until they are rooting well. Plant them out in the summer or following spring.
Cultivation: Prefers a moist well-drained humus rich neutral to acid light sandy soil and some shade[2][3][4].
Plants are hardy to at least -20°c[3].
Range: Mountainous regions of C. Europe, including Britain, from Norway to the Pyrenees.
Habitat: A very rare native of Scotland, growing on alpine rock in moist places[5].
Edibility: Young shoots and stems - raw[6][7]. The skin is first removed, but the shoots are still rather bitter and unpalatable[6][K].
Older stems can also be peeled and eaten raw[7][8][9] but have a bitter taste[10].
Medicinal: The leaves and milky sap were at one time often used in herbal medicine, though are seldom employed nowadays[6]. They are diuretic and are also applied externally to inflammations[6].
Pollinators: Bees, beetles, lepidoptera
Soil: Can grow in light and medium soils.
Drainage: Prefers well drained soil.
Seed Ripens: Late Summer-Mid Fall
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
Also Known As: Lactuca alpina. Sonchus alpinus.
Links
References
- ↑ Brickell, Christopher. The RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers. Dorling Kindersley Publishers, 1990.
- ↑ Chittendon, Fred. RHS Dictionary of Plants. Oxford University Press, 1951.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Phillips, Roger and Martyn Rix. Perennials - The Definitve Reference. Pan Books, 1991.
- ↑ Huxley, Anthony. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. MacMillan Press, 1992.
- ↑ Clapham, Arthur and Tom Tootin, Edmund Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, 1962.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Grieve, Margaret. A Modern Herbal. Penguin, 1984.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Tanaka, Tyōzaburō. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing, 1976.
- ↑ Kunkel, Günther. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books, 1984.
- ↑ Facciola, Stephen. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, 1990.
- ↑ Hedrick, Ulysses. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications, 1972.