Claytonia megarhiza
| Claytonia megarhiza | |
| Light: |  |
| Moisture: |  |
| Hardiness: | 4 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-6.5 |
| Evergreen | |
| Height: | 0.5' |
| Width: | 0.3' |
| Blooms: | Early Spring |
| Native to: | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
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Claytonia megarhiza (common name: alpine spring beauty)
Propagation: Seed - surface sow on a peat based compost in spring in a cold frame. Germination usually takes place within 2 - 4 weeks at 10°c[1]. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the cold frame for at least their first winter. Plant them out in late spring or early summer after the last expected frosts.
Division of offsets in spring or autumn.
Cultivation: Prefers a damp peaty soil and a position in full sun[2][1]. Requires a very well-drained lime-free soil[1][3].
A very cold hardy plant, succeeding outdoors in all parts of Britain, but it is liable to rot if the soil is wet[4][3]. A good plant for the rock garden[4].
Plants are prone to aphis infestation[5].
Range: Western N. America - Washington and southwards.
Habitat: Gravelly soils, rock crevices and high montane regions[4].
Edibility: Root - raw or cooked[6][7][8][9]. Peeled, then boiled or baked[10]. The root is long, fleshy and up to 2.5cm thick[10][3].
Leaves and flowering tops - raw or cooked as a potherb[8][11][10]. Succulent, juicy and mild in flavour[10].
Flowers - raw.
Pollinators: Insects
Soil: Can grow in light and medium soils.
Drainage: Prefers well drained soil.
In Leaf: Evergreen
Seed Ripens: Late Spring
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
Links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Bird, Alfred. Growing from Seed Volume 4. Thompson and Morgan, 1990.
- ↑ Chittendon, Fred. RHS Dictionary of Plants. Oxford University Press, 1951.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Huxley, Anthony. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. MacMillan Press, 1992.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Hitchcock, Leo. Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press, 1955.
- ↑ Brickell, Christopher. The RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers. Dorling Kindersley Publishers, 1990.
- ↑ Hedrick, Ulysses. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications, 1972.
- ↑ Elias, Thomas. A Field Guide to North American Edible Wild Plants. Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1982.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Harrington, Harold. Edible Native Plants of the Rocky Mountains. University of New Mexico Press, 1967.
- ↑ Yanovsky, Elias. Food Plants of the North American Indians Publication 237. US Department of Agriculture.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Facciola, Stephen. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, 1990.
- ↑ Schofield, Janice. Discovering Wild Plants.