Emilia sonchifolia
| Emilia sonchifolia | |
| Light: |  |
| Moisture: |  |
| Hardiness: | 9 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-8.4 |
| Self Pollinated | |
| Height: | 2' |
| Blooms: | Mid Summer-Mid Fall |
| Native to: | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Medicinal Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
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Emilia sonchifolia (common name: cupid's shaving brush)
Propagation: Seed - sow early spring in a greenhouse and only just cover the seed. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out after the last expected frosts[1][2].
The seed can also be sown outdoors in situ in the middle of spring[1][2].
Cultivation: An easily grown plant[1], succeeding in most well-drained soils in a sunny position[2]. Plants flower better when growing on nutritionally poor soils, producing much lusher growth on rich soils[2]. Plants are drought tolerant once established[2].
Plants are not frost hardy, but they succeed outdoors in Britain as a spring-sown annual[2].
Slugs can be a problem with this plant in a wet spring[2].
The leaves are frequently sold in local markets in Java[3].
Range: Tropical Asia.
Habitat: Waste ground in C. and S. Japan[4]. Moist areas and uncultivated ground at elevations up to 1700 metres in Nepal[5].
Edibility: Leaves and young shoots - raw or cooked[6][7][8][9][10][5]. Used as a vegetable[5]. The whole plant, including the flowers, can be eaten raw or cooked[11]. The leaves are usually harvested and used before the plant flowers[3]. A nutritional analysis of the leaves is available[12].
The powdered plant is used to prepare a cake fermented with yeast (called marcha in Nepal) from which liquor is distilled[5].
Medicinal: A tea made from the leaves is used in the treatment of dysentery[12]. The juice of the leaves is used in treating eye inflammations, night blindness, cuts and wounds and sore ears[13][5].
The plant is astringent, depurative, diuretic, expectorant, febrifuge and sudorific[14][12][5]. It is used in the treatment of infantile tympanites and bowel complaints[13].
The juice of the root is used in the treatment of diarrhoea[13][5].
The flower heads are chewed and kept in the mouth for about 10 minutes to protect teeth from decay[5].
Pollinators: Insects
Soil: Can grow in light, medium, and heavy soils.
Drainage: Prefers well drained soil.
Seed Ripens: Late Summer-Mid Fall
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
Also Known As: Cacalia sonchifolia.
Links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Chittendon, Fred. RHS Dictionary of Plants. Oxford University Press, 1951.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Huxley, Anthony. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. MacMillan Press, 1992.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Facciola, Stephen. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, 1990.
- ↑ Ohwi, Jisaburo. Flora of Japan. Smithsonian Institution, 1965.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Manandhar, Narayan. Plants and People of Nepal. Timber Press, 2002.
- ↑ Hedrick, Ulysses. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications, 1972.
- ↑ Uphof, Johannes. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim, 1959.
- ↑ Usher, George. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable, 1974.
- ↑ Tanaka, Tyōzaburō. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing, 1976.
- ↑ Kunkel, Günther. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books, 1984.
- ↑ Cribb, Alan and Joan Cribb. Wild Food in Australia. Fontana, 1976.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Duke, James and Edward Ayensu. Medicinal Plants of China. Reference Publications, 1985.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Chopra, R. Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, 1986.
- ↑ Revolutionary Health Committee of Hunan Province. A Barefoot Doctors Manual. Running Press.