Honckenya peploides
| Honckenya peploides | |
| Light: |  |
| Moisture: |   |
| Hardiness: | 5 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-8.4 |
| Self Pollinated | |
| Height: | 1' |
| Width: | 3' |
| Speed: | Moderate |
| Blooms: | Late Spring-Late Summer |
| Native to: | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
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Honckenya peploides (common name: sea sandwort)
Propagation: Seed - sow March in a cold frame. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and plant them out in the summer.
Division in early spring. Very easy, larger clumps can be replanted direct into their permanent positions, though it is best to pot up smaller clumps and grow them on in a cold frame until they are rooting well. Plant them out in the spring.
Cultivation: Requires a well-drained soil and an open sunny position. Plants are tolerant of short periods of immersion in salt water[1]. When well sited, the plant can spread quite freely at the roots[K].
Grows well in an outdoor bed at Kew[K].
Range: Coasts of temperate and arctic regions of Eurasia, including Britain, and N. America.
Habitat: By sea coasts on mobile sand and sandy shingle[1].
Edibility: Young shoots - raw or cooked and used as a potherb[2][3][4]. A sour taste[5]. A delicious flavour, they are rich in vitamins A and C[6][5]. They are at their best before the plant flowers[6]. The leaves can also be fermented and used like sauerkraut[7][5]. In Iceland the plant is steeped in sour whey and allowed to ferment. The resulting liquor is said to taste like olive oil and is used as a beverage[4].
Seed - used as a garnish or ground into a powder and added to flour[6]. Very fiddly to harvest[6].
Pollinators: Insects, wind, wind-blown sand, self
Soil: Can grow in light and medium soils.
Drainage: Prefers well drained soil.
Wind: Tolerates maritime wind exposure
Seed Ripens: Mid Summer-Early Fall
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
Also Known As: Arenaria peploides.
Links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Clapham, Arthur and Tom Tootin, Edmund Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, 1962.
- ↑ Hedrick, Ulysses. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications, 1972.
- ↑ Usher, George. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable, 1974.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Facciola, Stephen. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, 1990.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Moerman, Daniel. Native American Ethnobotany. Timber Press, 1998.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Schofield, Janice. Discovering Wild Plants.
- ↑ Sowerby, John. The Useful Plants of Great Britain. 1862.