Leontodon hispidus
| Leontodon hispidus | |
| Light: |  |
| Moisture: |  |
| Hardiness: | 6 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-8.4 |
| Self Pollinated | |
| Height: | 1' |
| Blooms: | Early Summer-Early Fall |
| Meadows | |
| Native to: | |
| Shelter | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Medicinal Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
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Leontodon hispidus (common name: rough hawkbit)
Propagation: Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in situ, only just covering the seed. Very fast germination.
The seed can also be sown in the spring.
If you are short of seed it can be sown in a pot in the cold frame. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in early summer.
Cultivation: An easily grown and tolerant plant[K], it prefers a sunny position in a well-drained soil[1] and does well on clay.
A good bee and butterfly plant[2][1], it grows well in the spring meadow[3].
Range: Europe, including Britain, from Scandanavia south and east to Spain, the Caucasus and Iran.
Habitat: Meadows, roadside verges etc, usually on calcareous soils and avoiding shade[4][5].
Edibility: Young leaves - raw or cooked[4][6]. Neither the taste nor the texture are by any means wonderful, but the leaves are acceptable raw, particularly since they can be available in the late winter.
The roasted root is a coffee substitute[7][8][9].
Medicinal: The herb is diuretic[10]. An infusion is used in the treatment of kidney complaints and as a remedy for dropsy and jaundice[10].
Pollinators: Bees, flies, beetles, lepidoptera, self
Soil: Can grow in light, medium, and heavy soils.
Drainage: Prefers well drained soil.
Seed Ripens: Mid Summer-Early Fall
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
Heavy Clay: Grows in heavy-clay soils.
Links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Huxley, Anthony. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. MacMillan Press, 1992.
- ↑ International Bee Research Association. Garden Plants Valuable to Bees. International Bee Research Association, 1981.
- ↑ Baines, Chris. Making a Wildlife Garden.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Loewenfeld, Claire and Philippa Back. Britain's Wild Larder. David and Charles.
- ↑ Clapham, Arthur and Tom Tootin, Edmund Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, 1962.
- ↑ Polunin, Oleg. Flowers of Europe. Oxford University Press, 1969.
- ↑ Uphof, Johannes. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim, 1959.
- ↑ Usher, George. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable, 1974.
- ↑ Facciola, Stephen. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, 1990.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Grieve, Margaret. A Modern Herbal. Penguin, 1984.