Veronica beccabunga
| Veronica beccabunga | |
| Light: |   |
| Moisture: |  |
| Hardiness: | 5 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-8.4 |
| Self Pollinated | |
| Height: | 2' |
| Blooms: | Late Spring-Early Fall |
| Open Woods Forest | |
| Native to: | |
| Shelter | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Medicinal Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
 | |
Veronica beccabunga (common name: brooklime)
Propagation: Seed - sow autumn in a cold frame. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in the summer.
If you have sufficient, the seed can be sown in situ in the spring or the autumn.
Division at almost any time in the growing season. Very easy, even a small part of the plant will root if put in water[K].
Cultivation: Easily grown in a moderately fertile wet soil, growing best in water up to 15cm deep[1][2]. Prefers cool summers[2]. Plants do not demand high light levels[2].
A good bee plant[1].
Range: Europe, incl Britain, from Norway south and east to N. Africa, temperate Asia to Japan and Himalayas
Habitat: In streams, ditches, ponds and wet places in meadows, in acid or alkaline soils[3][4].
Edibility: Leaves - raw or cooked[5][6][7][8]. They can be added to salads, mixed with water cress or cooked with other strongly flavoured greens[3][9]. A pungent flavour, although the leaves are wholesome they are not very palatable[6][10].
Medicinal: The whole plant is alterative, antiscorbutic, very mildly diuretic, emmenagogue and febrifuge[6][3][11][12]. It is of little benefit as a medicinal herb, but has a beneficial laxative effect when included in the diet[3]. The leaves are used in the treatment of scurvy, impurity of the blood etc[13]. The plant is bruised and applied externally as a politic on burns, ulcers, whitlows, etc[13].
Pollinators: Flies, bees, self
Soil: Can grow in light, medium, and heavy soils.
Seed Ripens: Mid Summer-Early Fall
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
Links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Baines, Chris. Making a Wildlife Garden.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Huxley, Anthony. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. MacMillan Press, 1992.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Launert, Edmund. Edible and Medicinal Plants. Hamlyn, 1981.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Grieve, Margaret. A Modern Herbal. Penguin, 1984.
- ↑ Mabey, Richard. Food for Free. Collins, 1974.
- ↑ Sowerby, John. The Useful Plants of Great Britain. 1862.
- ↑ Facciola, Stephen. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, 1990.
- ↑ Loewenfeld, Claire and Philippa Back. Britain's Wild Larder. David and Charles.
- ↑ Triska, Jan. Encyclopaedia of Plants. Hamlyn, 1975.
- ↑ Lust, John. The Herb Book. Bantam Books, 1983.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Chopra, R. Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, 1986.