Chenopodium ficifolium

'Fig-Leaved Goosefoot'

Chenopodiaceae: An annual growing to 90cm. Found on arable land, manure heaps and waste places. Flowers in a slender, branched panicle. Blooming from July to September. Leaves are three lobed with the central lobe much larger than the others and parallel sided. The uppermost leaves are generally narrower and unlobed, green and mealy. Native to Central and southern Europe, including Britain, south and east to N. Africa and central Asia.

USES:

The leaves can be used raw or cooked, and are a very acceptable spinach substitute, the taste is a little bland, but this can be improved by adding a few stronger-flavoured leaves. Archaeologists analysing carbonized plant remains found in storage pits and ovens at Iron Age, Viking Age, and Roman sites in Europe have found its seeds mixed with conventional grains and even inside the stomachs of Danish bog bodies.

Fat hen has some gentle medicinal properties and is a very nutritious and healthy addition to the diet. The leaves have anthelmintic, antiphlogistic, antirheumatic, mildly laxative, and odontalgic properties. An infusion is taken in the treatment of rheumatism. The leaves can be applied as a wash or poultice to bug bites, sunstroke, rheumatic joints and swollen feet, whilst a decoction is used for carious teeth. The seeds are chewed in the treatment of urinary problems and are considered useful for relieving the discharge of semen through the urine, the juice of the stems is also said to good on freckles and sunburn.

GROWING INFORMATION:

Surface sow seeds in spring or autumn, germination should be good, but if it fails, your seeds will have gone dormant, and they will need a cold treatment or a soak in a GA3- Gibberellic acid. Grow on in a sunny spot in a high nitrogen soil. Very easy!

GA3- Gibberellic acid: soak the seeds for 24hr in a solution of GA3 [Gibberellic Acid], this is a natural plant hormone, used for the stimulation of germination of difficult seeds. it’s easy to get a hold of on the net, and it is the bee’s knees when it comes to this species. soak for 24hr, then sow a 15-20°C for germination in 1-2 weeks.

HARVESTED: 2019

 

APPROX. 200+ SEEDS