Cardamine pratensis 

'Cuckoo Flower'

[Ex. Co. Durham, England]

Brassicaceae: a variable perennial of damp, grassy places to 50cm. The attractive flowers are pale lilac or white, and appear from April-June. Widespread and locally common. Native to most of Europe, including Britain, Northern Asia and North America.

USES:

The leaves and young shoots can be eaten raw or cooked. Rich in vitamins and minerals, especially vitamin C, but with a bitter and pungent flavour. The leaves and young shoots are harvested in the spring and taste rather like water cress. The leaves can be available early in the year and when used in small quantities make a very acceptable addition to salads. The flowers and flower buds can be used raw, these have a pungent cress-like flavour. The white flowers are very attractive, they make a pleasant nibble and also add a delicious flavour to salads.

Cuckoo flower is seldom used in herbalism, though an infusion of the leaves has been used to treat indigestion and promote appetite. The leaves and the flowering plant have antirheumatic, antiscorbutic, antispasmodic, carminative, digestive, diuretic, stimulant properties.

GROWING INFORMATION:

Succeeds in most soils so long as they are moist or wet. Prefers a cool damp soil. Succeeds in full sun or partial shade. Food plant for the orange tip butterfly.

Surface sow seeds in spring, and plant out in autumn or the following spring. EASY.

HARVESTED:

 
APPROX. 100 SEEDS