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Aphanes arvensis

Common name:	Parsley Piert	Family:	Rosaceae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	17
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Most of Europe, including Britain, east to Iran in W. Asia.
Habitat:	Arable and dry stony ground and old walls on acid and basic soils.[5, 17, 165]
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	3

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	A. occidentalis[B,C,P] Alchemilla arvensis[B,G,P] Alchemilla cuneifolia[B,P] Alchemilla occidentalis[B,G,P]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Alquimila Arvense [E], Field Parsley Piert [P], Field Parsley-piert [B], Grote Leeuwenklauw [D], Parsley Piert [L],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	arvensis = of cultivated fields
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Rosales. Rose family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Spain

Physical Characteristics

Annual growing to 0.05m by 0.2m . It is not frost tender. It is in flower from April to October, and the seeds ripen from July to November. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs). The plant is self-fertile. We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 3/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils, requires well-drained soil and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils and can grow in very acid and very alkaline soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires dry or moist soil and can tolerate drought.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Lawn, Cultivated Beds, In Walls, In South Wall, In East Wall, In West Wall.

Edible Uses

Leaves.

Leaves - eaten raw in salads or pickled for winter use[4, 5, 52, 183]. The plant is rarely eaten nowadays[238].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Astringent Demulcent Diuretic Refrigerant.

Parsley piert has a long history of folk use, being commonly employed to rid the body of stones in the kidney or bladder. It has become a highly respected herb in modern herbalism for the treatment of kidney stones[268].
The whole herb is astringent, demulcent, diuretic and refrigerant[4, 53, 165]. It is used mainly as an infusion in the treatment of kidney and bladder complaints (including cystitis and recurrent urinary infections), jaundice etc[4, 238]. A very valuable remedy, acting violently but safely by promoting the flow of urine[4], it is often used in combination with other herbs[238, 254]. The plant is harvested in early summer and can be used fresh or dried[238]. The herb is considered to be most efficacious when it is freshly collected and dried[238].

We have a more details factsheet on the history and medicinal use of this plant. Email webmaster@pfaf.org for details.

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Succeeds in most well-drained soils in full sun or partial shade[238]. The plant tolerates stony or gravelly soils as well as both acid and alkaline conditions[238]. It grows well in a short lawn[53].
This is an aggregate species that contains a number of very closely related species[17].

Propagation

Seed - sow autumn in situ. The seed is best sown in dry weather[238].

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

Details of Medicinal Uses, Habitats, etc. in M. Grieve A Modern Herbal (1931) [4]
[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[4] Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Penguin 1984 ISBN 0-14-046-440-9
Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.

[5] Mabey. R. Food for Free. Collins 1974 ISBN 0-00-219060-5
Edible wild plants found in Britain. Fairly comprehensive, very few pictures and rather optimistic on the desirability of some of the plants.

[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.

[52] Larkcom. J. Salads all the Year Round. Hamlyn 1980
A good and comprehensive guide to temperate salad plants, with full organic details of cultivation.

[53] De. Bray. L. The Wild Garden.
Interesting reading.

[165] Mills. S. Y. The Dictionary of Modern Herbalism.
An excellent small herbal.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[238] Bown. D. Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. Dorling Kindersley, London. 1995 ISBN 0-7513-020-31
A very well presented and informative book on herbs from around the globe. Plenty in it for both the casual reader and the serious student. Just one main quibble is the silly way of having two separate entries for each plant.

[254] Chevallier. A. The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants Dorling Kindersley. London 1996 ISBN 9-780751-303148
An excellent guide to over 500 of the more well known medicinal herbs from around the world.

[268] Stuart. M. (Editor) The Encyclopedia of Herbs and Herbalism Orbis Publishing. London. 1979 ISBN 0-85613-067-2
Excellent herbal with good concise information on over 400 herbs.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
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