Menu list goes here

Herbal Database Search Results

Back to: Pathways Main Search Page For Metaphysical uses visit The Witchs Haven

Butomus umbellatus

Common name:	Flowering Rush	Family:	Butomaceae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	17, 200
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Most of Europe, including Britain, and temperate Asia.
Habitat:	Pond margins, ditches and canals, avoiding shade[13, 17].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	3	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Flowering Rush [H,P], Flowering-rush [L,B], Zwanenbloem [D],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	bella = pretty;
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Alismatales. Flowering Rush family
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: USA Invasive.

Physical Characteristics

Perennial growing to 1m by 0.5m . It is hardy to zone 5. It is in flower from July to September, and the seeds ripen from August to September. The scented flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees, flies and Lepidoptera (Moths & Butterflies). We rate it 3/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires wet soil and can grow in water.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Pond, Bog Garden.

Edible Uses

Root; Seed.

Tuber - cooked[5, 46, 61, 100, 177]. It should be peeled and the rootlets removed[179]. The root can also be dried and ground into a powder[179], it can then be used as a thickener in soups etc, or be added to cereal flours when making bread[2]. It contains more than 50% starch[13].
Seed[1, 2, 5, 177]. No more details are given, but the seed is very small and fiddly to use[K].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Requires a sunny position[200]. A plant of wet habitats, it succeeds in wet soils and in water up to 30cm deep[24, 56].
A very ornamental plant[2]. The flowers have a scent of bitter almonds[245].

Propagation

Seed - best surface-sown in a cold frame as soon as it is ripe, it usually germinates in the spring. The seed quickly loses its vitality if it is not kept moist[200]. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in a tray of water in the cold frame, planting them out into their permanent positions in early summer.
Division in spring[188]. Very easy, larger clumps can be planted direct into their permanent positions. It is best to pot up smaller clumps and grow them on in a cold frame until they are well rooted before planting them out in the summer.

Scent

Flowers: Fresh: The flowers have a scent of bitter almonds.

Suppliers

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

PFAF Web Pages

This plant is mentioned in the following web pages

The Edible Pond and Bog Garden

Web References

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names 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.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for the family Butomaceae.

To be included in the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

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

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[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.

[13] Triska. Dr. Hamlyn Encyclopaedia of Plants. Hamlyn 1975 ISBN 0-600-33545-3
Very interesting reading, giving some details of plant uses and quite a lot of folk-lore.

[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.

[24] Baines. C. Making a Wildlife Garden.
Fairly good with lots of ideas about creating wildlife areas in the garden.

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[56] Muhlberg. H. Complete Guide to Water Plants. E. P. Publishing Ltd. 1982 ISBN 0-7158-0789-7
Deals with a wide range of plants for temperate areas (and indoor aquaria) with quite a lot of information on cultivation techniques.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[100] Polunin. O. Flowers of Europe - A Field Guide. Oxford University Press 1969 ISBN 0192176218
An excellent and well illustrated pocket guide for those with very large pockets. Also gives some details on plant uses.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[179] Reid. B. E. Famine Foods of the Chiu-Huang Pen-ts'ao. Taipei. Southern Materials Centre 1977
A translation of an ancient Chinese book on edible wild foods. Fascinating.

[188] Brickell. C. The RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd. 1990 ISBN 0-86318-386-7
Excellent range of photographs, some cultivation details but very little information on plant uses.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[245] Genders. R. Scented Flora of the World. Robert Hale. London. 1994 ISBN 0-7090-5440-8
An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.

Readers Comments

Sanguisorba officinalis

Lukasz Luczaj (sluczaj@box43.gnet.pl) Sun Mar 10 20:47:00 2002

Dried and ground roots of Sanguisorba officinalis, Butomus umbellatus, Lilium martagon, Lilium spectabile and Typha latifolia were made into flour by Yakuts of Siberia. It was added to a dish called 'butugas'. Source: Maurizo A. 1926 "Pozywienie roslinne i rolnictwo w rozwoju dziejowym", Warsaw. Maurizo quoted the following original source: Sieroszewski W. 1900. "12 lat w kraju Jakutow", Warsaw.

Cross references: Plants: Sanguisorba officinalis, Typha latifolia, Lilium martagon, Lilium spectabile.

Back to: Pathways Home page, Main Search Page Help Bibliography

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
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Butomus+umbellatus
This page (US) http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Butomus+umbellatus

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
(You can copy, distribute, display this works but: Attribution is required, its for Non-Commercial purposes, and it's Share Alike (GNUish/copyleft) i.e. has an identical license.)
We also ask that you let us know (michael@thewitchshaven.com) if you link to, redistribute, make a derived work or do anything groovy with this information.

Home :: View Cart :: Shipping & Returns :: Contact Us :: Log In :: Privacy Policy :: Home :: Philosophy

We make no claims of magical effects or supernatural powers for any item in this catalog. In spite of legendary attributes or occult and craft tradition, such items are offered as curios only and beliefs concerning their magical effectiveness are related only for historical interest.