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Calla palustris
| Common name: |
Water Arum |
Family: |
Araceae |
| Author: |
L. |
Botanical references: |
200 |
| Synonyms: |
|
| Known Hazards: |
The plant contains calcium oxylate crystals[222]. These cause an extremely unpleasant sensation similar to needles being stuck into the mouth and tongue if they are eaten, but they are easily neutralized by thoroughly drying or cooking the plant or by steeping it in water[65]. |
| Range: |
Europe. Naturalized in Britain[17]. |
| Habitat: |
Forest swamps, moorland marshes, by ponds and streams[10]. |
| Edibility Rating (1-5): |
2 | Medicinal Rating (1-5): | 2 |
| Other Possible Synonyms: | From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below. |
| Caltha palustris[B,DUTCH,E,G,H,HPIC,HORTIPLEX,L,Swal,P]
Caltha polypetala[G]
|
| Other Common Names: | From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below. |
| American Cowslip [H], Bog Arum [L], Drachenwurz [E], Gewone Dotterbloem [D], Marigold,Marsh [E], Marsh Marigold [H,E], Marsh-Marigold [H], Marsh-marigold [L], Slangenwortel [D], Sunergisi [E], Water Arum [P], Water-dragon [B], Wild Call [E], Yellow Marsh-marigold [B], Yellow Marshmarigold [P], |
| Epithets: | From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets |
|
palustris = in bogs;
|
| Systematics: | From a USDA
Plants Database |
|
Order: Arales. Arum family
|
| Other Range Info: |
From the Ethnobotany Database |
|
Europe; Germany; Turkey; Us; Us(Potawatomi); Us(Potawotami)
|
Physical Characteristics
Perennial growing to 0.25m by 0.3m . It is hardy to zone 4. It is in flower from June to July, and the seeds ripen from August to September. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Flies.
We rate it 2/5 for edibility and
2/5 for medicinal use.
The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils.
The plant prefers acid and neutral soils and can grow in very acid soil.
It cannot grow in the shade.
It requires wet soil and can grow in water.
Habitats and Possible Locations
Pond, Bog Garden.Edible Uses
Fruit; Root; Seed.
Rhizome - cooked. It is usually prepared by drying the root, grinding
it into a powder and then thoroughly cooking it to ensure that any
acrimonious principle is completely destroyed. The resulting powder is rich
in starch and can be used as a flour for making bread etc, especially in
conjunction with cereal flours[1, 2, 55, 100, 183]. It is said to be very
tasty[65].
Fruit (does this include the seed?) - it should be dried and then thoroughly
cooked[172]. The dried fruit and rootstalk can be ground into an unpalatable
but nutritious powder[172]. The seed is dried, cooked and ground into a
powder[207].
Medicinal Uses
Disclaimer
Antirheumatic; Poultice.
Antirheumatic. Used in the treatment of colds and flu[172].
A tea made from the dried root has been used in the treatment of flu,
shortness of breath, bleeding and as a poultice on swellings and
snakebites[222, 257].
The aerial stems have been used in the treatment of sore legs[257].
Other Uses
None known
Cultivation details
Requires a wet lime-free humus rich soil by water or in shallow, still
or slowly flowing water in full sun[200]. When grown on the pond margins it
creeps in and out of the water[1]. Succeeds in water up to 25cm deep[188].
Propagation
Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in late summer in a cold frame
in pots standing in about 3cm of water[200]. Sow stored seed as early as
possible in the year in a greenhouse. The germination rate of stored seed is
often poor. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into
individual pots and grow them on in trays of water in the greenhouse for at
least their first winter, planting them out into their permanent positions in
late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts.
Division in spring[200]. Very easy, it is possible to divide this plant at
almost any time in the growing season. Any part of the stem, if placed in
water or a pot of very wet soil, will quickly root away to form a new plant.
Stem cuttings in summer, rooted in wet mud[200].
Suppliers
For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.
Web References
- [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.
- [P] Data.
(uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
- [HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database
References for Caltha palustris (a possible synonym).
- [H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
- [L] Scientific and Common Names (some photos)
from Lepidoptera and some other life forms
- [E] Ethnobotany Data
(common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
- [V] Images
from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A&M Bioinformatics Working Group.
- [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.
- [S] Illustration
from the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine
- [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 calla palustris (a possible synonym).
References for caltha palustris (a possible synonym).
References for the family Araceae.
See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.
Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.
[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.
[10] Altmann. H. Poisonous Plants and Animals. Chatto and Windus 1980 ISBN 0-7011-2526-8
A small book, reasonable but not very detailed.
[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.
[55] Harris. B. C. Eat the Weeds. Pivot Health 1973
Interesting reading.
[65] Frohne. D. and Pfänder. J. A Colour Atlas of Poisonous Plants. Wolfe 1984 ISBN 0723408394
Brilliant. Goes into technical details but in a very readable way. The best work on the subject that I've come across so far.
[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.
[172] Schofield. J. J. Discovering Wild Plants - Alaska, W. Canada and the Northwest.
A nice guide to some useful plants in that area.
[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.
[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.
[207] Coffey. T. The History and Folklore of North American Wild Flowers. Facts on File. 1993 ISBN 0-8160-2624-6
A nice read, lots of information on plant uses.
[222] Foster. S. & Duke. J. A. A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Eastern and Central N. America. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1990 ISBN 0395467225
A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties.
[257] Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany Timber Press. Oregon. 1998 ISBN 0-88192-453-9
Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.
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
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?Calla+palustris
This page (US) http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Calla+palustris
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