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Conopodium majus

Common name:	Pignut	Family:	Umbelliferae
Author:	(Golian.)Loret.	Botanical references:	17
Synonyms:	Conopodium denudatum (Koch.), Bunium flexuosum (Stokes.)
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Europe, including Britain, from Norway to Spain, east to Italy and Corsica.
Habitat:	Woods, hedgerows and fields. It is never found on alkaline soils[12].
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.
	Earth Nut [H], Franse Aardkastanje [D], Pig-nut [H],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Apiales. Renamed to Apiaceae -- Carrot family

Physical Characteristics

Perennial growing to 0.3m. It is not frost tender. It is in flower from May to June, and the seeds ripen from July to August. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Insects. The plant is self-fertile. 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 and neutral soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Hedgerow, Woodland, Cultivated Beds, Sunny Edge, Dappled Shade, Shady Edge.

Edible Uses

Root.

Tubers - raw or cooked[2, 5, 12, 17, 63, 100]. A very pleasant food with a flavour somewhat between a sweet potato and hazelnuts, with a hot aftertaste of radish[115, 183, K]. We have never detected this hot aftertaste, and feel that the flavour is reminiscent of brazil nuts[K]. There is only one tuber on each plant, this is rather small and difficult to harvest, but the size could probably be increased by cultivation[115, K].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Never found on alkaline soils in the wild[12]. See the plants native habitat for other ideas on its cultivation needs.
This species responds to cultivation by producing larger tubers[115]. With careful selective breeding it is probably possible to produce a much more productive plant[K].

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in a cold frame. Germination is usually quick and good[K]. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots as soon as they are large enough to handle and plant them out when in early summer.
It is also possible to sow in situ, though this requires a lot more seed to produce the same amount of plants from a protected sowing.
Division in late summer as the plant dies down.

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

Web References

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic 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

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

[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.

[12] Loewenfeld. C. and Back. P. Britain's Wild Larder. David and Charles ISBN 0-7153-7971-2
A handy pocket guide.

[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.

[63] Howes. F. N. Nuts. Faber 1948
Rather old but still a masterpiece. Has sections on tropical and temperate plants with edible nuts plus a section on nut plants in Britain. Very readable.

[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.

[115] Johnson. C. P. The Useful Plants of Great Britain.
Written about a hundred years ago, but still a very good guide to the useful plants of Britain.

[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.

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

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