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Legousia speculum-veneris

Common name:	Venus' Looking Glass	Family:	Campanulaceae
Author:	(L.)Chaix.	Botanical references:	93, 200
Synonyms:	Specularia speculum-veneris ((L.)A.DC.)
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Europe to W. Asia.
Habitat:	Pinus sylvestris forests, fields and open places to 1900 metres in Turkey[93].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Campanula speculum-veneris[G] Githopsis latifolia[B,P] L.[H] Specularia speculumveneris[H]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	European Venus' Looking Glass [P], European-venus'-looking-glass [B], Groot Spiegelklokje [D], Large Venus's-looking-glass [L], Venus's Looking Glass [H],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	speculum = mirror
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Campanulales. Bellflower family

Physical Characteristics

Annual growing to 0.3m. . It is in flower from May to July. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs). We rate it 2/5 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 moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Leaves.

Leaves - raw[2, 105, 177].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

An easily grown plant, succeeding in a sunny position in an ordinary good garden soil[1, 200].

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in situ and only just cover the seed[200].

Suppliers

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

Web References

[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

References for Specularia speculum-veneris (a possible synonym).

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names 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

[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.

[93] Davis. P. H. Flora of Turkey. Edinburgh University Press 1965
Not for the casual reader, this is an immense work in many volumes. Some details of plant uses and habitats.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[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.

[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.

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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