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Raphanus raphanistrum

Common name:	Wild Radish	Family:	Cruciferae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	17
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Europe, including Britain, from Norway south to N. Africa.
Habitat:	A weed of fields and pastures[9, 17], usually on sandy non-calcareous soils[13]
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	1

Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Knopherik [D], Rabanillo [E], Wild Radish [H,B,L,E,P],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Capparales. Renamed to Brassicaceae -- Mustard family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Spain Us
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: Minnesota, New South Wales.

Physical Characteristics

Annual growing to 1.2m. It is not frost tender. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees and flies. We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 1/5 for medicinal use.

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

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Condiment Flowers Leaves Oil Seed Seedpod.

Young leaves - raw or cooked[2, 105]. A somewhat hot taste, they are finely cut and added to salads or used as a potherb[183]. It is best to use just the young leaves in spring, older leaves soon become bitter[9].
Seed - raw or cooked. A very pungent flavour, the seed can be ground into a powder and made into a paste when it is an excellent substitute for mustard[2, 9, 115, 183].
The sprouted seeds have a somewhat hot spicy flavour and are a tasty addition to salads[183].
Flowers - raw. A nice addition to salads. The flower buds are used as a broccoli substitute, they should be lightly steamed for no more than 5 minutes[9].
Young seedpods - raw. Crisp and juicy, they must be eaten when young because they quickly become tough and fibrous[K].
An edible oil is obtained from the seed[115].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Antirheumatic.

Antirheumatic[13].

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Prefers a rich soil with ample moisture[16, 52]. Dislikes very heavy soils[37].
This plant is a host of an eelworm that attacks cultivated crops[13].
This species is possibly the original source of the cultivated radish, R. sativus[46].
The flowers are very attractive to bees[108].

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in situ. Germination should take place within 2 weeks.

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

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.

[9] Launert. E. Edible and Medicinal Plants. Hamlyn 1981 ISBN 0-600-37216-2
Covers plants in Europe. a drawing of each plant, quite a bit of interesting information.

[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.

[16] Simons. New Vegetable Growers Handbook. Penguin 1977 ISBN 0-14-046-050-0
A good guide to growing vegetables in temperate areas, not entirely organic.

[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.

[37] Thompson. B. The Gardener's Assistant. Blackie and Son. 1878
Excellent general but extensive guide to gardening practices in the 19th century. A very good section on fruits and vegetables with many little known species.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[108] International Bee Research Association. Garden Plants Valuable to Bees. International Bee Research Association. 1981
The title says it all.

[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

Raphanus raphanistrum

Ana Castro (anaml.castro@netcabo.pt) Tue May 7 14:31:47 2002

The portuguese common name is: Saramago

Raphanus raphanistrum

Stephen Mifsud (maltawildplants@marz-kreations.com) Tue Feb 25 11:43:18 2003

Link: Malta Wild Plants Online Database Botanical data, Information and high quality photos

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