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Samolus valerandi

Common name:	Brookweed	Family:	Primulaceae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	17, 200
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Most regions of the world, including Britain, usually near the sea.
Habitat:	Wet places, especially near the sea[17], also in shallow water, avoiding acid soils and shade[56].
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.
	Brookweed [E,L], Pamplina De Agua [E], Seaside Brookweed [B,P], Wanterpunge [D],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Primulales. Primrose family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Britain(Wales) Spain Us

Physical Characteristics

Perennial growing to 0.3m. It is hardy to zone 6. It is in flower from June to August, and the seeds ripen from July to August. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs). The plant is self-fertile. 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 neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires moist or wet soil and can grow in water. The plant can tolerate maritime exposure.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Pond, Bog Garden.

Edible Uses

Leaves.

Young leaves - raw or cooked[46, 61]. A rather bitter flavour[K].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Antiscorbutic.

The leaves are antiscorbutic[46, 61].

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Succeeds in ordinary garden soil in a wet position or in shallow water[1, 200]. Dislikes shade or acid soils.

Propagation

Seed - surface sow in a cold frame in the spring, standing the pot in about 3cm of water. Prick out the seedlings when they are large enough to handle and gradually increase the depth of water as the plants grow until it is level with the tops of the pots. Plant out in the summer if there has been sufficient growth, otherwise plant out in late spring of the following year.
Division in spring.

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

[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.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for the family Primulaceae.

[CHINA] Data Very detailed botanical/identification info. from 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]).

[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.

[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.

[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

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

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