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Valerianella radiata

Common name:	Beaked Cornsalad	Family:	Valerianaceae
Author:	(L.)Dufr.	Botanical references:	43, 274
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Eastern N. America - southwards from New Jersey and Kansas.
Habitat:	Damp to dry woods, meadows, fields and roadsides[43].
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.
	V. radiata var. fernaldii[B,P] V. radiata var. missouriensis[B,P] V. stenocarpa var. parviflora[B,P] V. woodsiana[B]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Beaked Cornsalad [B,P],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	radiat = radiating;
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Dipsacales. Valerian family
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: USA Invasive.

Physical Characteristics

Annual growing to 0.6m. It is not frost tender. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs). The plant is self-fertile. 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 dry or moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Woodland, Cultivated Beds, Sunny Edge.

Edible Uses

Leaves; Root.

Young leaves - raw.
Root[101]. No more details are given but the root is unlikely to be of any size[K].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

We have very little information on this species and do not know if it will be hardy in Britain. Its native range suggests that it will be able to be grown as a hardy annual, in fact it might be possible to make a late summer sowing and grow it as an over-wintering annual, but it should certainly succeed from a late spring sowing in situ. The following notes are based on the general needs of the genus.
Prefers a fairly rich light soil[1].

Propagation

Seed - in order to obtain a continuous supply of salad leaves, it is best to sow the seed successionally from early spring to late summer in situ. A late summer sowing might also succeed, and this would supply edible leaves in the winter.

Suppliers

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

Web References

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

References for the family Valerianaceae.

To be included in 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]).

[43] Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co. 1950
A bit dated but good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.

[101] Turner. N. J. and Szczawinski. A. Edible Wild Fruits and Nuts of Canada. National Museum of Natural Sciences 1978
A very readable guide to some wild foods of Canada.

Readers Comments

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Bibliography

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?Valerianella+radiata
This page (US) http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Valerianella+radiata

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We make no claims of magical effects or supernatural powers for any item in this catalog. In spite of legendary attributes or occult and craft tradition, such items are offered as curios only and beliefs concerning their magical effectiveness are related only for historical interest.