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Brassicaceae FAMILY

Armoracia rusticana

Armoracia rusticana

Edibility
4/5
Medicinal
3/5

Safety & Hazards

The plant, and especially the roots, contain glucosinolates. In small quantities, such as when the root is used as a condiment, these can be a very healthy addition to the diet, but in large quantities they can be somewhat toxic, producing profuse sweating, irritation of the stomach and intestines, loss of strength, disorientation[1]. Large quantities of this plant can be poisonous due to its content of volatile oils[2].

Cultivation Details

HabitPerennial
Growth—

Horseradish is widely distributed through the temperate zone, mainly as a result of cultivation, and can also be cultivated at elevations above 1,000 metres in the tropics. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 14 - 20°c, but can tolerate 6 - 28°c[3]. When dormant, the plant can survive temperatures down to about -15°c, but young growth can be severely damaged at -1°c[3]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 600 - 900mm, but tolerates 390 - 1,700mm[3]. A very easily grown plant, horseradish prefers a good deep moist well-drained soil and a sunny position[4, 5, 6, 7]. Plants require a good soil if they are to produce good roots[8], though once established they are very tolerant of neglect and will continue to produce a crop for many years[9, PFAF]. Plants do not thrive if they are in the shade of trees[9]. Excess nitrogen causes heavy top growth and forking of the roots[7]. Prefers a wet clay soil according to one report[10], whilst another says that it will not grow in wet clay[4]. Prefers a pH in the range 6 - 7, but tolerates 4.5 - 8.7[3]. Yields of around 7.5 tonnes per hectare per anum of primary roots (for use as a condiment) can be obtained, plus around 4.9 tonnes of secondary roots (for extracting the active ingredients or medicinal use)[11]. The plant is very hardy and can be left in the ground all winter to be harvested as required[8] If the roots are given some protection they will produce fresh young leaves for the salad bowl all through the winter. Digging up some roots and putting them into a greenhouse for the winter is the easiest method. If the young shoots are blanched they will produce white, tender, sweet leaves[12]. The plant has yet to prove invasive on our Cornwall trial grounds, though it has survived and even prospered in a very overgrown site[PFAF]. The forms of this plant grown in gardens are almost sterile and seldom produce good seed[9].

Propagation

Seed - this is seldom produced on plants in cultivation[7]. If seed is obtained then it is best sown in situ during the spring[13]. Division is very easy and can be carried out at almost any time of the year, though it is probably best in spring[6]. It s best to use sections of root about 20cm long, which can be planted out into their permanent positions in late winter or early spring, though even very small bits of root will grow away[8, 9]. Division should be carried out at least once every three years or the crop will deteriorate[8]. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Armoracia+rusticana>

Pollinators

Bees, Flies, Beetles, Self

References

  1. [1]Poisonous Plants of North Carolina — http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/poison.htm ↩︎An excellent concise but comprehensive guide to toxic plants that grow in N. Carolina. It lists even those plants that are of very low toxicity, including several well-known food plants such as carrots and potatoes.
  2. [2]Poisonous Plants in Britain and their Effects on Animals and Man. — Cooper. M. and Johnson. A. · HMSO · 1984 · ISBN 0112425291 ↩︎Concentrates mainly on the effects of poisonous plants to livestock.
  3. [3]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
  4. [4]New Vegetable Growers Handbook. — Simons. · Penguin · 1977 · ISBN 0-14-046-050-0 ↩︎A good guide to growing vegetables in temperate areas, not entirely organic.
  5. [5]The Vegetable Garden. — Vilmorin. A. · Ten Speed Press · ISBN 0-89815-041-8 ↩︎A reprint of a nineteenth century classic, giving details of vegetable varieties. Not really that informative though.
  6. [6]Rare Vegetables for Garden and Table. — Organ. J. · Faber · 1960 · ISBN - ↩︎Unusual vegetables that can be grown outdoors in Britain. A good guide.
  7. [7]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · 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.
  8. [8]A Modern Herbal. — Grieve. · Penguin · 1984 · ISBN 0-14-046-440-9 ↩︎Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
  9. [9]Vegetables — Phillips. R. & Rix. M. · Macmillan Reference Books, London. · 1995 · ISBN 0 333 62640 0 ↩︎Excellent and easily read book with good information and an excellent collection of photos of vegetables from around the world, including many unusual species.
  10. [10]Complete Guide to Herbs. — Holtom. J. and Hylton. W. · Rodale Press · 1979 · ISBN 0-87857-262-7 ↩︎A good herbal.
  11. [11]Plant Resources of Southeast Asia — http://proseanet.org/ ↩︎Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
  12. [12]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · 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.
  13. [13]Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. — Bown. D. · Dorling Kindersley, London. · 1995 · ISBN 0-7513-020-31 ↩︎A very well presented and informative book on herbs from around the globe. Plenty in it for both the casual reader and the serious student. Just one main quibble is the silly way of having two separate entries for each plant.
  14. [14]Flora of the British Isles. — Clapham, Tutin and Warburg. · Cambridge University Press · 1962 · ISBN - ↩︎A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.
  15. [15]A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. — Usher. G. · 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.
  16. [16]Flora of N. America — http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/fna/ ↩︎An on-line version of the flora with an excellent description of the plant including a brief mention of plant uses.
  17. [17]Edible and Medicinal Plants. — Launert. E. · Hamlyn · 1981 · ISBN 0-600-37216-2 ↩︎Covers plants in Europe. a drawing of each plant, quite a bit of interesting information.
  18. [18]The Dictionary of Modern Herbalism. — Mills. S. Y. ↩︎An excellent small herbal.
  19. [19]Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. — Hedrick. U. P. · Dover Publications · 1972 · ISBN 0-486-20459-6 ↩︎Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.
  20. [20]Hamlyn Encyclopaedia of Plants. — Triska. Dr. · Hamlyn · 1975 · ISBN 0-600-33545-3 ↩︎Very interesting reading, giving some details of plant uses and quite a lot of folk-lore.
  21. [21]The Oxford Book of Food Plants. — Harrison. S. Wallis. M. Masefield. G. · Oxford University Press · 1975 · ISBN - ↩︎Good drawings of some of the more common food plants from around the world. Not much information though.
  22. [22]Salads all the Year Round. — Larkcom. J. · Hamlyn · 1980 ↩︎A good and comprehensive guide to temperate salad plants, with full organic details of cultivation.
  23. [23]Flowers of Europe - A Field Guide. — Polunin. O. · 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.
  24. [24]A - Z of Companion Planting. — Allardice.P. · Cassell Publishers Ltd. · 1993 · ISBN 0-304-34324-2 ↩︎A well produced and very readable book.
  25. [25]The Encyclopedia of Herbs and Herbalism — Stuart. M. (Editor) · Orbis Publishing. London. · 1979 · ISBN 0-85613-067-2 ↩︎Excellent herbal with good concise information on over 400 herbs.
  26. [26]Plants for Human Consumption. — Kunkel. G. · 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.
  27. [27]Economic Botany. — Hill. A. F. · The Maple Press · 1952 · ISBN - ↩︎Not very comprehensive, but it is quite readable and goes into some detail about the plants it does cover.
  28. [28]A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Eastern and Central N. America. — Foster. S. & Duke. J. A. · Houghton Mifflin Co. · 1990 · ISBN 0395467225 ↩︎A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties.
  29. [29]The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants — Chevallier. A. · Dorling Kindersley. London · 1996 · ISBN 9-780751-303148 ↩︎An excellent guide to over 500 of the more well known medicinal herbs from around the world.
  30. [30]Herbs — Phillips. R. & Foy. N. · Pan Books Ltd. London. · 1990 · ISBN 0-330-30725-8 ↩︎Deals with all types of herbs including medicinal, culinary, scented and dye plants. Excellent photographs with quite good information on each plant.
  31. [31]Homeopathic Materia Medica — William Boericke, M.D. · http://www.homeoint.org/books/boericmm/index.htm ↩︎An on-line version of the book
  32. [32]Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including the Supplement). — Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C. · Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. · 1986 · ISBN - ↩︎Very terse details of medicinal uses of plants with a wide range of references and details of research into the plants chemistry. Not for the casual reader.
  33. [33]Companion Plants. — Philbrick H. and Gregg R. B. · Watkins · 1979 · ISBN - ↩︎Details of beneficial and antagonistic relationships between neighbouring plants.
  34. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎