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Brassicaceae FAMILY

Cochlearia officinalis

Cochlearia officinalis

Edibility
1/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitBiennial/Perennial
Growth—

Prefers a cool shady position[1]. Grows wild on acid or calcareous soils, but it avoids shady positions. Prefers a sandy or gritty well-drained soil[2]. At one time this plant was commonly eaten, especially by sailors, for its high Vitamin C content which can prevent or cure scurvy[3, 4]. A polymorphic species, it hybridizes with C. danica and C. anglica[5]. A good bee plant[2].

Propagation

Seed - sow spring or autumn in situ. Germination usually takes place within 2 - 3 weeks at 15°c[6]. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Cochlearia+officinalis>

Pollinators

Bees, Flies, Beetles, Self

References

  1. [1]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.
  2. [2]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.
  3. [3]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  4. [4]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.
  5. [5]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.
  6. [6]Growing from Seed. Volume 4. — Bird. R. (Editor) · Thompson and Morgan. · 1990 · ISBN - ↩︎Very readable magazine with lots of information on propagation. A good article on Yuccas, one on Sagebrush (Artemesia spp) and another on Chaerophyllum bulbosum.
  7. [7]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.
  8. [8]Britain's Wild Larder. — Loewenfeld. C. and Back. P. · David & Charles; Newton Abbot. · ISBN 0-7153-7971-2 ↩︎A handy pocket guide.
  9. [9]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.
  10. [10]Food for Free. — Mabey. R. · Collins · 1974 · ISBN 0-00-219060-5 ↩︎Edible wild plants found in Britain. Fairly comprehensive, very few pictures and rather optimistic on the desirability of some of the plants.
  11. [11]Eat the Weeds. — Harris. B. C. · Pivot Health · 1973 · ISBN - ↩︎Interesting reading.
  12. [12]From Agar to Zenery. — Freethy. R. · The Crowood Press · 1985 · ISBN 0-946284-51-2 ↩︎Very readable, giving details on plant uses based on the authors own experiences.
  13. [13]Discovering Wild Plants - Alaska, W. Canada and the Northwest. — Schofield. J. J. · Alaska Northwest Books; Alaska · 2003 · ISBN 0882403699 ↩︎A nice guide to some useful plants in that area.
  14. [14]A Modern Herbal. — Grieve. · Penguin · 1984 · ISBN 0-14-046-440-9 ↩︎Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
  15. [15]The Herb Book. — Lust. J. · Bantam books · 1983 · ISBN 0-553-23827-2 ↩︎Lots of information tightly crammed into a fairly small book.
  16. [16]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎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.
  17. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎