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Apiaceae FAMILY

Ferula violacea

Ferula violacea

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitPerennial
Growth—

Ferula violacea is a plant of continental temperate climates with warm to hot summers and cold winters. It grows in arid to semi-arid environments. Ferula species generally can succeed in most soils[1], though they prefer a deep, fertile, well-drained soil in a sunny position[2]. Plants have a long taproot and are intolerant of root disturbance[2]. They should be planted into their final positions as soon as possible. The plant has a strong garlic-like aroma[3]. A monocarpic species, the plant grows for some years without flowering before it flowers and then dies after setting seed[4].

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as the seed is ripe in a greenhouse in autumn[1]. Otherwise sow in mid spring in a greenhouse. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots as soon as they are large enough to handle. Plant them out into their permanent positions whilst still small because the plants dislike root disturbance[1]. If necessary, give the plants a protective mulch for their first winter outdoors. Division in autumn. This may be inadvisable due to the plants dislike of root disturbance. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Ferula+violacea>

Pollinators

Insects

References

  1. [1]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 Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  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]Flora of China — Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis. · 1994 · http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive resource in 25 volumes. In addition to the botanical information the flora also gives basic information on habitat and some uses. An on-line version is also available.
  4. [4]Flora of the USSR. — Komarov. V. L. · Israel Program for Scientific Translation · 1968 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org · ISBN - ↩︎An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  5. [5]Illustrated Flora of Tajikistan and adjacent areas — Nowak. A. & Nobis M. Editors) · Polish Botanical Society, Warsaw, Poland · 2020 · ISBN 978-83-954123-5-6 ↩︎An excellent book, with one or more good photographs and terse information on 1,864 species of plants from Tajikistan - and it is made available free on a Creative Commons licence.
  6. [6]Ethnobotany of the Mountain Regions of Central Asia and Altai — Batsatsashvili K., Kikvidze Z. & Bussmann R.W. (Eds) · Springer Nature; Switzerland · 2020 · https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28947-8 · ISBN 978-3-030-28946-1 ↩︎