Saururaceae FAMILY

Houttuynia cordata

Edibility

4/5

Medicinal

3/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Botanical Description

Houttuynia cordata is an erect to ascending, herbaceous perennial plant growing from a rhizomatous rootstock. The stems are creeping near their base, often rooting at leaf nodes, and the plant forming a cluster or mat of growth from 5 - 60cm tall[ 266 Title Flora of China Publication Author Website http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ Publisher Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis. Year 1994 ISBN Description 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. ]. The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and a medicine. It is cultivated for medicinal and food use in eastern Asia and is also often grown as an ornamental, where it can be used to form a ground cover.

Habitat & Origin

Origintemperate

Native RangeE. Asia - central and southern China, Japan, Korea, northern India, Napal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos

HabitatRavines, streamsides, forests, wet meadows, slopes, thicket and field margins, trailsides, roadsides, ditch banks; at elevations from near sea level to 2,500 metres[ 266 Title Flora of China Publication Author Website http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ Publisher Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis. Year 1994 ISBN Description 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. ]. Often found as a weed in wet fields[ 187 Title Perennials. Volumes 1 and 2. Publication Author Phillips. R. & Rix. M. Publisher Pan Books Year 1991 ISBN 0-330-30936-9 Description Photographs of over 3,000 species and cultivars of ornamental plants together with brief cultivation notes, details of habitat etc. ].