Ground elder

Description:

Aegopodium podagraria, commonly called ground elder, herb gerard, bishop's weed, goutweed, and snow-in-the-mountain, is a perennial plant in the carrot family (Apiaceae) that grows in shady places. The name "ground elder" comes from the superficial similarity of its leaves and flowers to those of elder (Sambucus), which is very distantly related. It is the type species of the genus Aegopodium. This species is native to Eurasia, and has been introduced around the world as an ornamental plant, where it occasionally poses an ecological threat as an invasive exotic plant. Ground elder is a herbaceous perennial with a creeping root system. It spreads rapidly, smoothering other pants and self seeds. Umbels of white flowers rise on long stems to 90cm above the leaves.

Habitat:

Ground elder is native to europe, naturalized in North America and found in woodlands. It is a rampant weed that grows in any soil and almost impossible o eradicate once established. The plant is definately not suitable for cultivation as it will take over.

Notes:

The tender leaves have been used in antiquity and throughout the Middle Ages as a spring leaf vegetable. It can be added to salads or cooked like spinach. Young leaves are preferred as a pot herb. It is best picked from when it appears (as early as February in the UK) to just before it flowers (May to June). If it is picked after this point it takes on a pungent taste and has a laxative effect. However it can be stopped from flowering by pinching out the flowers, ensuring that the plant remains edible if used more sparingly as a pot herb. Ground elder is an anti-inflammatory herb with midly sedative properties, and has a history as a medicinal herb to treat gout and arthritis, applied in hot wraps externally upon boiling both leaves and roots together. Ingested, the leaves have a diuretic effect and act as a mild sedative. Its use as a medicinal herb has largely declined during the modern era. The plant is said to have been introduced into England by the Romans as a food plant and into Northern Europe as a medicinal herb by monks. It is still found growing in patches surrounding many monastic ruins in Europe, and descriptions of its use are found among monastic writings, such as in Physica by Hildegard von Bingen. It is also used by Chinese and Tibetan monks.