Practical
Plants

Amsinckia lycopsoides

Tarweed Fiddleneck

an annual member of the Amsinckia genus in the family Boraginaceae.

No photo available

Taxonomy and growth

Life cycle
annual
Height
0.6 m
Fertility
Insects
Flower type
hermaphrodite
Pollinators
Insects

Uses

Edible uses

This section contains historical Plants For A Future notes marked noncommercial.

Fresh juicy shoots[2][3][5]. No more details are given. Seed - raw[5]. The parched seed is ground into a powder then made into cakes and eaten without being cooked[5]. If this species is like most other members of the family Boraginaceae, the seed is likely to ripen over a period of time and individual seeds fall from the plant when they are ripe. This will make harvesting any quantity of seed very fiddly and time consuming[K].

Plant part
Leaves
Plant part
Seed

Environment

Range
Europe. Western N. America. Naturalized on the Farne Islands, N.E. Britain[4].
Habitat
Dry open slopes and flats, often in disturbed soil[6]
Light
full sun
Shade tolerance
no shade
Water
moderate
Hardiness
Zone 7+
Soil textures
sandy, loamy, clay
Soil pH
acid, neutral, alkaline
Tolerates Nutritionally Poor Soil
No
Drought
intolerant

Propagation

This section contains historical Plants For A Future notes marked noncommercial.

Seed - sow late spring in situ[4].

Cultivation

This section contains historical Plants For A Future notes marked noncommercial.

Succeeds in ordinary garden soil in full sun[1][4].

References

  1. F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951-00-00

    ↩

  2. Yanovsky. E. Food Plants of the N. American Indians. Publication no. 237. U.S. Depf of Agriculture.

    ↩

  3. Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984-00-00 ISBN 3874292169

    ↩

  4. Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992-00-00 ISBN 0-333-47494-5

    ↩1↩2↩3

  5. Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany Timber Press. Oregon. 1998-00-00 ISBN 0-88192-453-9

    ↩1↩2↩3

  6. Hitchcock. C. L. Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press 1955-00-00

    ↩

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