Practical
Plants

Cardamine bulbifera

Coral Root

a perennial member of the Cardamine genus in the family Brassicaceae.

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Taxonomy and growth

Life cycle
perennial
Height
0.45 m
Fertility
Self fertile, Insects
Flower type
hermaphrodite
Pollinators
Insects

Uses

Edible uses

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

Leaves - raw or cooked[K]. A hot cress-like flavour. Bulbils - raw or cooked. They are rather small, about the size ofa lentil, but have a pleasant mild cress-like flavour[K]. Root - raw or cooked[K]. A hot flavour, it is pleasant but rather small[K].

Plant part
Leaves
Plant part
Root

Environment

Range
Central Europe from Britain and France to Sweden, east to the Balkans, W. Asia and the Caucasus.
Habitat
Very local in woods, usually on calcareous soils, in Devon, S.E. England, the Chilterns and Ayr[1]. A characteristic species of base-rich beech woodlands[1].
Light
full sun
Shade tolerance
light shade
Water
moderate
Hardiness
Zone 4+
Soil textures
sandy, loamy, clay
Soil pH
acid, neutral, alkaline, very alkaline
Tolerates Nutritionally Poor Soil
No
Drought
intolerant

Propagation

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

Seed - best sown when ripe, otherwise sow it in the spring. If you have sufficient seed it can be sown in situ, otherwise it is best to sow it in pots in a cold frame. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and pant out in the summer. The bulbils can be collected in early summer and potted up. Keep them in a cold frame over the winter and plant out when in active growth in the spring.

Cultivation

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

Prefers a moist humus rich soil in shade or semi-shade[2]. The flowers are rarely visited by pollinating insects and seed is rarely set, propagation is carried out by means of bulbils formed on the axils of the upper leaf stems[17, K].

References

  1. Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962-00-00

    ↩1↩2

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

    ↩

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