Perennial Plant profiles

Aegopodium podagraria, Ground Elder

We can think of at least 180 great forest garden & perennial crops for cold climate Sweden.  Want to hear about them?  Over the course of the next year we will profile 5 a week on the blog. Perennial plants and crops offer a low energy, oil & resource input based foundation for future-proof agricultures.  By default if an agriculture is to be called regenerative the bottom line is that it must be soil building, not soil depleting.  Relentless deep tillage & poor soil husbandry (wifery?!) contributes to the majority of the 24 billion tons of topsoil lost every year on planet water.  We are going to be focused on holistic polyculture grazing and perennial production at ridgedale over most of the site as this represents the most effective way to restore our degraded landscape, produce high value produce and ensure the future resource base we are managing holistically for in our decision making. 

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Genus Aegopodium
Species podagraria 
Common Name ground elder 
Form herb 
Habit running
Origin Europe
Light sun to shade
Moisture wet to mesic 
Edible greens
Nectary yes
Groundcover yes

Ground elder, (also known as bishop's weed & goutweed) is a perennial plant in the carrot family (Apiaceae) that grows in shady places.  It has superficial similarity of its leaves and flowers to those of elder (Sambucus), to which is unrelated.  You'll find it in woodland edges, hedgerows and cultivated land.  It's also a common garden weed.

Leaves can be eaten raw or cooked.  They have an unusual tangy flavour which a lot of people do not like it. The leaves are best harvested before the plant comes into flower, they can be used in salads, soups, or cooked as a vegetable.

Ground Elder has a long history of medicinal use and was cultivated as a food crop and medicinal herb in the Middle Ages. The plant was used mainly as a food that could counteract gout, one of the effects of the rich foods eaten by monks at this time. The plant is little used in modern herbalism. All parts of the plant are antirheumatic, diuretic, sedative and vulnerary. An infusion is used in the treatment of rheumatism, arthritis and disorders of the bladder and intestines. Externally, it is used as a poultice on burns, stings, wounds, painful joints etc. The plant is harvested when it is in flower in late spring to mid-summer and can be used fresh or be dried for later use.

A. podagraria has been introduced around the world, including in North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, most commonly as an ornamental plant. It readily establishes and can become naturalized in boreal, moist-temperate, and moist-subtropical climates.  It is considered invasive in some areas of these countries  and can readily spread over large areas of ground by underground rhizomes. 

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OUR FRIENDS AT PFAF HAVE AN AMAZING DATABASE OF SPECIES (UK BASED);

Aegopodium podagraria

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