Rosebay willowherb

Tags: Flowers, Foraging Description: Rosebay willowherb has a nearly metre-high flowering stem with red-violet flowers. The leaves are sword-shaped and sit scattered down the stem below the flowers. Rosebay willowherb is often found on clear-fells in the forest, where there is plenty of light, plenty of nutrients and little competition.

After flowering, a long awl-shaped fruit appears, which in time splits open. Inside the fruit sits a mass of seeds, filled with long, white downy hairs. These hairs can let the seeds drift far on the wind until they reach a good place to grow. In the old days the long, white seed hairs were put into pillows and duvets and spun into yarn. Use: Rosebay willowherb is called the asparagus of the North, and then it is the young shoots that are picked and boiled or fried. The plant is rich in vitamin C. The leaves can be used fresh in tea. In several countries the leaves of rosebay willowherb have been fermented and sold as an imitation of real tea. The flowers are also edible and can decorate a salad, for example, or you can make a cordial from them. Habitat type: Cultural landscape, Forest Edible: Yes Written by: Lærke Stewart

Photo: Hilde Grøtte

Source: Hjelmstad, R. (2012). Medisinplanter i Norge. Gyldendal Norsk Forlag AS

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