February 17, 2009

Corn Salad


Today I found at the roadside enough of greens to fill a small salad bowl. It was Corn Salad (Valerianella locusta), the wild cousin of the Lamb Lettuce or Corn Salad you can buy in the supermarket. It is easy to find, the little rosettes of a very clear green grow in gardens and cultivated fields, where in autumn the grains germinate when it is getting colder. Only in winter you can eat the leaves, after the formation of flowers in spring they are tasteless.



Corn Salad belongs to the family of Valerianaceae which is characterized bij the forked branches. In the picture you see the resulting symmetry.