Common Name: Thrumwort

General Information

Damasonium alisma is an annual to perennial plant with a corm-like compact stem up to 20mm long and a basal rosette of leaves; it can grow up to 30cm tall[].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food.
Damasonium alisma has a restricted range combined with severely fragmented populations. The plant is declining over its entire range due to a combination of direct loss of habitat, decline in grazing leading to succession and increased competition, changes in land-use and stabilisation of water levels. These factors lead to a disruption of the metapopulation function and cause the populations to become fragmented. There is no evidence that the factors causing this decline are decreasing and there is evidence that the decline is now affecting core populations. It is suspected that the species might even qualify for the Endangered category as 50% of its population and range has been lost. The plant is classified as 'Vulnerable' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(2015)[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

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Range

Europe - Britain, Portugal, France Italy, Ukraine; eastern Russia; W. Asia - Kazakhstan, western Siberia

Habitat

Muddy, boggy places, especially along the margins of ponds, and canals[]. Gravelly ditches and ponds. Very local and apparently decreasing in Britain[].

Properties

Conservation Status	Vulnerable
Edibility Rating
Habit	Annual/Perennial
Height	0.30 m
Pollinators	Insects
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Succeeds in an open sunny position in boggy soils or in still water up to 25cm deep[].

Edible Uses

Root[]. The plant has a corm-like compact stem. No further details are given.

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in a cold frame in trays standing in shallow water[]. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in trays of shallow water, planting them out in the summer.
Division in spring. Very easy, larger clumps can be replanted direct into their permanent positions, though it is best to pot up smaller clumps and grow them on in a cold frame until they are rooting well. Plant them out in the spring.