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Common Name: Sandwort

General Information

Spergularia rubra is a Annual/Biennial up to 0.25 metres tall.
It is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and medicine

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

,

Range

Europe, including Britain, south and east from Norway to N. Africa and Asia. N. America,

Habitat

Open gravelly or sandy habitats[]. Sand dunes, heaths and coastal cliffs[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Habit	Annual/Biennial
Height	0.25 m
Pollinators	Flies, Self
Self-fertile	Yes
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

This plant is often found growing in paving crevices and other impoverished niches in the garden[]. It is a calcifuge plant, requiring neutral to acid soils[].

Edible Uses

Seed - cooked. Dried and ground into a meal then used with flour for making bread etc[]. A famine food, it is only used when all else fails[].

Medicinal

The leaves are diuretic and lithontripic[, ]. The plant contains a resinous aromatic substance that is probably the active principle[]. An infusion is thought to relax the muscle walls of the urinary tubules and so it is used in the treatment of kidney stones, acute and chronic cystitis and catarrh of the bladder[, ].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed - sow spring or autumn in situ. Some seed germinates in the autumn in the wild while some germinates in the spring.