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Valeriana locusta
Corn salad is identifiable by its rounded leaf and deep green colour
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Dipsacales
Family:	Caprifoliaceae
Genus:	Valeriana
Species:	V. locusta
Binomial name
Valeriana locusta L. (1753)
Synonyms
Fedia locusta L. Rchb. (1823) Locusta communis Delarbre (1800) Valerianella locusta (L.) Laterr. (1821)

Valeriana locusta, commonly called mâche, cornsalad, or lamb's lettuce, a small, herbaceous, annual flowering plant in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae. It is native to Europe, western Asia and north Africa, where it is eaten as a leaf vegetable.

Description

Cornsalad grows in a low rosette with spatulate leaves up to 15.2 cm long. It is a hardy plant that grows to zone 5, and in mild climates it is grown as a winter green.

In warm conditions it tends to bolt to seed, producing much-branched stems with clusters (cymes) of flowers. The flowers have a bluish-white corolla of five fused petals, 1.5 to 2 mm (1⁄16 to 5⁄64 in) long and wide, and three stamens. At the base of the corolla is a whorl of bracts. Fertilized flowers produce achenes with two sterile chambers and one fertile chamber.

Distribution and habitat

Cornsalad grows wild in parts of Europe, northern Africa and western Asia. In Europe and Asia it is a common weed in cultivated land and waste spaces. In North America it has escaped cultivation and become naturalized on both the eastern and western seaboards.

As a cultivated crop, it is a specialty of the region around Nantes, France, which is the primary producer of mâche in Europe.

History

Cornsalad was originally foraged by European peasants. Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie, royal gardener of King Louis XIV, introduced it to kitchen gardening. It has been eaten in Britain for centuries and appears in John Gerard's Herbal of 1597. It was grown commercially in London from the late 18th or early 19th century and appeared on markets as a winter vegetable, but it only became available in modern supermarkets there in the 1980s. American president Thomas Jefferson cultivated mâche at his home, Monticello, in Virginia in the early 1800s.

Common names

Common names include lamb's lettuce, common cornsalad, or simply cornsalad, mâche (/mɑːʃ/), fetticus, feldsalat, nut lettuce, field salad and valerian salad. The common name 'cornsalad' refers to the fact that it often grows as a weed in cornfields ('corn' is used in the sense of 'cereal', not the US meaning of maize).

In German-speaking Switzerland it is known as Nüsslisalat or Nüssler, terms that have been borrowed by the area's many English speakers. In some areas of Germany it is known as rapunzel, and is the origin of the long-haired maiden's name in the eponymous fairy tale. In restaurants that feature French cuisine, it may be called doucette or raiponce, as an alternative to mâche, by which it is best known. In Croatia and Serbia it is known as matovilac. In Slovenia it is known as motovilec.

Nutrition

Cornsalad has a characteristic nutty flavour, dark green colour, and soft texture, and is popularly served as salad greens.

Like other formerly foraged greens, cornsalad has many nutrients, including three times as much vitamin C as lettuce, beta-carotene, B₆, iron, and potassium. It is best if gathered before flowers appear.

References

1. ^ "Valeriana locusta (L.)". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
2. ^ "Valerianella locusta". Floridata.
3. Plants for a Future: Valerianella locusta
4. "Valerianella locusta". E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia.
5. "Taxon Profile: Valerianella locusta". Flora of New Zealand. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
6. "Taxon Profile: Valerianella". Flora of New Zealand. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
7. "Valerianella locusta". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
8. NRCS. "Valerianella locusta". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
9. ^ "History of Mâche". Epicroots.
10. Organic Gardening Magazine, August–September 2007
11. ^ Ayto, John, ed. (2002). An A-Z of Food and Drink. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-280352-8.
12. T. W. Sanders (1917), Vegetables and Their Cultivation, London: W. H. & L. Collingridge Limited
13. Stace, C. A. (2019). New Flora of the British Isles (Fourth ed.). Middlewood Green, Suffolk, U.K.: C & M Floristics. ISBN 978-1-5272-2630-2.
14. Blamey, M.; Fitter, R.; Fitter, A (2003). Wild flowers of Britain and Ireland: The Complete Guide to the British and Irish Flora. London: A & C Black. ISBN 978-1408179505.
15. BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
16. "Mâche". Larousse Cuisine.
17. "Valerianella locusta". Missouri Botanical Garden.
18. Bender, David A., ed. (2005). Dictionary of Food and Nutrition. Oxford University Press.
19. United States Food and Drug Administration (2024). "Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels". FDA. Archived from the original on 2024-03-27. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
20. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Food and Nutrition Board; Committee to Review the Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium (2019). "Chapter 4: Potassium: Dietary Reference Intakes for Adequacy". In Oria, Maria; Harrison, Meghan; Stallings, Virginia A. (eds.). Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium. The National Academies Collection: Reports funded by National Institutes of Health. Washington, DC: National Academies Press (US). pp. 120–121. doi:10.17226/25353. ISBN 978-0-309-48834-1. PMID 30844154. Retrieved 2024-12-05.

Sources

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Ward, Artemas (1911). "". The Grocer's Encyclopedia.

• Valeriana
• Flora of Europe
• Flora of Algeria
• Flora of Morocco
• Flora of Turkey
• Leaf vegetables
• Plants described in 1753
• Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus