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Butomus umbellatus - L.

Flowering Rush

Author	L.	Botanical references	17, 200
Family	Butomaceae	Genus	Butomus
Synonyms
Known Hazards	None known
Range	Most of Europe, including Britain, and temperate Asia.
Habitat	Pond margins, ditches and canals, avoiding shade[13, 17].
Edibility Rating	3 (1-5)	Medicinal Rating	0 (1-5)

Physical Characteristics

Perennial growing to 1m by 0.5m.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires wet soil and can grow in water.

Habitats

Pond; Bog Garden;

Edible Uses

Edible Parts: Root; Seed.

Tuber - cooked[5, 46, 61, 100, 177]. It should be peeled and the rootlets removed[179]. The root can also be dried and ground into a powder[179], it can then be used as a thickener in soups etc, or be added to cereal flours when making bread[2]. It contains more than 50% starch[13]. Seed[1, 2, 5, 177]. No more details are given, but the seed is very small and fiddly to use[K].

Medicinal Uses

Plants For A Future can not take any responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. Always seek advice from a professional before using a plant medicinally.

None known

Other Uses

None known

Scented Plants

Flowers: Fresh

The flowers have a scent of bitter almonds.

Cultivation details

Requires a sunny position[200]. A plant of wet habitats, it succeeds in wet soils and in water up to 30cm deep[24, 56]. A very ornamental plant[2]. The flowers have a scent of bitter almonds[245].

Propagation

Seed - best surface-sown in a cold frame as soon as it is ripe, it usually germinates in the spring. The seed quickly loses its vitality if it is not kept moist[200]. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in a tray of water in the cold frame, planting them out into their permanent positions in early summer. Division in spring[188]. Very easy, larger clumps can be planted direct into their permanent positions. It is best to pot up smaller clumps and grow them on in a cold frame until they are well rooted before planting them out in the summer.

Links

This plant is also mentioned in the following PFAF articles: The Edible Pond and Bog Garden.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[5] Mabey. R. Food for Free. Collins 1974 ISBN 0-00-219060-5
Edible wild plants found in Britain. Fairly comprehensive, very few pictures and rather optimistic on the desirability of some of the plants.

[13] Triska. Dr. Hamlyn Encyclopaedia of Plants. Hamlyn 1975 ISBN 0-600-33545-3
Very interesting reading, giving some details of plant uses and quite a lot of folk-lore.

[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.

[24] Baines. C. Making a Wildlife Garden. 0
Fairly good with lots of ideas about creating wildlife areas in the garden.

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[56] Muhlberg. H. Complete Guide to Water Plants. E. P. Publishing Ltd. 1982 ISBN 0-7158-0789-7
Deals with a wide range of plants for temperate areas (and indoor aquaria) with quite a lot of information on cultivation techniques.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[100] Polunin. O. Flowers of Europe - A Field Guide. Oxford University Press 1969 ISBN 0192176218
An excellent and well illustrated pocket guide for those with very large pockets. Also gives some details on plant uses.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[179] Reid. B. E. Famine Foods of the Chiu-Huang Pen-ts'ao. Taipei. Southern Materials Centre 1977
A translation of an ancient Chinese book on edible wild foods. Fascinating.

[188] Brickell. C. The RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd. 1990 ISBN 0-86318-386-7
Excellent range of photographs, some cultivation details but very little information on plant uses.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[245] Genders. R. Scented Flora of the World. Robert Hale. London. 1994 ISBN 0-7090-5440-8
An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.

Readers Comments

Plants for a Future does not verify the accuracy of reader comments, use at your own risk. In particular Plants For A Future can not take any responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. You should always consult a professional before using plants medicinally.

Sanguisorba officinalis

Lukasz Luczaj Sun Mar 10 20:47:00 2002

Dried and ground roots of Sanguisorba officinalis, Butomus umbellatus, Lilium martagon, Lilium spectabile and Typha latifolia were made into flour by Yakuts of Siberia. It was added to a dish called 'butugas'. Source: Maurizo A. 1926 "Pozywienie roslinne i rolnictwo w rozwoju dziejowym", Warsaw. Maurizo quoted the following original source: Sieroszewski W. 1900. "12 lat w kraju Jakutow", Warsaw.

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