Valeriana locusta

File:Illustration Valerianella locusta0.jpg

Valerianella locusta illustration by Thomé (1885) showing the plant, flower, and seed

Valeriana locusta,<ref name="POWO"/> 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.

File:Mache Blooming.jpg

Description

Cornsalad grows in a low rosette with spatulate leaves up to 15.2 cm long.<ref name="Floridata">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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,<ref>Plants for a Future: Valerianella locusta</ref> producing much-branched stems with clusters (cymes) of flowers. The flowers have a bluish-white corolla of five fused petals, Template:Convert 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

File:Mache in garden.jpg

Distribution and habitat

Cornsalad grows wild in parts of Europe, northern Africa and western Asia.<ref>Template:GRIN</ref> 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.<ref>Template:PLANTS</ref>

As a cultivated crop, it is a specialty of the region around Nantes, France, which is the primary producer of mâche in Europe.<ref name="Epicroots">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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History

Cornsalad was originally foraged by European peasants. Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie, royal gardener of King Louis XIV, introduced it to kitchen gardening.<ref>Organic Gardening Magazine, August–September 2007</ref> It has been eaten in Britain for centuries and appears in John Gerard's Herbal of 1597.<ref name="OUP-2002" /> 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.<ref>T. W. Sanders (1917), Vegetables and Their Cultivation, London: W. H. & L. Collingridge Limited</ref> American president Thomas Jefferson cultivated mâche at his home, Monticello, in Virginia in the early 1800s.<ref name="Epicroots" />

Common names

Common names include lamb's lettuce, common cornsalad, or simply cornsalad,<ref name="Stace-2019">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Blamey-2003">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Floridata" /><ref name="BSBI-2007">Template:BSBI 2007</ref> mâche<ref name="Floridata" /> (Template:IPAc-en), fetticus,<ref name="Floridata"/> feldsalat,<ref name="Floridata" /> nut lettuce,<ref name="Floridata" /> field salad, and valerian salad. The common name 'cornsalad' refers to the fact that it often grows as a weed in cornfields<ref name="OUP-2002">Template:Cite book</ref> ('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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In Croatia and Serbia it is known as matovilac. In Slovenia it is known as motovilec. In Spain is known as hierba de los canónigos (Canons' Herb) or simply canónigo, a reference to its tradition as a monastery crop.

File:Young Mache.jpg

Nutrition

Cornsalad has a characteristic nutty flavour, dark green colour, and soft texture, and is popularly served as salad greens.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref name="Bender-2005">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Infobox nutritional value