Tag Archives: spiked rampion

Rampions for the hungry gap

The rampions (vadderot in Norwegian, Phyteuma in Latin) has been naturalizing in my garden but so far keeping to the cultivated beds. I needed to dig up a few this week as it was outcompeting some other plants I wanted to keep. I cooked the roots and they were delicious and almost fibre-free and used in a salad. Along with other plants in the Campanulaceae this is a very useful root crop for the root hungry gap! And just look at the bumble bees swarming over the flower tops, always the most popular plant for the white-tailed bumblebees (jordhumler), one of the most useful plants to grow, both tasty (I use also spring leaves and flower buds), nice to look at and a pollinator friendly, ticking all 3 boxes required to categorise it as an edi-ento-mental!
Thr film shows bumble bees on a white-flowered patch of Phyteuma spicatum (spiked rampion).
See also these posts about Phyteuma:
https://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=21018 (an article I wrote on the ethnobotany of Phyteuma “The perennial rampions: Shade tolerant edientomentals”)
https://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=18624 (Rampions for dinner)
https://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=11910 (Rapunsel)


The perennial Rampions: shade tolerant edientomentals!

This is my third article published here this week, written as part of a 3-year project funded Landbruksdirektoratet (Norwegian Agriculture Agency), this time in English! As the last two plants, Scorzonera and Good King Henry, the perennial rampions (Phyteuma spp.) are also multi-use plants, having both edible roots, spring shoots, unopened flower spikes and the flowers themselves. In addition, they love to be in the shade, have lovely flowers and are some of the best pollinator plants, perfect for the permaculture or forest garden or just for a shady spot in your garden! Plants that combine food, beauty and are insect friendly are what I call edientomentals!
I hope you enjoy the article which can be downloaded below!

Download (PDF, 3.46MB)