Valeriana locusta

Cornsalad grows in a low rosette with spatulate leaves up to 15.2 cm long.{{cite web |url=http://www.floridata.com/ref/v/vale_loc.cfm |website=Floridata |title=Valerianella locusta }} 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,[http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Valerianella+locusta Plants for a Future: Valerianella locusta] producing much-branched stems with clusters (cymes) of flowers. The flowers have a bluish-white corolla of five fused petals, {{convert|1.5|to|2|mm|in|frac=64|abbr=on}} 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.{{cite web |title=Valerianella locusta |url=http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Valerianella%20locusta |website=E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia}}{{cite web |title=Taxon Profile: Valerianella locusta |website=Flora of New Zealand |url=https://www.nzflora.info/factsheet/Taxon/Valerianella-locusta.html |access-date=15 April 2024 }}{{cite web |title=Taxon Profile: Valerianella |url=http://www.nzflora.info/factsheet/taxon/Valerianella.html |website=Flora of New Zealand |access-date=15 April 2024}}

File:Mache in garden.jpg

Cornsalad grows wild in parts of Europe, northern Africa and western Asia.{{GRIN |access-date=2017-12-18}} 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.{{PLANTS |symbol=VALO |taxon=Valerianella locusta}}

As a cultivated crop, it is a specialty of the region around Nantes, France, which is the primary producer of mâche in Europe.{{cite web |url=http://www.epicroots.com/producthistory.php |website=Epicroots |title=History of Mâche}}

File:Mache.jpg

Cornsalad was originally foraged by European peasants. Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie, royal gardener of King Louis XIV, introduced it to kitchen gardening.Organic Gardening Magazine, August–September 2007 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.T. W. Sanders (1917), Vegetables and Their Cultivation, London: W. H. & L. Collingridge Limited American president Thomas Jefferson cultivated mâche at his home, Monticello, in Virginia in the early 1800s.

Common names include lamb's lettuce, common cornsalad, or simply cornsalad,{{cite book |last=Stace |first=C. A. |author-link=Stace, C. A. |year=2019 |title=New Flora of the British Isles |edition=Fourth |publisher=C & M Floristics |location=Middlewood Green, Suffolk, U.K. |isbn=978-1-5272-2630-2}}{{rp|831}}{{cite book |last1=Blamey |first1=M. |last2=Fitter |first2=R. |last3=Fitter |first3=A |year=2003 |title=Wild flowers of Britain and Ireland: The Complete Guide to the British and Irish Flora. |publisher=A & C Black |location=London |isbn=978-1408179505}}{{rp|260}}{{BSBI 2007 |access-date=2014-10-17}} mâche ({{IPAc-en|m|ɑː|ʃ}}), 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{{cite book |editor-first=John |editor-last=Ayto |date=2002 |title=An A-Z of Food and Drink |url=https://archive.org/details/azoffooddrink00ayto |url-access=registration |publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-280352-8 }} ('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.{{cite web |url=http://cuisine.larousse.fr/lecon-experts/ingredients/detail/mache |website=Larousse Cuisine |title=Mâche}} In Croatia and Serbia it is known as matovilac. In Slovenia it is known as motovilec.

In Spain is known as canonigos

File:Young Mache.jpg

Cornsalad has a characteristic nutty flavour, dark green colour, and soft texture, and is popularly served as salad greens.{{cite web |url=http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/plant-finder/plant-details/kc/a683/valerianella-locusta.aspx |website=Missouri Botanical Garden |title=Valerianella locusta}}

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.{{cite book |editor-first=David A. |editor-last=Bender |date=2005 |title=Dictionary of Food and Nutrition |publisher=Oxford University Press}}{{Infobox nutritional value|name=Valerianella locusta|kJ=|carbs=3.6 g|fat=0.4 g|protein=2 g|potassium_mg=459|Total Carbohydrate=3.6 g|Vitamin C=63%|Vitamin A=141%|Iron=12%|Vitamin B-6=15%|sodium_mg=4|magnesium_mg=|source={{citation needed|date=March 2016}}}}

{{Commons category|Valerianella locusta}}

{{Wikispecies|Valerianella locusta}}

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locusta

Category:Flora of Europe

Category:Flora of Algeria

Category:Flora of Morocco

Category:Flora of Turkey

Category:Leaf vegetables

Category:Plants described in 1753

Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus