Eutrema yunnanense seed

LATIN NAME: Eutrema yunnanense

COMMON NAME: Yunnan Horseradish

The Yunnan horseradish is a handsome, low, leafy, perennial herb of the cool, moist places, and its fine, heart-shaped or oval, toothed leaves and its small, white, four-petalled flowers in the short, loose clusters, followed by the small, slender, dry pods, have made it a treasured and fine plant of the region. It grows as a low, leafy, perennial herb, reaching up to sixty centimetres or so, with the many slender, leafy stems bearing the alternate, heart-shaped or oval, pointed, toothed leaves and, through the spring, the small, white, four-petalled flowers in the short, loose clusters, followed by the small, slender, dry pods of the few round seeds. It is a species of the flowering herb in the mustard family, and it is native to the cool, moist places of the south-western China, while it is treasured for its long history of use as a fine, sharp-flavoured green, and it is known as the Yunnan horseradish.

In the mustard family it is the heart-leaved, sharp-tasting green of the south-western mountains, a plant that brings a peppery bite to the table of the region.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The Yunnan horseradish appears in the food-plant papers of the south-western mountains, where the young, heart-shaped leaves are studied for their fine, sharp, peppery ways. The botanists have mapped its place in the mustard family and the mountain flora of the region, and the vegetable scientists have kept the sharp-flavoured green in their programmes. It is a plant of the kitchen-garden kind, and the growers of the fine greens keep it in their collections.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the cool, moist garden, the Yunnan horseradish is the heart-leaved green of the shaded border. Its white, four-petalled flowers feed the bees, and the leafy growth gives the border a fine, soft presence. The young, peppery leaves have been gathered and used in the fine cooking of the region, and the plant grows well in the rich, moist, well-drained ground of the cool, sheltered spot. Heart-leaved, white-flowered and peppery.

These seeds are best sown fresh — press them at a shallow depth into pots of rich, moist, free-draining soil, keep the pots in a sheltered, half-shaded spot and never let them dry out, and the first shoots will soon push through.