Armoracia rusticana
(Horseradish) Life
> eukaryotes >
Archaeoplastida >
Chloroplastida
>
Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants)
> Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants)
> Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering
plants) > Eudicotyledons > Core Eudicots > Rosids >
Eurosid II > Order: Brassicales > Family: Brassicaceae > Genus: Armoracia
Horseradish is a pungent herb with leaves that are
used in salads and sandwiches, and roots that are used for sauces that are added
to meat. It is also used for various medical complaints. It is a sterile
cultigen thought to have originated in
southern Russia and Eastern Ukraine. It has become naturalised in Europe, North
America and New Zealand, where it can be found growing along roadsides.
Cultivation dates back only to about Roman and Greek times, about 2000 years
ago.
Uses
- Culinary
- Leaves. Used in salads and sandwiches
- Roots (grated).
- Used alone, or in combination with apple, as a
condiment for fish.
- Made into a sauce with vinegar and cream that
is used with roast beef, cold chicken or hard-boiled eggs
- In Eastern Europe, used as a condiment in
combination with beets.
- Medicinal. Evidently controls bacterial
infection, lowers fever by increasing perspiration, acts as a diuretic, and
stimulates circulation.
- Internal. Excess use can lead to vomiting or
the development of an alergic response. Claimed as a treatment for:
- general debility;
- arthritis (inflamation of joints causing pain);
- gout (inflamation and swelling of joints caused
by an excess of uric acid in the blood that deposits as urates in
the joints);
- ischiadica (= sciatica) (spasms of the
ischiadic [= sciatic] nerve, causing pain down the back of the leg)
;
- respiratory infections;
- urinary infections; and
- fevers where one gets cold.
- External. Applied as a poultice for:
- infected wounds;
- pleurisy (inflammation of the pleura which are
the membranes that enclose the pleural cavity which surrounds the
lungs)
- arthritis; and
- pericarditis (inflammation of the pericardium,
which is the membrane covering the heart).
References
-
Brown, D. 2002. The Royal Horticultural
Society New Encyclopedia of Herbs and their Uses. Dorling Kindersley,
London.
-
Phillips, R. & Rix, M. 1993. Vegetables.
Pan Books, London.
Text by Hamish Robertson |