| DESCRIPTION: It is a tender, perennial, aquatic herb reaching about 60 cm in height and 120 cm in spread. It has long, oval shaped leaves float on the water and white inflorescences standing up out of the water above the leaves. USE: The leaves and tubers are edible and the stalks have medicinal properties. The stems with their high juice content make soothing treatments for burns and scrapes and take the pain out of sunburn, if the juice is applied every hour until the redness fades. For a garden pond this is an excellent ornamental plant. GROWING PERIOD: Perennial. COMMON NAMES: Cape pondweed, Water hawthorn, Cape asparagus. FURTHER INF: It occurs naturally in the winter rainfall areas of the Cape in South Africa. It was introduced into cultivation in Europe in the seventeenth century. It is cultivated and has naturalised in southern France and England. It is adapted to growing in ponds which dry up in summer. The dormant tubers sprout again as soon as the pools fill in autumn. It thrives in cold-water, going dormant in the summer heat and reappearing in the fall once the temperature starts to fall. The tubers survive the winter in deeper water at the bottom of ponds, also if the ponds freeze over, however the tubers are not very cold resistant. It thrives in rich clay and loamy soils. It does best in water from 15-60 cm deep but can also grow in wet soil but is then very restricted. It grows in full sun and under partial shade. |
