Poisonous woodruff: Harvesting before flowering makes it more tolerable

2023-04-12T09:47:46.560Z

The woodruff is a small miracle plant, because it also grows in places where other plants have long given up. However, you should not eat too much of it.

The woodruff is a small miracle plant, because it also grows in places where other plants have long given up.

However, you should not eat too much of it.

The woodruff plant has many names.

So it is also known as throat herb, liver or skimmed herb, articular herb or heart joy.

The many names already show in which areas woodruff was used in the past: as a medicinal herb for stomach or heart problems, for example.

Today we mainly know it as an ingredient for the so-called May punch.

Gardeners usually only need a few stalks for this, because the woodruff plant develops a very intense aroma.

Less is more with this plant, mainly because it is poisonous to humans in large quantities.

Poisonous woodruff: Harvesting before flowering makes it more tolerable

Woodruff should be harvested before flowering.

In the meantime, the woodruff has spread widely in Europe.

Only in Portugal, on Sardinia and on Iceland, the plant is not found.

In this country it flowers from mid-April to June.

If the ground cover has been able to spread far, many small, white flowers shine on the ground at this time of year and in many places transform the floors of the deciduous forests into a sea of flowers.

Woodruff grows mainly in shady places, which makes it the perfect plant in the garden for otherwise unplantable areas.

But beware: Woodruff spreads quickly.

Anyone who plants it in the herb garden should stop it with a root barrier, otherwise the plant will quickly take over the entire bed.

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Poisonous Woodruff: Use with caution

As beautiful as the flowers of the woodruff may be, if you want to use the plant in punch or as a spice in dishes, you should harvest it before it blooms.

The aromatic substance coumarin contained in woodruff increases as soon as the plant flowers.

If a person consumes this substance in large quantities, it leads to poisoning.

This shows up, for example, in the form of a severe headache.

Once you have harvested a few stalks of woodruff, you can sit back and relax.

With this plant, it helps to give it a little rest and let it wilt a bit.

Two nights in a well-ventilated place are sufficient for this.

Only then do the aromas typical of the woodruff unfold.

According to Bayerischer Rundfunk, more coumarin is produced during the withering process, albeit in a less dangerous form of the flavoring substance.