Edible Plants of the World

Alpine bistort, Alpine smartweed, Serpent grass, Swinegrass, Common bistort

It is a cool temperate plant. It grows in Arctic regions and on alpine and subalpine slopes. It grows on gravelly and rocky soils. It is a hardy plant. In Nepal plants grow between 3000-4500 m altitude. In Sikkim it grows between 1,500-2,500 m above sea level. It suits hardiness zones 5-8. In Sichuan.

Also known as:

Bajir, Bilauri, Inuit nuts, Khalti, Mameche, Maslun, Masun, Mortog, Na-ram, Pangram, Pantsa ramba, Rambu, Rambu godpa, Syukl'yagyak, Viviparous bistort, živorodna dresen, Zivorodni dvornik

Synonyms

Edible Portion

Where does Alpine bistort grow?

Found in: Alaska, Arctic, Asia, Balkans, Bhutan, Bosnia, Britain, Canada, Central Asia, China, Europe, Greenland, Himalayas, Iceland, India, Indochina, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Northeastern India, North America, Norway, Russia, Scandinavia, Siberia, Sikkim, Slovenia, Sweden, Tajikistan, Thailand, United States

Notes: There are about 50 Polygonum species.

Status: It is a commonly known edible plant.

Growing Alpine bistort, Alpine smartweed, Serpent grass, Swinegrass, Common bistort

Cultivation: Plants are grown from seed.

Edible Uses: The tiny bulbils are stripped from the lower part of the flower stalk and eaten raw. The rootstocks can be dug and eaten raw, boiled or roasted. They are used to flavour meat. The young leaves can be used in salads or cooked. Older leaves can be cooked and eaten. Seeds are pickled. The ripe fruit are eaten. CAUTION: Although plants are not poisonous they can cause skin reactions.

Nutrition Info

per 100g edible portion

Edible Part Energy (kcal) Protein (g) Iron (mg) Vitamin A (ug) Vitamin c (mg) Zinc (mg) % Water
- - - - - -

References

Ainana, L. & Zagrebin, I., 2014, Edible Plants Used by the Siberian Yupik Eskimos of Southeastern Chukotka Peninsula, Russia, (English translation). p 62 (As Bistorta vivipara)

Ambasta, S.P. (Ed.), 2000, The Useful Plants of India. CSIR India. p 482 (As Polygonum viviparum)

Beckstrom-Sternberg, Stephen M., and James A. Duke. "The Foodplant Database." http://probe.nalusda.gov:8300/cgi-bin/browse/foodplantdb.(ACEDB version 4.0 - data version July 1994) (As Polygonum viviparum)

Boesi, A., 2014, Traditional knowledge of wild food plants in a few Tibetan communities. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 10:75 (As Polygonum viviparum)

Cerne, M., 1992, Wild Plants from Slovenia used as Vegetables. Acta Horticulturae 318 (As Polygonum viviparum)

Dobriyal, M. J. R. & Dobriyal, R., 2014, Non Wood Forest Produce an Option for Ethnic Food and Nutritional Security in India. Int. J. of Usuf. Mngt. 15(1):17-37 (As Polygonum viviparum)

Elias, T.S. & Dykeman P.A., 1990, Edible Wild Plants. A North American Field guide. Sterling, New York p 155 (As Polygonum viviparum)

Esperanca, M. J., 1988. Surviving in the wild. A glance at the wild plants and their uses. Vol. 1. p 34 (As Polygonum viviparum)

Facciola, S., 1998, Cornucopia 2: a Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, p 184 (As Polygonum viviparum)

Ferns, Plants for a Future. (As Polygonum viviparum)

Flora of China @ efloras.org Volume 5 (As Polygonum viviparum)

http://www.botanic-gardens-ljubljana.com/en/plants (As Polygonum viviparum)

Ghimire, S. K., et al, 2008, Non-Timber Forest Products of Nepal Himalaya. WWF Nepal p 113 (As Bistorta vivipara)

Kang, J. et al, 2016, Wild food plants and fungi used in the mycophilous Tibetan community of Zhagana (Tewo Country, Gansu, China) Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 12:21

Kermath, B. M., et al, 2014, Food Plants in the Americas: A survey of the domesticated, cultivated and wild plants used for Human food in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. On line draft. p 676 (As Polygonum viviparum)

MacKinnon, A., et al, 2009, Edible & Medicinal Plants of Canada. Lone Pine. p 323 (As Bistorta vivipara)

Manandhar, N.P., 2002, Plants and People of Nepal. Timber Press. Portland, Oregon. p 113 (As Bistorta viviparum)

Morley, B. & Everard, B., 1970, Wild Flowers of the World. Ebury press. Plate 5 (As Polygonum viviparum)

Mullory, C. & Aitken, S., 2012, Common Plants of Nunavut. Inhabit Media p 82(As Bistorta vivipara)

Plants for a Future database, The Field, Penpol, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, PL22 0NG, UK. http://www.scs.leeds.ac.uk/pfaf/ (As Polygonum viviparum)

Porsild, A.E., 1953, Edible Plants of the Arctic, Arctic 6:15-34, page 31 (As Polygonum viviparum)

Porsild, A.E., 1974, Rocky Mountain Wild Flowers. Natural History Series No. 2 National Museums of Canada. p 148 (As Polygonum viviparum)

Redzic, S. J., 2006, Wild Edible Plants and their Traditional Use in the Human Nutrition in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 45:189-232 (As Polygonum viviparum)

Scotter, G. W., & Flygare, H., 1993, Wildflowers of the Canadian Rockies. Hurtig. p 22 (As Polygonum viviparum)

Sp. pl. 1:360. 1753 (As Polygonum viviparum)

Sundriyal, M., et al, 1998, Wild edibles and other useful plants from the Sikkim Himalaya, India. Oecologia Montana 7:43-54 (As Bistorta vivipara)

Sundriyal, M., et al, 2004, Dietary Use of Wild Plant Resources in the Sikkim Himalaya, India. Economic Botany 58(4) pp 626-638 (As Bistorta vivipara)

Svanberg, I., et al, 2012, Edible wild plant use in the Faroe Islands and Iceland. Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae 81(4): 233-238 (As Bistorta vivipara)

Svanberg, I., 2012, The use of wild plants as food in pre-industrial Sweden. Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae 81(4): 317-327 (As Bistorta vivipara)

Turner, N. J. et al, 2011, Edible and Tended Wild Plants, Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Agroecology. Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences, 30:198-225 (As Polygonum viviparum)

Zhang, Y., et al, Yunatov’s Records of Wild Edible Plant Used by the Mongols in Mongolia During 1940- 1951: Ethnobotanical Arrangements and Discussions. Inner Mongolia Normal University. p 6, 14 (As Polygonum viviparum)