Rat-Tail Radish

Medicinal Uses

Edible Uses

Edible Parts: Flowers  Leaves  Seedpod | Edible Uses: Young leaves - raw or cooked[177]. A somewhat hot taste. Flowers - raw. A nice spicy addition to salads. Young seedpods - raw[1, 4, 27, 37]. Crisp and juicy, they must be eaten when young because they quickly become tough and fibrous. They can grow more than 60cm long, but they tend to become tough and fibrous when more than 30cm long[183].

Cultivation

Prefers a rich soil with ample moisture[16, 52]. Dislikes very heavy or acid soils[16, 37]. Plants are susceptible to drought and require irrigation during dry spells in the summer or the root quality will rapidly deteriorate and the plant will go to seed. The rat-tailed radishes are sometimes cultivated for their large edible seedpods, there are some named varieties[183]. This group of radishes does not produce roots of good quality, it is cultivated mainly for the edible young seedpods which are harvested in the summer. Radishes are a good companion plant for lettuces, nasturtiums, peas and chervil, tomatoes and cucumbers[18, 20]. They are said to repel cucumber beetles if planted near cucumber plants and they also repel the vine borers which attack squashes, marrows and courgettes[238]. They grow badly with hyssop[18, 20] and with grape vines[201].

Known Hazards

None known

Habitats

Not known in a truly wild situation.