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Publication #HS588

 

Corn Salad — Valerianella locusta (L.) Betcke1

James M. Stephens2

Corn salad is also called lamb's lettuce and fetticus. It is a salad plant, but may also be used as a cooking green. Since it does not have a sharp distinctive flavor, it is often mixed with other more tasty greens such as mustard.

DESCRIPTION

Corn salad forms a rather large rosette of leaves that are spoon-shaped to round, and up to 6 inches long. Sometimes the leaves are covered or bunched together to exclude light for the purpose of blanching.

CULTURE

The vegetable plant is grown in Florida similarly to endive or lettuce. It tolerates cool weather, so may be sown from seed in September through May. Space the rows 12 to 18 inches apart, and the plants about 6 inches apart in the row.

In trial plantings at Gainesville, FL, corn salad did not grow as well as expected.

Footnotes

1.

This document is HS588, one of a series of the Horticultural Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Original publication date May 1994. Revised March 2009. Reviewed February 2012. Visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2.

James M. Stephens, Professor, Horticultural Sciences Department, Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville FL 32611.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, Dean.