Strange Looking ‘Maralroot’
Answered by: Conrad Richter
Question from: Robert Heynderickx
Posted on: September 17, 2006

I bought last year some seeds of maralroot Leuzia rhapontica from a great plantshop in the Netherlands. I was looking for some pictures on the Internet, and amazingly the leaves have a quite different form than the leaves of the one I bought. Maybe there are some other species, but I wondered if mine is medically interesting. Here is the picture I took of it.

P.S. The long leaves on the right is my maralroot, on the left is small Rhodiola rosea,

Your plant is very different from our maralroot plants. I have not seen anything like yours so I cannot comment on whether it has any medicinal value. I am not even sure that it is a Leuzea species.

To identify your plant it will be necessary to wait for the plant to flower. In the meantime you can contact a taxonomist for advice on how to prepare a specimen of your plant for identification purposes. Most universities of botanical gardens have on staff trained taxonomists who may be able to help you.

Back to Growing Herbs | Q & A Index

Copyright © 1997-2024 Otto Richter and Sons Limited. All rights reserved.