- Woodruff: origin and characteristics
- Buy woodruff: what should you donote?
- How to plant woodruff?
- Care for woodruff: Everything for watering, cutting and fertilizing
- How to harvest and store woodruff?
- Is woodruff poisonous?
- Flavour and use of woodruff
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The aromatic woodruff is very popular as a syrup, especially in spring. Find out all the important information about the woodruff - from its origin to cultivation and harvesting - here.
Woodruff (Galium odoratum), also known as fragrant bedstraw or May herb, belongs to the blushing family (Rubiaceae) and is perennial Forest plant mainly found in shady deciduous forests as well as beech and mixed deciduous forests. But woodruff can also be grown in the garden. The very original woodruff Galium odoratum , which grows wild here, is used for cultivation. There is not a large selection of varieties at the woodruff. A distantly related species can be found in the southern Alpine forests, the Turiner Woodruff (Asperula taurina), also called Turiner Meister. It is larger than our local woodruff and its flowers smell wonderfully of jasmine.
Woodruff: origin and characteristics
The white-flowering forest perennial, which is best known for the Maybowle, can be found at altitudes of up to 1400 meters in northern and central Europe as well as in western Siberia, North Africa and some Asian countries such as China, Japan or Kazakhstan. The woodruff was mentioned in Germany as early as 854, when the Benedictine monk Wandalbertus from the Eifel reported that he and his brothers inaugurated May with a woodruff punch. The name "woodruff" is possibly a derivation of the Latin word matrisylva, which means "wood feverfew". However, the herb also has many other names, which can differ greatly from region to region.
Woodruff is a green overwintering, perennial, herbaceous plant that forms short runners and spreads flat. It can reach a height of up to 30 centimeters and has a green, square stem on which the light to medium green leaves are arranged in whorls. Each whorl consists of six to eight lanceolate-oblong leaves four centimeters long with a clearly visible main vein. The small, white, star-shaped flowers, arranged in umbels, appear between April and May.
Buy woodruff: what should you donote?
Woodruff can be purchased as seeds or as a potted plant. You have to plan some time for your own sowing, because woodruff grows rather slowly at first.
You can find seeds and potted plants in DIY stores, garden centres, nurseries or online. When buying potted plants, it pays to buy high-quality plants: so look for strong leaves that are not too soft and too light green in appearance. If you see woodruff still in bloom in autumn, you should better keep your hands off it. These plants are not well prepared for the winter and would freeze very quickly in a frost. Seeds for woodruff are of course also available free of charge from nature, because harvesting the seeds is not prohibited. Another good option is to carefully dig up and transplant small parts of the plants.
How to plant woodruff?
Woodruff is sown or planted in shady places and in moist soil. Young plants love a layer of mulch at the bottom that keeps the soil moist. Woodruff tolerates only small amounts of fertilizer, which should be primarily organic. Compost or our Plantura organic universal fertilizer, for example, are ideal for this purpose.
In order to successfully plant woodruff, it is worth taking a look at the forest. This is where the perennial plant puts down its roots under natural conditions. Woodruff prefers a semi-shady to shady spot and moist, calcareous soil. He particularly likes to cover the ground below deciduous trees. For sowing, which takes place from mid-September to February, the seeds are covered with half a centimeter of soil. In the spring, the young plants can then be separated at a distance of 20 centimeters in the row. Alternatively, you can buy the woodruff in a pot and plant the plants 40 centimeters apart between March and October. If you don't have enough space, woodruff can also be cultivated in a bucket, for example on the balcony, without any problems. Then make sure that the moisture-loving plant does not dry out. Ideally, your balcony should also face east or north so that the forest perennial is not exposed to the blazing sun for too long.
Summary: How is woodruff planted?
- Sowing: mid-September to February
- Row spacing: 25cm
- Plant potted plants between March and October
- Planting distance: 40 cm
You can find more detailed information on the cultivation of woodruff in our special article.
Care for woodruff: Everything for watering, cutting and fertilizing
Woodruff is robust, not very susceptible to diseases or pests and is generally not very demanding. However, you should note a few things for successful woodruff cultivation. As a real wild perennial from the forest, it is important, for example, that the soil is always sufficiently moist. Lack of water has a very negative effect on the plant. Therefore, check the soil regularly, especially if it has not rained for a long time. Woodruffs in pots need to be watered all the more carefully.
Because the woodruff is a perennial, it sprout anew every year. It takes the strength to do this from its rhizomes, the subterranean sprouts and storage organs. It is not necessary to cut back the herbaceous plant, but it is possible to cut off the edges with a spade if the ground cover has developed too much. The resulting sections can then be given away or transplanted to another suitable place in the garden.
As far as nutrient supply is concerned, the woodruff is extremely frugal. In the first year after sowing or planting, it does not need any additional nutrient supply. In the second year, the herb can be supplied with a small amount of compost or a primarily organic fertilizer such as our Plantura organic universal fertilizer in spring. This provides the plant with all the important nutrients over a long period of time and is completely animal-free.
Tip: Even if the woodruff grows like a carpet: the square stems of the plant break easily and the result of constant disturbance is that it retreats - leave the woodruff there proliferate in peace as easily as possible.
How to harvest and store woodruff?
If the woodruff is to be eaten, it is harvested before it blooms, around between March and April. At this point in time, the content of the less digestible coumarin glycosides is at its lowest. You can harvest woodruff for bouquets or as a remedy for moths between spring and autumn. For storage, the woodruff is dried or frozen.
If the woodruff is to be eaten, the harvest time is closely related to the flowering. That's because of theCoumarin glycosides, which are present throughout the plant and can cause symptoms such as headaches or drowsiness if consumed in excess. The content is highest during flowering, which is why it is best to harvest directly before flowering. The period for this is roughly between March and April.
For harvesting, you can use a knife or scissors to cut off the stems and leaves just above the ground. After harvesting, the herb has to wither overnight so that it develops its typical aroma. After this step, the woodruff is dried and filled into airtight jars for storage. But the aromatic plant can also be stored in the freezer and in this way it retains its strong aroma even better.
You can find more information on this topic in the associated special article on harvesting and storing woodruff.
Is woodruff poisonous?
Woodruff is classified as slightly to hardly poisonous. Noticeable symptoms can only occur if very large amounts are consumed, but the occasional use of normal amounts is not a problem at all. Most foods with a woodruff flavor also no longer contain real woodruff.
Woodruff contains coumarin glycosides, which are converted into coumarin when the plant withers and escapes. This allows you to perceive the typical woodruff smell. In large quantities, this substance can cause headaches, dizziness or even drowsiness, but because really large quantities are required for this, the plant is considered to be little or hardly toxic. Most foods flavored with woodruff now only contain artificial flavors, and lemonades and confectionery, which are particularly popular with children, may no longer be flavored with real woodruff.
Tip: Although woodruff is considered slightly poisonous, the fresh herb is safe to use as long as you handle it with care. For example, if you use fresh stalks in the May punch, they should not sit in the drink for longer than 15 to 20 minutes.
Flavour and use of woodruff
Waldmeister is very popular in Germany. Hardly any other country uses the herb as much as it does here. The typical aroma, which is created by the secondary plant substance coumarin, is often used in a variety of ways in the kitchen and gives food and drinks that certain something. For exampleYou can find the aromatic herb in the woodruff punch, but it is also used to refine syrup, schnapps, ice cream or desserts such as the bright green jelly.
The woodruff is also used as a medicinal plant. If coumarin leads to symptoms in high doses, it is said to help with headaches and migraines in low doses and have an antispasmodic effect. As a medicinal herb, woodruff is often used as a tea, for example. In combination with lemon balm, this is said to help against insomnia.
Have you got a taste for it? We will show you how to plant your own woodruff in the garden.