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Blitum bonus-henricus
Also called Allgood, Fat Hen, Wild Spinach, Mercury, Perennial Goosefoot
Good King Henry is a hardy perennial leafy vegetable, a goosefoot relative, grown for its spinach-like leaves and asparagus-like young shoots. It thrives in fertile, humus-rich soil in partial shade and tolerates cold well.
Blitum bonus-henricus (syn. Chenopodium bonus-henricus), also called Good-King-Henry, poor-man's asparagus, perennial goosefoot, Lincolnshire spinach, Markery, English mercury, or mercury goosefoot, is a species of goosefoot which is native to much of central and southern Europe.
Good-King-Henry has been grown as a vegetable in cottage gardens for hundreds of years, although this dual-purpose vegetable is now rarely grown and the species is more often considered a weed.
To ensure successful germination the seeds need a period of cold stratification. Usually 9 weeks at 4°C (40°F) is sufficient. Once stratified they can be germinated at 20°C (70°F). For this reason, sowing in spring is recommended. The difficulty of germination might be due to the thicker seed coat, which increases with higher altitudes.
While these plants thrive best in fertile, humus-rich ground, they are highly adaptable and will generally succeed in most soil types and conditions. However, they prefer partially shaded spots. If these conditions are met, it is assumed that thirty plants produce enough for four people. They are exceptionally easy to manage because they exhibit a clumping growth habit (meaning their spread is limited), and their root system consists of a deep, descending taproot similar to a carrot. Moreover, there are no pests known that cause considerable harm to the plant. As it originates from the Alps, it can also tolerate very low temperatures. Due to these reasons it is a promising crop for the future.
It can generally be found throughout Britain and Europe, except in the southeast.
Good-King-Henry has not been incorporated into large scale markets. Because of this, it may face difficulties competing for a market niche already dominated by mass-produced leafy greens such as spinach. This difficulty has been documented in other leafy green alternative crops, such as Chaya. In Chaya the primary inhibiting factors towards market growth were low demand due to a lack of consumer awareness and low profitability over traditional crops. These problems would be substantial hurdles for Good-King-Henry as well to ever reach wider markets.
Soap Plant · Beetberry · Nuttall's Poverty-Weed · Leafy goosefoot
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Blitum bonus-henricus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
