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Marah watsonii
Also called Taw Man Root
Marah watsonii, the taw manroot, is an uncommon species in the genus Marah endemic to central northern California. Its range is bounded by the eastern coastal foothills, the western foothills of the northern Sierra Nevada and Cascades ranges and from Lake Berryessa in the south to Lake Shasta in the north.
Taw manroot grows most vigorously by streams or in washes but can also be successful in dryer areas, at elevations up to 1,600 meters (5,200 ft). It will tolerate a variety of soil types and acidities, but it requires at least seasonally moist soil. Vines can grow in full-sun to heavily shaded conditions. Vines die back in summer and emerge in late winter.
All parts of the plant have a bitter taste (this is the meaning of the genus name Marah, which comes from Hebrew). Despite this, the leaves have been used as a vegetable. The large tuber of the manroot can be processed for a soap-like extract.
California Manroot · Gila manroot · Sierra Manroot · Cucamonga Manroot · Coastal manroot · Manroot
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Marah watsonii by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
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.
