Salad Burnet is an herb often grown for its edible foliage. Cut the plant back to encourage new growth, as the youngest leaves are the tastiest. It can be found growing on dry, infertile chalk or limestone grasslands. The plant will spread through self-seeding. To discourage self-seeding, remove the flowers once they have bloomed. Intolerant of drought and shade but does tolerate alkaline soils and browsing by deer. Plant in border fronts, herb gardens, or in a vegetable garden. Insects, Diseases, and Other Plant Problems: No serious problems.
Curated pairwise relationships between this plant and others in the library — who feeds
whom, who competes, who confuses the pests. Green reads as a good pairing, red as one to avoid.
No curated interactions recorded for this species yet.
Also noted by NC State
Related species the NC State Plant Toolbox flags for this plant — look-alikes to tell
apart, and plants that play a similar role in a planting. Ones we carry in the library are linked.
Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day)
Soil texture
Clay; High Organic Matter; Sand
Soil pH
Acid (<6.0); Alkaline (>8.0); Neutral (6.0-8.0)
Soil drainage
Good Drainage
Available space
12 inches-3 feet
NC region
Coastal; Mountains; Piedmont
Mature size
Height: 0 ft. 9 in. - 2 ft. 0 in. | Width: 1 ft. 0 in. - 2 ft. 0 in.
Maintenance
Low
Canopy layer
4 - Herbaceous (1-3 ft)
Form & Appearance
Habit / form
Mounding
Leaf color
Green
Leaf type
Compound (Pinnately , Bipinnately, Palmately)
Leaf arrangement
Rosulate
Leaf margin
Crenate; Dentate; Serrate
Leaf value
Edible; Fragrant
Hairs present
No
Leaf detail
Pinnately compound leaves have 4-12 pairs of rounded, toothed leaflets, fragrant, in a mounded rosette.
Flower color
Green; Purple/Lavender
Flower value
Edible; Showy
Flower form
Head
Flower detail
Greenish flower with 4 petals, a purple tinge in rounded radially symmetrical, heads on upright stalks that reach 2' tall mid-summer.
Bloom time
Summer
Fruit type
Achene
Fruit detail
July to September dry, winged, but does not split open when ripe. Contains many small seeds..
Stem detail
Erect
Wildlife & Ecology
Native status
Non-native
Origin
Europe, northern Africa, Canary Islands, Asia
Food & Medicine
Edible parts
Leaves
Harvest time
Summer
Fruit type
Achene
Edibility
The cucumber flavored leaves of Salad Burnet are used in making salads, vinegar, butter, cottage cheese, and cream cheese. It is also used as a garnish.
Landscape Use
Landscape location
Container; Naturalized Area
Landscape theme
Edible Garden
Design feature
Border; Mass Planting
Garden tags
#edible garden #deer resistant #flowers mid-summer #border front #low maintenance #fragrant leaves #vegetable garden #self-seeding #non-toxic for cats #non-toxic for horses #non-toxic for dogs #perennial #herb garden #weedy