“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” So said Romeo’s Juliet. Good thing—because names can be confusing, varied, colloquial, or misleading—as with corn salad. Of course, if you’ve read Midwest Maize, you already know that “corn” means “dominant cereal grain,” so you won’t be surprised by that revelation in this article. But interesting to see how things get named, and how they spread, and how a weed can become valued.
Valerianella locusta illustration by Thomé (1885) showing the plant, flower, and seed.
There is plant called
corn salad
Which is not the same thing as a
corn salad
See?
Not the same thing at all.
Corn Salad also goes by Mache, Doucette and Raiponce …yes, that translates to Rapunzel!
Walter Crane illustration of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Was she so named because her hair grew like a weed?
Evidently, it’s called corn salad because it’s a weed in the corn – which is any grain back in England. People use to gather it in from the fields, and not actually grow it in their gardens. Ordinary people, that is.
Thomas Jefferson grew it in his gardens at Monticello.
Thomas Jefferson – not ordinary
Louis XIV also grew it in his garden
Louis XIV – the Sun King – very NOT ordinary!
I’m really tired of KALE
So perhaps Corn…
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Midwest Maize 