Blue Cockspur Flower, Plectranthus Parviflorus, Bush Tucker With Edible Roots

Cockspur flower is an interesting bush food plant with starchy roots which can be used similar to potatoes. The leaves can also be eaten and the whole plant has a slightly minty taste. 

This native plant is also a pretty groundcover 30-50 cm high with scented leaves and gorgeous blue flowers over a long period, which is a good food source for bees.  Cockspur flower grows fast and grows also well in shallow soil on rocks.

The good news is that plectranthus parviflorus can adapt to most gardens, it can grow in sun or shade, poor soils, acid or alkaline soils, is low-maintenance and grows in seaside gardens. However it does not survive more than a light frost.

This Australian native is an ideal groundcover for your foodforest and can even look great in hanging baskets.

The roots can be eaten raw or cooked and don’t have to be peeled.

The plants I sell show some leaf damage from nibbling grasshoppers.

The plectranthus family is a nightmare for botanists, that means a lot of synonyms!

Other names are: Coleus australis, synonyms Plectranthus australis and Plectranthus parviflorus, Germanea australis, Germanea parviflora, Lumnitzera moschata, Majana parviflora, Moschosma austral, Moschosma brownii, Moschosma moschatum, Plectranthus australis, Plectranthus klossii, Plectranthus moschatus, Plectranthus paniculatus, Plectranthus sieberi, Sudan Potato, Chinese potato, Kafir potato, Kaffir potato, Coleus potato, Hausa potato, Blue spur flower,   little spurflower or cockspur flower.