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Plant of the week

Fagus sylvatica / Beech

What is PFAF?
Recommended this month Have a look at our top rated edible plants and our top rated medicinal plants Our Page of the week is Alternative Lighting: Plant Oils and Waxes and our Plant of the Week is Fagus sylvatica. Free Leaflet this week: Alternative Root Crops

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Amazing Plant Fact

Holly (e.g. Ilex aquifolium) are dioecious, from the Greek for 'tw o houses', w here the plant population has separate male and female plants. Individual flow ers are either male or female, but only one sex is to be found on any one plant so both male and female plants must be grow n if seed is required. A male and female plant must be w ithin a reasonable distance if they are to pollinate. Holly is pollinated by Bees. The female plants bear beautiful red berries. Dioecious species cannot selffertilize. In many w estern cultures, holly is a traditional Christmas decoration, used especially in w reaths.

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DATABASE
Plants For A Future: A resource and information centre for edible and otherwise useful plants Plants For A Future (PFAF) is a charitable company, originally set up to support the work of Ken and Addy Fern on their experimental site in Cornwall, where they carried out research and provided information on edible and otherwise useful plants suitable for growing outdoors in a temperate climate. Over time they planted 1500 species of edible plants on 'The Field' in Cornwall, which was their base since 1989. Over ten years ago, Ken began compiling a database, which currently consists of approximately 7000 species of plants. For more information on the work carried out by the Ferns, see: The History of Plants For A Future Search for over 7000 edible and medicinal plants using a number of search criteria including: common and Latin names, keyword, family, habitat and use (medicinal, edible or other). Search Now You can do a more detailed search using the Search Properties section. This allows you to search for a number of plant features at once. For example you might want to search for a plant that needs light sandy soil, that is between 1m and 5m high and that likes shade. The database search will find plants that have all 3 of these features.more

PFAF Newsletter
Stay informed about PFAFs progress, challenges and hopes by signing up for our free email new sletter. You w ill receive a range of benefits including: important announcements and new s exclusive content not on the w ebsite updates on new information & functionality of the w ebsite & database We w ill not sell or share your email address. You can unsubscribe at anytime.

Plants For A Future: 20 years on

The trustees of PFAF, in recognition of the work of the Ferns, and for information about what they achieved, commissioned a detailed mapping and ecological Survey of The Field. The Survey Report is available for anyone who is interested. We have also employed professional website developers to redesign the website and improve the content of the database, work on which is ongoing. We share in, and continue to support, the aims of the founders. The main aims of the charity are researching and providing information on ecologically sustainable horticulture, promoting a high diversity, holistic and permacultural approach namely 'woodland gardening'. We aim to use a minimal input of resources and energy, create a harmonious eco-system and cause the least possible damage to the environment whilst achieving high productivity. The Plants for a Future Concept It is our belief that plants can provide people with the majority of their needs, in a way that cares for the planet's health. A wide range of plants can be grown to produce all our food needs and many other

PLANT USES
The Plant Uses section gives a wide variety of uses for plants including their medicinal and edible qualities as well as other uses for example, building materials, dyes, paints, inks and paper or clothing. In many cases this information is supported by the database with direct links to relevant plants. Plant Uses In this section you can also find the web

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commodities, whilst also providing a diversity of habitats for our native flora and fauna. There are over 20,000 species of edible plants in the world yet fewer than 20 species now provide 90% of our food. Large areas of land devoted to single crops increase dependence upon intervention of chemicals and intensive control methods with the added threat of chemical resistant insects and new diseases. The changing world climate greatly affecting cultivation indicates a greater diversity is needed. more

In this section you can also find the web page 'Top 20 Plants'. This page includes some of our favourite plants that we feel are so good they deserve an article all to themselves for example, Allium, Cornus and Viola. The page also has top rated plants for edibility and medicinal uses. The plants are rated by use, through our research and experience, and all have either a top rating of 5 apples for edibility or 5 hearts for medicinal use. Additional pages include Woodland Gardening, Vegan Organics, Perennial Plants, and Habitats.more Translations

Latest Forum
Aloe vera
The bitterness of the aloe leaf is only in the thin layer of s...

Alternative Edible Leaves

Re: question of Liliane Stern (Thu Jul 2 2009). The Egyptian lea...

Rosa glauca
Any rose can be used for making rose hip jam - some are better th...

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RESEARCH

Rosa rugosa
Every country hedge that gets trimmed by vicious strimmers should...

Free Report
Plants For A Future: Survey and Research Project on the 'The Field' We have recently completed a survey and research project on the 'The Field', the experimental site of Ken and Addy Fern ( Plants For A Future founders) in Cornwall, where they carried out research and provided information on edible and otherwise useful plants suitable for growing outdoors in a temperate climate. Over time they planted 1500 species of edible plants on 'The Field' in Cornwall, which was their base since 1989. You can download the report for free here

Information on the work at our 28 acre piece of land in Cornwall that was purchased as a place to demonstrate the many uses of plants with a very strong emphasis on perennial species. It is run by a small group of volunteers.more

Amaranthus dubius
Thank you for (more) interesting information on this - one of sev...

Search: Plants For A Future Page Content

Apart from the 7000+ plant pages we have over 200 content pages with information on everything from woodland gardens to seed saving. You can search the Plants For A Future Page Content by using the search here

Latest Blog
Plants For A Futures Autumn Newsletter. Free Report, QR Codes, Image Update, Website Tips. Free Information leaflets

PFAF Appeal
Target for 2011-2012: 18,000 (approx $28,000 USD) Raised so far: 921.00 (to 30 Nov 2011) For:A part-time person for plant research, administration, website and database development/maintenance Technical improvements to the website including improved search functionality Website costs including hosting and domain names Thank you for all donations so far

Penpol suvey published Trees for Health forest garden Inaugural meeting Be an expert contributor The new website Employment Opportunities New people to look after the land

General Disclaimer
To the best of our knowledge all the information contained herein is accurate and true. However we cannot guarantee that everyone will react positively to all edible plants or other plant uses. It is commonly known that many people suffer allergic reactions to conventional foods and products. Even amongst the more commonly eaten fruits, for example, there are plenty of instances where people react badly to them: Many people are allergic to strawberries and will come out in a rash if they eat them. Some people develop a rash if they touch the stems of parsnips. Potatoes become poisonous if they turn green. Eating large quantities of cabbage can adversely affect the thyroid gland. In general, we believe that the overall health of people will be greatly improved by bringing more diversity into their diet and through using more natural products. We strongly recommend the following preventative precautions when trying anything new: Make sure you have identified the plant correctly Try a small taste of anything new in your diet. If there are no side effects increase the quantity at the next meal. When trying new soaps or skin applications try them on a very small area before proceeding to larger areas of the body. Look for any uncomfortable reactions or changes and if there is do not proceed with further application. No liability exists against Plants for a Future or any member of Plants for a Future, nor can they be held responsible for any allergy, illness or injurious effect that any person or animal may suffer as a result of information in this catalogue or through using any of the plants mentioned by Plants for a Future.

Support Us
Your support as a volunteer or donor allow s us to continue our w ork and is very important to us. Ways you can help to support our valuable w ork..Read More

All the information contained in these pages is Copyright (C) Plants For A Future, 1996-2010. Plants For A Future is a charitable c ompany limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales. Charity No. 1057719, Company No. 3204567, Web Design & Management This work is lic ensed under a Creative Commons Lic ense. Some information cannot be used for commercial reasons or be modified (but some c an). Please view the c opyright link for more information.

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