'Coquille de Louviers' Mâche

Valerianella locusta

Origin: Louviers, Normandy, France

Improvement status: Cultivar

Seeds per packet: ~750

Germination tested 12/2021: 78%

Life cycle: Annual

Looking like tiny heads of lettuce, mâche — also called "corn salad" or "lamb's lettuce" — makes for one of the finest salad greens around. The flavor is mild, sweet, and nutty, the texture is soft and buttery, and the nutritional profile is impressive. It will readily naturalize if given half a chance, and this explains its common English name "corn salad": it's often found growing as a weed in wheat fields (because "corn" is actually an old English word for wheat). This unique, very cold-tolerant French variety has cupped leaves, giving it a very different appearance from typical mâche. The name means "seashells from Louviers," after the small Normandy city from which it originates.

Our seed comes from Restoration Seeds in Oregon.

GROWING TIPS: We strongly advise succession sowing because these little plants bold quite quickly. If you let them naturalize, like we have here in NJ, you may find that you don't even notice them until they've already bolted!