Pignut is a perennial umbellifer herb which has white flowers, fine leaves and brown edible tubers that taste like hazelnuts. It is native to western Europe and has many English names derived from its popularity with pigs.
Pignut seed dormancy is broken by a period of chilling: seed should be sown in autumn and over-wintered after which germination will be triggered as temperatures rise in the following spring. All that will show above ground in the first year is a single flat seed leaf – all other growth will occur below ground to form a small pignut tuber. Once the tuber is formed (around July) the seed leaf will die back the tuber will become summer dormant. The tubers can be moved and planted out at this stage. The tuber sprouts back into growth in the autumn, but the leaves do not emerge above ground until the following spring.