Requires a deep moist fertile soil in dappled shade or full sun. Succeeds in deep shade. Plants are reliably perennial if they are prevented from setting seed.

Leaves, young shoots and stems - used as an aromatic addition to salads, or cooked and used as a vegetable. The taste is somewhat bitter. The chopped leaves are a good addition to cooked acid fruits, especially rhubarb. The stem and leafstalks are used in candies and sweetmeats. Seed - used as an aromatic flavoring in confections and pastries. Root - cooked.

Seed - best sown in a cold frame as soon as it is ripe since the seed only has a short viability. Seed can also be sown in the spring, though germination rates will be lower. It requires light for germination. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in a cold frame for their first winter, planting them out into their permanent positions in the spring. The seed can also be sow in situ as soon as it is ripe.

Moist fields and hedgerows, open woods, marshes and fens, not usually found on acid soils.