''Barbarea verna'' is a
biennial herb
Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typically distingu ...
in the family
Brassicaceae
Brassicaceae () or (the older but equally valid) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important Family (biology), family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous pla ...
.
Common names include land cress, American cress, bank cress, black wood cress, Belle Isle cress, Bermuda cress, poor man's cabbage, early yellowrocket, early wintercress, scurvy cress, creasy greens, and upland cress.
It is native to southern Europe and western Asia, and naturalized elsewhere It has been cultivated as a
leaf vegetable
Leaf vegetables, also called leafy greens, vegetable greens, or simply greens, are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by their petioles and shoots, if tender. Leaf vegetables eaten raw in a salad can be called salad gre ...
in
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
since the 17th century. As it requires less water than
watercress, it is easier to cultivate.
Description
Annual or
biennial, winter green,
herbaceous
Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials.
Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous"
The fourth edition of ...
plant in the
Brassicaceae
Brassicaceae () or (the older but equally valid) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important Family (biology), family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous pla ...
. The seeds typically germinate in the autumn to form an over-wintering rosette. The following spring, it grows a main stem up to about 90 cm, sometimes up to 130 cm, which is pale green, groovy
sulcate and occasionally branched. The leaves are alternate and pinnate with clasping auricles at the base and between 4 and 11 pairs of sub-opposite lobes. The upper leaves have much narrower lobes than those found lower down. The whole plant is almost entirely glabrous.
The flowers appear in early spring. The inflorescence is a terminal raceme, or lateral raceme arising from the leaf axils, with 6 to 25 flowers on short 3-8mm pedicels. There are four yellowy green sepals, 5mm long and four bright yellow petals each 8mm long. Six stamens and one style with
capitatestigma at the tip.
File:Barbarea verna 2016-04-19 7994.JPG
File:Barbarea verna 2016-04-19 7996.JPG
Uses
Land cress is considered a satisfactory substitute for
watercress. It can be used in sandwiches, or salads, or cooked like
spinach
Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to Central Asia, Central and Western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common vegetable consumed eit ...
, or used in soup.
Land cress can be grown easily in any garden. Like watercress, it loves water, but does not do well when partially submerged for long periods of time. This plant needs full sun or partial shade and moist or poorly drained soil.
It is a common green in
Appalachian cuisine as one of few plants that can
overwinter in the mountains.
Other common names include dryland cress, cassabully, and American watercress. When cooked similarly to Southern
collard greens the leaves may be called creasy greens. A variegated form is available.
See also
* ''
Barbarea vulgaris
''Barbarea vulgaris'', also called wintercress (usual common name), or alternatively winter rocket, rocketcress, yellow rocketcress, yellow rocket, wound rocket, herb barbara, creases, or creasy greens, is a Biennial plant, biennial herb of the ...
''
References
External links
*
*
*
verna
Herbs
Leaf vegetables
Flora of Europe
Taxa named by Philip Miller
Taxa named by Paul Friedrich August Ascherson
{{Vegetable-stub