Barbarea verna (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Barbarea verna (Miller) Ascherson

Family: Cruciferae

Synonyms

• Barbarea praecox (Smith) R. Br.

Vernacular names

• Winter cress, upland cress (En)
• Cresson de terre (Fr).

Distribution

Wild and sometimes cultivated in western and south-western Europe, especially in France and Belgium. Introduced to Africa, America and Asia, e.g. in Malaysia it is cultivated to a small extent.

Uses

Leaves are used as a salad and are spicy like garden cress.

Observations

• Biennial herb, up to 75 cm tall, with its radical leaves in a rosette.
• Leaves pinnately lobed, with 4 or more pairs of lobes and a larger terminal lobe.

For good growth it needs cool temperate conditions and a moist soil. In the tropics it is only suitable for high altitudes. The related and in Europe similarly used species B. vulgaris R. Br. has been introduced in East Java, Indonesia.

Selected sources

7, 9, 20, 39, 57, 65.