HEDGE MUSTARD 135 
This plant grows on sandy loam or clay. 
Dodonzus gave the name A4arbarea, and it was formerly called 
Herb St. Barbara, hence the first Latin name, the second alluding to 
its common occurrence. The English names are St. Barbara’s Herb, 
Cassabully, French or Winter Cress, Winter Rocket, Wound Rocket, 
Yellow Rocket. It was called Wound Rocket, as Turner says, because 
it was held to stanch wounds. St. Barbara’s Day falls on 4th December. 
Winter Cress was used in winter as a salad, according to Lyte, whence 
the names, and others in French, Dutch, and Latin. It was formerly 
said to have formed the Crown of Thorns, but this seems unlikely. 
In Sweden it is eaten and boiled. It is or was formerly used as 
a salad, though inferior to ordinary Water Cress, and without any 
distinctive flavour. 
EssENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS :— 
26. Barbarea vulgaris, Ait.—Stem (flowering) angular, erect, radical 
leaves dark-green, shining, lyrate,. terminal leaflet orbicular, upper 
leaves obovate, dentate, flowers yellow, numerous, style distinct, pods 
appressed, with subulate point, short. 
Hedge Mustard (Sisymbrium officinale, Scop.) 
As yet no traces of this plant have been found in seed-bearing 
deposits. It is found throughout the Warm Temperate region in 
Europe and W. Asia. It has been introduced into the United States. 
Though common in most parts of Great Britain, Hedge Mustard does 
not occur in Brecon, Radnor, Montgomery, Merioneth, Peebles, 
Selkirk, Mull, and the Shetlands. It is found in Ireland and the 
Channel Islands. 
The Hedge Mustard, as the name suggests, is found by the sides 
of our roads and hedges, and may be said to be most common near 
villages and houses, and may possibly owe its distribution largely to 
former herbal usage. It is also a regular member of the flora of waste 
ground, where it ousts many more tender plants, being a vigorous 
plant which occupies much space. 
Like some other plants, Hedge Mustard has two different habits, 
before and after flowering. Before flowering it has a main stem, hairy, 
and often purple, as in Winter Cress, with numerous leaves, with seg- 
ments divided nearly to the midrib and with the lobes turned back, 
prostrate on the ground, and few above. In this form it is similar to 
many plants with cyclic foliar arrangement and erect stem. When the 
flowers have opened from a series of dividing branches, and have com- 
