HEDGE MUSTARD 135 



This plant grows on sandy loam or clay. 



Dodonseus gave the name Barbarea, 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- 



