196 



CBUCIFERAE (MUSTARD FAMILY) 



WINTER CRESS 

 Barbarka vulgaris, R. Br. 



Other English names: Herb Barbara, St. Barbara's Cress, Yellow 



Rocket, Rocket Cress. 

 Native. Biennial. Propagates by seeds. 

 Time of bloom : April to June. 

 Seed-time: June to August. 

 Range: Labrador to the Pacific Coast, southward to Virginia and 



the Middle West. Also native to Europe. 

 Habitat: Fields, meadows, roadsides, and waste places. 



This plant is easily distinguished from other Mustards by the 

 large tufts of lyrate root-leaves, dark green, thick, smooth, shining, 

 with heart-shaped terminal lobes and one to four lateral pairs along 



the midribs ; these glossy green 

 rosettes are very conspicuous 

 when first appearing from be- 

 neath the winter snow; at that 

 season' they make excellent 

 greens, and in Europe they are 

 cultivated for use as a potherb. 

 Even on St. Barbara's Day, 

 which is the fourth of Decem- 

 ber, one may dig away the snow 

 and find the plants green and 

 succulent. Flowering stalks one 

 to two feet tall, with leaves sessile 

 and sometimes clasping. Flowers 

 in open clusters, bright yellow, 

 nearly an inch broad, sweet- 

 scented. Siliques about an inch 

 long, obscurely four-sided with 

 valves keeled, the pedicels spread- 

 ing but the pods nearly erect. 

 Seeds brown, sometimes grayish 

 with a coat of mucilage, flat, 

 finely pitted; they are a com- 

 FIG. 139. - Winter Cress (Barbarea mon impurity of grass and clover 



vulgaris). x i seeds. (Fig. 139.) 



