Barbarea arcuata, Barbarea praecox, Barbarea vulgaris.

Barbarea arcuata Reichb. Cruciferae. Bitter Cress.

Europe and Asia. The plant serves as a bitter cress.

Barbarea praecox R. Br. American Cress. Belle Isle Cress. Early Winter Cress. Land Cress. Scurvy Grass.

Europe. This cress is occasionally cultivated for salad in the Middle States under the name scurvy grass and is becoming spontaneous farther south. It is grown in gardens in England as a cress and is used in winter and spring salads. In Germany, it is generally liked. In the Mauritius, it is regular cultivation and is known as early winter cress. In the United States, its seeds are offered in seed catalogs.

Barbarea vulgaris R. Br. Rocket. Winter Cress. Yellow Rocket.

Europe and temperate Asia. This herb of northern climates has been cultivated in gardens in England for a long time as an early salad and also in Scotland, where the bitter leaves are eaten by some. In early times, rocket was held in some repute but is now banished from cultivation yet appears in gardens as a weed. The whole herb, says Don, has a nauseous, bitter taste and is in some degree mucilaginous. In Sweden, the leaves are boiled as a kale. In New Zealand, the plant is used by the natives as a food under the name, toi. Rocket is included in the list of American garden esculents by McMahon, in 1806. In 1832, Bridgeman says winter cress is used as a salad in spring and autumn and by some boiled as a spinage.


Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World, 1919, was edited by U. P. Hedrick.