American Winter-cress

American Winter-cress - Barbarea verna

Description

Short to tall hairy plant. Basal leaves with 6 to 10 pairs of lateral lobes, uppermost leaves pinnately divided several times. Flowers mid yellow, 7 to 10 mm not forming such dense heads as B.vulgaris. Fruit long 3 to 7 cm.

Similar Species

other Barbarea; other yellow crucifers

Identification difficulty
ID checklist (your specimen should have all of these features)

Basal leaves pinnate; seed-pods appressed (folded up against stem); upper leaves pinnate or pinnately lobed > halfway to midrib; at least some fruits >4cm.

Recording advice

General photo of plant in habitat; details of basal and stem leaves.

Habitat

Damp habitats, waste places, disturbed and cultivated ground.

When to see it

April to July.

Life History

Biennial.

UK Status

Found throughout much of Britain, though not common.

VC55 Status

Occasional in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 9 of the 617 tetrads.

In the current Checklist (Jeeves, 2011) it is listed as Alien (casual); scarce

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020

UK Map

Additional images

No additional images available for this species.

All NatureSpot records