Early Winter Cress

(Barbarea verna)

 

Color Photograph: © by and courtesy of David G. Smith

www.delawarewildflowers.org

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

Early Winter Cress (Barbarea verna)

Alien: Native of Europe.

Identification: Flowers yellow with 4 petals, arranged in clusters. Seed pods erect, elongate, with a short apical beak. Upper leaves elongate and lobed. Basal leaves with an ovate apical third and a series of 4 to 10 pairs of lower lobes. Plant 1 to 2 feet in height.

Distribution: Illinois in the west to Maine in the east, southward to Florida and Mississippi. Also occurs in the Pacific Northwest.

Habitat: Early Winter Cress is a weed found in a variety of disturbed habitats including fields, pastures, empty lots, and stream and river banks.

Flowering period: April to May.

Early Winter Cress (Barbarea verna)

Similar Species:

Early Winter Cress (Barbarea vulgaris)

 

Similar Species