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Barbarea vulgaris
Also called Bittercress, Herb Barbara, Rocketcress, Winter rocket, Winter-cress, Wound rocket, Yellow rocketcress
Garden yellowrocket is a biennial or short-lived perennial weed of the cabbage family, grown or foraged mainly for its peppery leaves. It thrives in ordinary garden soil and spreads freely by seed, so it is best kept in check.
Barbarea vulgaris, called wintercress (usual common name), or alternatively winter rocket, rocketcress, yellow rocketcress, yellow rocket, wound rocket, herb barbara, creases, or creasy greens, is a biennial herb of the genus Barbarea, belonging to the family Brassicaceae.
Native to Eurasia and North Africa, it is naturalised in many parts of North America and New Zealand as a weed.
The young leaves can be eaten raw or cooked. The buds and flowers are also edible, as are the flower shoots after cooking. It can also be used as a dead-end trap crop for diamondback moth, the caterpillar of which is a pest on cruciferous plants like cabbage.
Barbarea australis · American yellowrocket · Early yellowrocket · Yellowrocket
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Barbarea vulgaris by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
