Plant Wiki

The open plant encyclopedia

Know any plant.
Grow it well.

Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.

  • 13,000+plants with full pages
  • 365,000+plant species worldwide
  • 220+countries covered

Common in

See all

The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.

What do you want to do?

Popular plants

Browse all plants

See them in 3D

All plants in 3D

Browse plants

Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.

Plant Wiki › Browse plants

Chinese Violet Cress

Orychophragmus violaceus

Also called Mustard, Violet Orychophragmus

Chinese Violet Cress
Photo: 池田正樹 (talk)masaki ikeda, Public domain

Chinese violet cress is a fast-growing annual or biennial herb of the cabbage family, typically about 60 cm tall, with lilac-purple flowers. It grows readily in ordinary garden soil in full sun and is grown in China as a vegetable for its stalks.

Family
Brassicaceae (Cabbage family)
Grows as
Annual
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Keep the soil evenly moist, especially during establishment, and avoid waterlogging.
Soil
Ordinary, well-drained garden soil; tolerates a range of conditions.
Temperature
Hardy in USDA zones 7 to 10; protect from hard frost.
How easy
Easy
Edible
Yes, some parts
Native range
N. & E. China to N. Korea
Climate
temperate

About

Orychophragmus violaceus, the Chinese violet cress, is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. It is native to northern and southeastern China and North Korea, and it has been introduced to Japan and the U.S. state of Virginia. An annual or biennial herb typically 60 cm (24 in) tall, it is found in a wide variety of habitats, including anthropogenically disturbed ones. Hardy in USDA zones 7 through 10, in China it is cultivated as a vegetable for its stalks. The Royal Horticultural Society considers it "potentially harmful".

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Orychophragmus violaceus 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.

Credits & terms

Identify a plant

Point at a leaf or flower and snap. One plant in frame works best.

Your photo
Starting camera…