Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
logs; the main categories are those with flat leaves, those with curly leaves, those with wide leaves,
and golden-yellow English varieties, with the widest leaves. Potential selection criteria:
• leaf curliness
• vigorous growth
Garden cress in bloom
• leaf yield
• flavor (spicy or mild)
DISEASES AND PESTS
As for many other brassicas, flea beetles can cause great amounts of crop dam-
age.
CULTIVATION HISTORY
Descriptions of garden cress are found in antique garden literature, and it was
spread across Europe by the Romans. Domestication presumably occurred in the Middle East, where
the greatest genetic diversity is found. The wild form of garden cress occurs in Ethiopia as a weed in
flax fields.
BITTERCRESS
Barbarea vulgaris
Bittercress is used as a leaf vegetable in France, England, and North America. It grows wild (and in
North America is naturalized) in wet meadows and riverbank slopes. Young leaves can be gathered in
the spring before the plant flowers for vitamin C-rich spring salads. The cultivated form has larger
leaves than the wild form and is easily grown for seed where no wild or naturalized plants can be
found.
