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Lepidium sativum

Common name:	Cress	Family:	Cruciferae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	17, 200
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Of uncertain origin, possibly Iran. Naturalized in Britain.
Habitat:	Not known in a truly wild situation.
Edibility Rating (1-5):	3	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	1

Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Adi Suterisi [E], Creasy Greens [H], Cress [E], Cresson Alenois [E], Crusson D'Jardin [E], Garden Cress [H,L], Garden Pepperwort [B], Gardencress Pepperweed [P], Mastuerzo [E], Rshad [E], Taratiza [E], Teretura [E], Tuinkers [D], Upland Cress [H],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	sativum = cultivated
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Capparales. Renamed to Brassicaceae -- Mustard family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Belgium Britain China Ethiopia Ghana India(Santal) Iraq Kurdistan Spain Sudan Turkey Us

Physical Characteristics

Annual growing to 0.45m. It is hardy to zone 7. It is in flower from June to July, and the seeds ripen from July to August. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Insects. We rate it 3/5 for edibility and 1/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Condiment Leaves Oil.

Young leaves - raw or cooked[2, 5, 27, 34, 52, 183]. A hot cress-like flavour, it makes an excellent addition (in small quantities) to the salad bowl[K]. An analysis is available.
Root is used as a condiment[46, 61]. A hot pungent flavour, but the root is rather small and woody[K].
The fresh or dried seedpods can be used as a pungent seasoning[183].
The seed can be sprouted in relatively low light until the shoots are a few centimetres long and then be used in salads[183]. They take about 7 days to be ready and have a pleasantly hot flavour.
An edible oil is obtained from the seed[46, 61, 105].

Composition

Leaves (Fresh weight): In grammes per 100g weight of food:
Water: 82.3 Protein: 5.8 Fat: 1 Carbohydrate: 8.7
In milligrammes per 100g weight of food:
Iron: 28.6 VitaminA: 2970 Thiamine: 0.11 Riboflavin: 0.17 Niacin: 1 VitaminC: 87
Source: [240]

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Antiasthmatic Antiscorbutic Aperient Diuretic Galactogogue Poultice Stimulant.

The leaves are antiscorbutic, diuretic and stimulant[46, 240].
The plant is administered in cases of asthma, cough with expectoration and bleeding piles[240].
The root is used in the treatment of secondary syphilis and tenesmus[240].
The seeds are galactogogue. They have been boiled with milk and used to procure an abortion, they have been applied as a poultice to pains and hurts and have also been used as an aperient[240].

Other Uses

Oil.

The seed yields up to 58% of an edible oil that can also be used for lighting[74].

Cultivation details

An easily grown plant, it succeeds in most soils[52]. For the best results, however, it requires a moist soil and also some shade during the summer to prevent it running straight to seed[27, 37, 52].
Garden cress is often cultivated as a sprouted seed, there are some named varieties[183]. It is the cress of 'mustard and cress'. A very easy and fast crop, it can be ready within 7 days from sowing the seed[27]. It can also be grown outdoors as full grown plants and can provide fresh leaves for the salad bowl all year round from successional sowings. Plants can be overwintered outdoors to provide edible leaves all year round, though they will require some protection if temperatures fall below -5° c[200]. This plant is cultivated in Ethiopia for the edible oil from its seed[183].

Propagation

Seed - if you want a succession of young leaves then it is possible to sow the seed in situ every 3 weeks in succession from early spring to early autumn. Germination is very rapid, usually taking place in less than a week.
When sowing seed for use in mustard and cress, the seed is soaked for about 12 hours in warm water and then placed in a humid position. Traditionally, it is sown in a tray on a thin layer of soil, or on some moist blotting paper, and the tray is placed in a warm dark place for a few days to encourage rapid and rather etiolated growth. The seedlings can then be placed in a lighter position for a couple more days to turn green before being eaten. The cress seed should be sown about 3 - 4 days before the mustard for them both to be ready at the same time[264].

Cultivars

'': No entries have been made for this species as yet.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[PHARM] Phytochemical Data (common names, uses, countries) from Dr Duke's Phytochemical Database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[5] Mabey. R. Food for Free. Collins 1974 ISBN 0-00-219060-5
Edible wild plants found in Britain. Fairly comprehensive, very few pictures and rather optimistic on the desirability of some of the plants.

[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.

[27] Vilmorin. A. The Vegetable Garden. Ten Speed Press ISBN 0-89815-041-8
A reprint of a nineteenth century classic, giving details of vegetable varieties. Not really that informative though.

[34] Harrison. S. Wallis. M. Masefield. G. The Oxford Book of Food Plants. Oxford University Press 1975
Good drawings of some of the more common food plants from around the world. Not much information though.

[37] Thompson. B. The Gardener's Assistant. Blackie and Son. 1878
Excellent general but extensive guide to gardening practices in the 19th century. A very good section on fruits and vegetables with many little known species.

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[52] Larkcom. J. Salads all the Year Round. Hamlyn 1980
A good and comprehensive guide to temperate salad plants, with full organic details of cultivation.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[74] Komarov. V. L. Flora of the USSR. Israel Program for Scientific Translation 1968
An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[240] Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C. Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including the Supplement). Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. 1986
Very terse details of medicinal uses of plants with a wide range of references and details of research into the plants chemistry. Not for the casual reader.

[264] Phillips. R. & Rix. M. Vegetables Macmillan Reference Books, London. 1995 ISBN 0 333 62640 0
Excellent and easily read book with good information and an excellent collection of photos of vegetables from around the world, including many unusual species.

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