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Turritis glabra

Common name:	Tower Cress	Family:	Cruciferae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	17, 200
Synonyms:	Arabis perfoliata (Lam.), Arabis glabra ((L.)Bernh.)
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Europe, including Britain, from Scandanavia south and east to N. Africa, temperate Asia to Japan.
Habitat:	Dry banks, cliffs and rocks, roadsides and waste places, especially in E. England[17].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	1	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	1

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Arabis glabra var. furcatipilis[B] Arabis glabra var. glabra[P]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Torenkruid [D], Tower Mustard [L], Tower Rockcress [P], Tower-mustard [B],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	glabra = glabrous
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Capparales. Renamed to Brassicaceae -- Mustard family

Physical Characteristics

Annual/Biennial growing to 0.6m. It is hardy to zone 7. It is in flower from May to July. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs). The plant is self-fertile. We rate it 1/5 for edibility and 1/5 for medicinal use.

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

Habitats and Possible Locations

Woodland, Dappled Shade, Shady Edge, Deep Shade, In Walls, In North Wall, In East Wall.

Edible Uses

Leaves Tea.

Young leaves - cooked[177, 179].
An infusion of the plant can be used as a beverage[257].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Miscellany Stomachic.

An infusion of the plant has been used to check a cold when it first appears[257].
An infusion of the plant has been used as a general preventative for sickness and is given to children when sickness is about[257].

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

An easily grown plant, doing well in ordinary well-drained soil[1]. It also succeeds in dry soils and on walls[K].
Suitable for the wild garden in situations similar to those in its wild habitat[200].

Propagation

Seed - sow late summer in situ.

Suppliers

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

Web References

[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Arabis glabra (a possible synonym).

[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.
[C] Taxon data. from the CalFlora database.
Images from the CalPhoto database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.

References for Arabis glabra var. glabra (a possible synonym).

[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants 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.

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[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.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[179] Reid. B. E. Famine Foods of the Chiu-Huang Pen-ts'ao. Taipei. Southern Materials Centre 1977
A translation of an ancient Chinese book on edible wild foods. Fascinating.

[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.

[257] Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany Timber Press. Oregon. 1998 ISBN 0-88192-453-9
Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Turritis+glabra
This page (US) http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Turritis+glabra

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