Lepidium draba

'Hoary Cress'

[Syn. Cardaria draba]

Brassicaceae: a perennial herb to 1m. Found as a weed of arable fields and waste ground. Domed white flower clusters in which the individual flower stalks grow upward from various points off the branch to approximately the same height. Blooming from May - June. Reproduces by seeds and by horizontal creeping roots. The stem is stoutish, erect or spreading, branched, and covered sparsely with ash-coloured soft hairs. The leaves are alternating, simple, and mostly toothed. Native to western Asia and south-eastern Europe and widely introduced elsewhere. Classed as an invasive species in North America, introduced by contaminated seeds in the early 1900s.

USES:

Young leaves and shoots can be eaten raw in salads or cooked as a potherb. The seed is used as a condiment, it is a pepper substitute.

The plant has antiscorbutic properties. The seeds have been used as a cure to food poisoning caused by eating suspect fish.

GROWING INFORMATION:

Surface sow seeds in spring or autumn in situ. Germination should take place within few weeks, but a portion of the seed by be dormant and need a chill before they will germinate.

An easily grown plant, it succeeds in most soils in full sun.

HARVESTED: 2021*

APPROX. 20 SEEDS