Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Barbarea verna
Common name
Wintercress, American cress
Family
Brassicaceae
Where found
Garden escape. Mainly ACT, the mountains to the west, and Kosciuszko National Park. Occasionally Sydney area, Blue Mountains, and elsewhere.
Notes
Introduced biennial herb to 0.75 m high. Stems usually hairless. Basal leaves to 20 cm long, dissected, with 5–10 pairs of lobes, the terminal segment conspicously larger than the lateral segments. Stem leaves alternating up the stems, upper leaves dissected, with linear lobes. Flowers with 4 yellow petals each 5–7 mm long. Flowers in clusters. Seed case 3–7 cm long, 1.5–2 mm wide, its stalk curved, spreading, stout, 3–6 mm long, more than half as broad as the seed case. Seeds about 2.5 mm long, rounded, with no wing.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Barbarea~verna (accessed 4 January, 2021)
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application:
