In this post some more useful members of the Brassica or Crucifer family. It covers most of the yellow flowered ones!
In Part 3, I will write about the pink and/or white flowered Crucifers which inhabit these Isles.
And these are the plants I covered earlier in Part 1- just to give a small variety of useful Crucifers!
- Erophila verna or Common Whitlowgrass
- Cardamine pratensis or Cuckoo Flower, Lady’s Smock
- Capsella bursa-pastoris or Shepard’s purse
- Arabidopsis thaliana or Thale Cress
- Cochlearia danica or Danish Scurvygrass
- Alliaria petiolata or Jack-by-the-Hedge , Garlic Mustard and Hedge Garlic
- Cardamine hirsuta or Hairy Bitter-cress
- Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum or Water-cress
Family 87: the Brassica, Crucifer or Cabbage Family, scientifically known as the Brassicaceae, has approx 52 genera in the British Isles according to Stace! Not all are strictly native but it is an important family for our well known vegetables such as all types of cabbages, radishes, and root vegetables such as Swedes and Turnips!
I use colour coding for easy reading! Blue background is general information about the plant from Online Atlas. Green is about all the uses except for medicinal uses or if there is a warning in which case I use a pink background. This time most pictures are from Wikipedia and illustrations by Köhler–s Medizinal-Pflanzen , Johann Georg Sturm (Painter: Jacob Sturm) – Figures from Deutschlands Flora in Abbildungen at http://www.biolib.de, Public Domain as well as other illustrations as added in links.
Please use the Jump-links in the Contents in order to get easily to the plants described on next page!
Contents:
How to identify the Brassicas/Crucifers and the 7 main groups
Group 1: yellow flowered Crucifers with jointed fruits
Brassica
- Brassica oleracea or Wild Cabbage
- Brassica nigra or Black Mustard
- Brassica rapa or Turnip
- Brassica napus or Rape
- Ethiopian RapeBrassica carinata
- Long-stalked RapeBrassica elongata
- Chinese MustardBrassica juncea
- Pale CabbageBrassica tournefortii
COINCYA
- Coincya monensis ssp. monensis or Isle-of-Man Cabbage
- Coincya wrightii or Lundy Cabbage
SINAPIS
Diplotaxis
Sisymbrium officinale or Hedge Mustard
Hirschfeldia incana or Hoary Mustard
Raphanus
- Raphanus raphanistrum subsp. raphanistrum or Wild Radish
- Raphanus raphanistrum subsp. landra or Mediterranean Radish
- R. raphanistrum subsp. maritimus or Sea Radish
Group 2: yellow or orange flowered Crucifers with elongated fruits
Barbarea
- Barbarea vulgaris or Winter-cress
- Barbara stricta or Small-flowered Winter-cress
- Barbarea intermedia or Medium-flowered Winter-cress
- Barbarea verna or American Winter-cress
Erysimum cheiranthoides or Treacle-mustard
Descurainia sophia or Flixweed
Sisymbrium
Other less known spp. (Neophytes):
- Sisymbrium erysimoides or French Rocket
- Sisymbrium irio or London-rocket
- Sisymbrium loeselii or False London-rocket
- Sisymbrium polyceratium or Horned Mustard
Group 3: yellow flowers in erect racemes, petals very small compared with other yellow Crucifers.
RORIPPA
- Rorippa sylvestris or Creeping Yellow-cress
- Rorippa palustris or Marsh yellow-cress
- Rorippa islandica or Northern Yellow-cress
- Rorippa amphibia or Great Yellow-cress
- R. × anceps (Rorippa amphibia × sylvestris) or Hybrid Yellow-cress
- Rorippa austriaca or Austrian Yellow-cress