Useful native plants in Brassica family Archives

*Cakile maritima* or Sea Rocket as growing on the Lizard peninsula, Cornwall (Matt Summers)

Mostly the yellow flowered plants in the Brassica or Crucifer family were covered in the previous Part 2.

In Part 3, I will write about the pink and/or white flowered Crucifers which inhabit these Isles.

I follow the order of The Wild Flower Key as this has useful pictures which make identifying this somewhat unfamiliar and confusing family a lot easier!

I use the Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora link on the First, italic, scientific names, so you can find out where it is likely to be found growing in the wild. You can also find other useful information here, especially its growing habitat and conditions!

On the Common Name link you can also find more information as well as useful pictures. Pictures in this post are by Matt Summers, Mike Poulton and sourced through Wikipedia Common with thanks.

Please use Jump-links in contents to read more about the individual genera & species on the next page!

Lepidium campestre or Field Pepperwort
Lepidium heterophyllum or Smith’s Pepperwort
Lepidium sativum or Garden Cress
Lepidium ruderale or Narrow-leaved Pepperwort
Lepidium draba or Hoary Cress
Lepidium latifolium or Dittander
Lepidium coronopus or Swine-cress
Lepidium didymum or Lesser Swine-cress

TEESDALIA

Teesdalia nudicaulis or Shepard’s Cress

Capsella, Iberis, Erophila

Capsella bursa-pastoris or Shepard’s-purse
Iberis amara or Wild Candytuft
Erophila verna or Common Whitlowgrass

Cochlearia, Lobularia, Hornungia

Cochlearia officinalis agg or Common Scurvygrass
Cochlearia danica or Danish scurvygrass
Cochlearica anglica or English Scurvygrass/ Long-leaved Scurvygrass
Lobularia maritima or Sweet Alison
Hornungia petraea or Hutchinsia

Group 7: White flowered Crucifers with very large leaves

Crambe & Armoracia

Crambe maritima or Sea-kale
Armoracia rusticana or Horse-radish

Wild Cabbage at Old Harry Rocks, Dorset — **Wild Cabbage growing near Old Harry Rocks in Dorset!** (by Matt Summers)

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!