Burke: Barbarea vulgaris

	Barbarea vulgaris
	yellow rocket, bitter wintercress
Habit	Mostly glabrous biennial from a taproot and simple crown, the stems stiff, erect, angled, single but freely-branched, 2-6 dm. tall.
Leaves	Basal leaves long-petiolate, up to 12 cm. long, the blade usually lyrate-pinnatifid to pinnate, the lateral lobes 1-3(-5) on each side, entire to round-toothed, the terminal lobe ovate, entire or irregularly toothed, the petiole often with long, marginal hairs; cauline leaves alternate, glabrous, lobed, becoming simple and sagittate.
Flowers	Inflorescence of compound or single and terminal racemes, with reduced racemes in the lower leaf axils; pedicles slender, 2-3 mm. long; sepals 4, pale yellowish-green, 2 mm. long; petals 4, yellow, spatulate-oblanceolate, 6-8 mm. long; stamens 6; style distinctly beak-like, 2-3 mm. long; stigma slightly lobed.
Fruits	Siliques 1-3 cm. long and 1.5-2.5 mm. broad, slightly compressed, 4-angled, strongly 1-nerved full length, erect or strongly ascending, nearly straight.

	Barbarea vulgaris
Flowering time	April-July
Habitat	Garden escape, found chiefly in wet places.
Distribution	Occurring chiefly west of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east across most of North America to the Atlantic Coast. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Introduced from Eurasia
Conservation status	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	B. orthoceras, B. verna
Web links	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Barbarea vulgaris

yellow rocket, bitter wintercress

Habit

Mostly glabrous biennial from a taproot and simple crown, the stems stiff, erect, angled, single but freely-branched, 2-6 dm. tall.

Leaves

Basal leaves long-petiolate, up to 12 cm. long, the blade usually lyrate-pinnatifid to pinnate, the lateral lobes 1-3(-5) on each side, entire to round-toothed, the terminal lobe ovate, entire or irregularly toothed, the petiole often with long, marginal hairs;

cauline leaves alternate, glabrous, lobed, becoming simple and sagittate.

Flowers

Inflorescence of compound or single and terminal racemes, with reduced racemes in the lower leaf axils; pedicles slender, 2-3 mm. long;

sepals 4, pale yellowish-green, 2 mm. long;

petals 4, yellow, spatulate-oblanceolate, 6-8 mm. long;

stamens 6;

style distinctly beak-like, 2-3 mm. long;

stigma slightly lobed.

Fruits

Siliques 1-3 cm. long and 1.5-2.5 mm. broad, slightly compressed, 4-angled, strongly 1-nerved full length, erect or strongly ascending, nearly straight.