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Belle Isle cress, early winter cress, early winter or Belle Isle or American or land cress, early yellow-rocket, land cress, scurvy cress, scurvygrass, wintercress

Habit Biennials or, rarely, perennials; mostly glabrous, except blade auricles ciliate.
Stems

(1–)2.5–8 dm.

Basal leaves

petiole (0.5–)1–6(–8) cm;

blade pinnatifid to pinnatisect, 1.5–11 cm, lobes (3–)6–10 on each side, lateral lobes oblong or ovate, 0.4–3 cm × 1–10 mm, not fleshy, margins entire, terminal lobe considerably larger than lateral ones, 1–5 cm × 10–350 mm.

Cauline leaves

blade pinnatisect, lateral lobes 1–4, (oblong to lanceolate), margins often entire, rarely coarsely toothed; conspicuously auriculate, auricles ovate or narrowly oblong, (to 10 × 4 mm, margins entire).

Flowers

sepals 3–5 × 0.7–1.5 mm, lateral pair slightly saccate basally, margins scarious;

petals yellow or pale yellow, oblanceolate to spatulate, (5–)6–7(–8.5) × 1.5–3 mm, base cuneate, apex truncate or emarginate;

filaments 3–5 mm;

anthers 0.8–1.2 mm;

ovules (34–)38–48(–52) per ovary;

gynophore to 0.3 mm.

Fruiting pedicels

divaricate to ascending, (2–)3–6(–7) mm, terete, stout (almost as broad as fruit).

Fruits

erect to ascending, not appressed to rachis, torulose, subterete to slightly latiseptate, (4.5–)5.3–7(–8) cm × 1.5–2 mm;

style stout, 0.2–1(–2) mm.

Seeds

dark brown, somewhat plump, oblong or quadrate, 1.8–2.5 × 1.4–1.6 mm.

2n

= 16.

Barbarea verna

Phenology Flowering Mar–Jul.
Habitat Waste grounds, fields, limestone glades, rocky outcrops, fields, railroad embankments, disturbed sites, roadsides
Elevation 0-1600 m (0-5200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; AL; AR; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; GA; IL; IN; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SC; TN; VA; WA; WV; BC; NF; Europe; Asia; n Africa; s Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico, South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile), Australia]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Source FNA vol. 7, p. 463.
Parent taxa Brassicaceae > tribe Cardamineae > Barbarea
Sibling taxa
B. orthoceras, B. stricta, B. vulgaris
Synonyms Erysimum vernum, B. praecox, Campe verna, Erysimum praecox
Name authority (Miller) Ascherson: Fl. Brandenb. 1: 36. (1860)
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