Chandrasur / Garden Cress
Lepidium sativum
Also known as Water Cress, Garden Pepper-Grass
- Habit
- Herb
- Found in India
- Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir & more
- Flowering
- December-April
How to identify Chandrasur
Identify Chandrasur by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Look for a herb habit.
- Check the distinctive field mark: Cultivated peppery salad herb (garden cress).
- Confirm flower colour: White.
- Confirm flower arrangement: Raceme.
- In season, compare flowering and fruiting time: December-April.
- In India, compare location records such as Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and nearby regions.
- Confirm it sits within the Brassicaceae family pattern, then compare close relatives before deciding it is Chandrasur.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Lepidium sativum
- Genus
- Lepidium
- Family
- Brassicaceae
- Habit
- Herb
- Native to
- Western Asia
- Distribution
- Egypt to West Asia
- Found in India
- Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Ladakh
- Flowering & fruiting
- December-April
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Arrangement
- Alternate
Typical of the Brassicaceae family — a field-mark hint, not measured for this exact species.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower colour
- Whiterecorded
- Flower arrangement
- RacemerecordedIndividual stalked flowers arranged along a central stem, opening from bottom to top.“The white to pinkish flowers are only 2 mm (1⁄16 in) across, clustered in small branched racemes.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Typical of the family
- Flower symmetry
- Actinomorphic (radially symmetrical)
- Inflorescence
- Raceme
- Fruit
- Capsule
Characters marked “recorded” are for Chandrasur itself; the rest are typical of the Brassicaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Hindi
- चंद्रसुर Chandrasur, चनसुर Chansur, हालिम Halim
- Nepali
- चम्सुर Chamsur, चम्सुर
- Bengali
- হালিম শাক Halim Shaak, হালিম শাক
- Tamil
- ஆளி Ali, ஆளி விரை, ஆழி விரை
- Telugu
- ఆడాలు Aadaalu, ఆడలవిటల
- Kannada
- ಅಲ್ಲಿಬೀಜ Allibeeja, ಕುರ್ಟಿಗೆ ಗಿಡ Kurtige Gida, alavibija
- Malayalam
- ആശാളി Aashaali, ആശാളി, Garden cress
- Marathi
- अळीव Aliv, अहाळीव
About Chandrasur
A member of the Brassicaceae family, Garden Cress (Lepidium sativum) is a herb. In India it has been recorded in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and 4 other states. Flowering and fruiting run from December to April.
Uses
In practice it is grown for parts that are eaten and stripped for fibre used in rope and matting.
Brassicaceae
Mustard family
Chandrasur belongs to the Brassicaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
Explore the Brassicaceae familySnap it. Know it.
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Common plant problems
If you are starting from symptoms instead of a diagnosis, use the plant disease symptom checker to narrow the cause before treating.
All plant problem & care guides