Garden Cress
Lepidium sativum
Also known as Water Cress, Garden pepper-grass
About Garden Cress
Cress (Lepidium sativum), sometimes referred to as garden cress (or curly cress) to distinguish it from similar plants also referred to as cress (from Old English cresse), is a fast-growing, edible herb. Garden cress is genetically related to watercress and mustard, sharing their peppery, tangy flavour and aroma. In some regions, garden cress is known as mustard and cress, garden pepper cress, pepperwort, pepper grass, or poor man's pepper. This annual plant can reach a height of 60 cm (24 in), with many branches on the upper part. The white to pinkish flowers are only 2 mm (1⁄16 in) across, clustered in small branched racemes.
Description adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Lepidium sativum
- Genus
- Lepidium
- Family
- BRASSICACEAE
- Habit
- Herb
- Native to
- Western Asia
- Distribution
- Egypt to West Asia
- Flowering & fruiting
- December-April
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
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
Brassicaceae
Mustard family
Garden Cress belongs to the Brassicaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
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