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Cardaria draba - (L.)Desv.

Hoary Cress

Author	(L.)Desv.	Botanical references	17
Family	Cruciferae	Genus	Cardaria
Synonyms	Lepidium draba - L.
Known Hazards	None known
Range	Europe - Mediterranean to W. Asia. Naturalized in Britain[17].
Habitat	A weed of arable fields, it is spreading rapidly in Britain[17].
Edibility Rating	2 (1-5)	Medicinal Rating	1 (1-5)

Physical Characteristics

Perennial growing to 1m.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats

Cultivated Beds;

Edible Uses

Edible Parts: Leaves.

Edible Uses: Condiment.

Young leaves and shoots - raw in salads or cooked as a potherb[2, 61, 105, 183]. A report says that the young leaves contain the toxin hydrogen cyanide, though does not give any more details[240]. In small quantities this substance is fairly harmless, and has even been recommended as having health benefits, but caution is suggested if you eat these leaves[K]. The pungent leaves are used as a seasoning[183]. The seed is used as a condiment, it is a pepper substitute[2, 17, 61, 74, 148, 183].

Medicinal Uses

Antiscorbutic; Carminative.

The plant is antiscorbutic[240]. The seeds have been used as a cure for flatulence and fish poison[240]. It is assumed that this report is referring to food poisoning caused by eating suspect fish[K].

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Succeeds in a sunny position in most soils.

Propagation

Seed - sow in situ in spring. There is very little need to encourage this plant, it is a rapidly spreading weed in Britain. Division in spring.

Links

Permaculture.info Details of this plant in the Permaculture.info project, a community plant and permaculture database.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[74] Komarov. V. L. Flora of the USSR. Israel Program for Scientific Translation 1968
An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[148] Niebuhr. A. D. Herbs of Greece. Herb Society of America. 1970
A pleasant little book about Greek herbs.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[240] Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C. Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including the Supplement). Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. 1986
Very terse details of medicinal uses of plants with a wide range of references and details of research into the plants chemistry. Not for the casual reader.

Readers Comments

Cardaria draba

Carey Sun Apr 9 2006

how did cardaria draba get to the united states? what problems is it causing and how does cardaria draba differ from lepidium draba

Cardaria draba

annonymous Sun Apr 16 2006

I am writing a paper on Cardaria draba and I have to include any useful features of the weed. So far I couldnt find any so Thank you o much for posting that sort of info about C. draba annonymous

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