Barbarea vulgaris

Native to Northern Africa, Asia and Europe. Introduced and naturalized in the United States.

Pprohibited noxious weed in Kanabec and Todd Counties.

Moist. Fields, pastures, roadsides, and other disturbed sites.

April to June, September

Yellow

8″ to 32″

This is a 8″ to 32″ tall, erect, biennial or short-lived perennial forb that rises from a stout taproot. In it’s first year it forms a rosette of basal leaves up to 1′ across. In the second year it produces one or more flowering stalks. This is one of the first flowers to bloom in spring. It blooms a second time in late autumn.

The stems are hairless, unbranched below, branched toward the top. The leaves are alternate, dark green, hairless, and shiny on the upper surface.

Basal leaves are up to 6″ long and 2″ wide and are attached to the stem with a ¾″ to 3″ long leaf stalk. They have 1 to 4 pairs of lateral lobes. The lateral lobes are small, oblong, two to four times longer than broad with nearly straight sides or egg-shaped, attached at the narrow end. The terminal lobe is considerably larger, egg-shaped or nearly circular. The margins are wavy or bluntly toothed.

Lower stem leaves resemble the basal leaves but are progressively smaller as they ascend the stem. A pair of ear-like basal lobes clasp the main stem. Upper stem leaves are egg-shaped or nearly circular and are not lobed. The margins are strongly wavy or bluntly toothed. They attach to the main stem without a stalk and may or may not clasp the stem.

The inflorescence is a terminal, branched, elongated, crowded cluster.

The flowers have four yellow petals, are ½″ wide, and are stalked.

The fruit is an ascending or spreading, ½″ to 1½″ long, narrow, curved pod that is roundish in cross-section. The fruits develop below the inflorescence.

Early winter cress (Barbarea verna) has basal leaves with 4 to 7 pairs of lateral lobes. It is an eastern and west coast species and does not occur in Minnesota.

Northern winter cress (Barbarea orthoceras) is a native species. The flowers are ¼″ wide. The flower stalk is club-like or bat-like in overall shape.