Wild Edible Of The Week 49 "Hary Bittercress"

Botanical name: Cardamine hirsuta

Common name: Hairy Bittercress, Lamb's Cress, Land Cress, Hoary Bittercress, Shot Weed, Flick Weed

Physical appearance: A low growing plant that has a distinctive rosette of leaf stems, with rounded, opposing leaves along the stems and a larger terminal leaf at the end of each stem. Upon reaching maturity, it sends out flower stems with narrower leaves. It then produces thin seed pods which are about 3cm long and eventually expolde, dispersing all their seed to the ground.

Edible parts: The leaves and flowers are the only edible parts.

Best places to find: Waste ground, gardens borders, next to roads and footpaths and around fields. It is often one of the first plants to colonise a new area of land after soil disturbances.

Time of year: Year round.

Serving suggestion: Best eaten uncooked as the leaves tend to loose flavour. Ultimately a salad plant.

Photos courtesy of Rasbak and Aelwyn viia Wikipedia Creative Commons Attribution