scale bar = 1cm.
Watercress - introduced (*Nasturtium officinale)
Other names: Formerly known as Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum.
Family: Brassicaceae (Cabbage family).
Native of Europe.
Occurrence: A weed of aquatic or semi-aquatic areas, often growing near or in slow-moving water. It is an environmental weed.
Identification:
- it grows in damp spots
- the small white flowers have four petals
- the leaves have a terminal lobe and several pairs of opposite leaflets
- it has hollow, angular stem
- each half of the fruit has two rows of seeds.
Watercress is cultivated as a salad vegetable. Care should be taken in eating wild plants, as they may accumulate toxins from polluted streams.
Similar species: One-row Watercress (*Nasturtium microphyllum) is similar. It has one row of seeds in each half of the fruit, and has more depressions in the face of the fruit (100 to 150, compared with Watercress, which has 25-50 depressions).Photos: Flowering branch. Sailors Creek, Daylesford.
2: In flower. Glenluce Springs. Unlike many of the larger members of the cabbage family, this species has white flowers.
3: Watercress growing in the Barkers Creek, Botanic Gardens, just below the waterfall.
