Barbarea verna

Early winter cress

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Early winter cress is a naturalized perennial found in southern coastal Range regions of Monterey County in damp soils, fields, and disturbed areas at elevations below 1,600 meters. Flowering from March to July, this plant produces bright yellow flowers 6 to 7 millimeters long in compact clusters. Growing with branched stems 25 to 80 centimeters tall that are glabrous and upright, it develops pinnately lobed leaves with 6 to 10 lateral lobe pairs. Its basal leaves range from 2 to 18 centimeters long, with distinctive lateral lobes that become progressively smaller up the stem. The plant produces ascending fruits 4.5 to 8 centimeters long, containing 38 to 48 small oblong seeds.

Habitat: Uncommon. Damp soils, fields, rocky outcrops, disturbed areas

Bloom period: Mar-Jul

Elevation: < 1600 m

Bioregions: SCoRO (Monterey Co.)

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.