Garden cress

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Garden cress
Garden cress (Lepidium sativum)

Garden cress ( Lepidium sativum )

Systematics
Rosids
Eurosiden II
Order : Cruciferous (Brassicales)
Family : Cruciferous vegetables (Brassicaceae)
Genre : Cress ( Lepidium )
Type : Garden cress
Scientific name
Lepidium sativum
L.

Garden cress ( Lepidium sativum ) is a species of the genus Kressen ( Lepidium ) within the cruciferous family (Brassicaceae). It is believed that the garden cress comes from West or Central Asia; there it is still wild today. It is used in many ways as a cultivated plant .

description

Drawing of all parts of the plant

Vegetative characteristics

The garden cress is an annual herbaceous plant and reaches heights of 20 to 40 centimeters. The stems are erect, glabrous, bluish green and branched upwards. The leaves are thin, light green and hairy at least on the edge of the petiole. The basal leaves are mostly lyre-shaped-pinnate with mostly obovate, incised or toothed, prickly-pointed sections. The lower stem leaves are usually double to single pinnate, with toothed, prickly-pointed sections. The middle and upper stem leaves are of various shapes, mostly slit in a somewhat feathery manner, more rarely only toothed. The uppermost stem leaves are usually linear, entire and pointed.

Generative characteristics

The racemose inflorescences are terminal or lateral.

The hermaphrodite flowers are fourfold. The four sepals are elliptical with a length of 1 to 1.5 millimeters and often bristly and downy on the back. The four white to pink petals are 1.5 to 1.7 times as long as the sepals; they are oblong-spatulate. The anthers are often purple.

The pods are usually 5 to 6 millimeters long and 3 to 4 millimeters wide, somewhat compressed and clearly winged from the center to the tip.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 16.

Systematics and distribution

Lepidium sativum was first published in 1753 by Carl von Linné in Species Plantarum 2, p. 644.

Lepidium sativum is originally found in Egypt, Ethiopia, the Arabian Peninsula, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is a neophyte in Kenya, India, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, Argentina, Chile, and New Caledonia.

One can distinguish the following subspecies:

  • Lepidium sativum L. subsp. sativum
  • Lepidium sativum subsp. spinescens (DC.) Thell. (Syn .: Lepidium sativum var. Spinescens (DC.) Jafri , Lepidium spinescens DC. ): It occurs from Egypt to Iran.
Benzyl isothiocyanate (below, marked in blue ) is formed during the enzymatic conversion of the mustard oil glycoside glucotropaeolin, an ingredient in garden cress.

etymology

The pungent taste of the plants, which is caused by the mustard oil glycosides they contain , gave the cress its name, derived from the Old High German word cresso , 'spicy'.

use

Garden cress tastes slightly spicy raw, the taste is reminiscent of mustard and radish , which is due to the mustard oil glycoside content. The seedlings , which can be harvested about a week after sowing , are mainly used in the grocery trade and in the kitchen .

The varieties of this type are used fresh for cold spreads, especially those based on cream cheese or quark, and for salads. Sometimes you sprinkle the chopped leaves on warm dishes, such as vegetable soups or egg dishes. Chopped cress leaves on bread and butter are also popular.

The garden cress is one of the seven herbs in Frankfurt's green sauce .

The garden cress is also used in the bioindication . In this cress test , contamination of air, water and soil can be detected based on the germ behavior .

history

The most widespread annual garden cress probably comes from the Near East, its seeds have already been found in old pharaohs graves. Even Greeks and Romans , they estimated. Charlemagne ordered their addition in his capitularies .

Culture

The culture of garden cress can take place on different materials and earth, which traditionally used Perlitsubstrat as cellulose flakes and foamed plastics increasingly growing webs of flax and hemp fibers are displaced. The advantages mentioned are the lower need for fertilizer, the rapid germination and rapid growth of the cress and the easier disposal of the cultivation fleece.

Similar species

In addition to garden cress, the perennial pepper herb ( Lepidium latifolium ) is also used in the kitchen . There is only a similar name to the watercress ( Nasturtium officinale ) of the genus Nasturtium , not a close relationship. For other namesakes see under cress .

ingredients

Garden cress is characterized by a high content of vitamin C , iron , calcium and folic acid . It also contains vitamin B . Easy to cultivate, garden cress is particularly suitable as a dietary supplement in winter when fresh fruit and vegetables are scarce. One substance that is responsible for the taste of garden cress is the isothiocyanate benzyl isothiocyanate , which is formed from the ingredient glucotropaeolin - a mustard oil glycoside.

photos

  • Seeds just germinating

  • Seedlings of garden cress

  • Adult plants

poetry

Kresse comes in the poem impatience of Wilhelm Müller ago:

"I like to cut it into every bark,
I like to dig it into every pebble,
I would like to sow it on every fresh bed
With cress seeds that reveal it quickly,
On every white piece of paper I would like to write:
Yours is mine Heart. Yours is my heart
and should it stay forever, forever. "

The quickly germinating seeds of the garden cress are alluded to here. The poem was set to music by Franz Schubert .

literature

  • Gustav Hegi : Illustrated flora of Central Europe . 2nd edition Volume IV, Part 1, Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich 1958, pp. 406-409.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . With the collaboration of Angelika Schwabe and Theo Müller. 8th, heavily revised and expanded edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 , pp.  444 .
  2. ↑ a b c Lepidium sativum in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved July 29, 2017.
  3. ^ Lepidium sativum at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, accessed July 29, 2017.
  4. ↑ Entry on cress. In: Römpp Online . Georg Thieme Verlag, accessed on June 28, 2012.
  5. ↑ Garden cress Lepidium sativum , Karlsruhe University of Education. (PDF; 680 kB)
  6. ↑ Michael Carus et al .: Study on the market and competitive situation for natural fibers and natural fiber materials (Germany and EU). Gülzower Expert Discussions 26, ed. from the specialist agency for renewable raw materials e. V., Gülzow 2008; Pp. 198-199, ( PDF download ).
  7. ↑ Wolfgang Legrum: Fragrances, between stink and fragrance , Vieweg + Teubner Verlag (2011) p. 19, ISBN 978-3-8348-1245-2 .

Web links

Commons : Garden cress ( Lepidium sativum )  - album with pictures, videos and audio files