Upland Cress

[templeton]

Some info referencing Queensland Uni research here
T

[philagardener]

That's really interesting! Thanks for the link, T. I'll have to key out my local species, but I do have something that looks like Barbarea vulgaris in the neighborhood; none of my wild brassicas seem to suffer a lot of caterpillar damage. (I do, however, seem to have a very active local wasp population that keeps them pretty clear of my garden too :>))

[diane]

I've been growing upland cress for years and eat it year-round. It's especially good all winter. I just let it reseed itself.

I've never seen any caterpillars on it.

[hortusbrambonii]

Is there any difference in use between the different Barbarea species?

Also, is the white cabbage moth something different from the white cabbage butterfly here in Europe? If so why are white lepidoptera so attracted to Brassicas? (And to Tropaeolum, cabbage white caterpillars did eat my whole mashua-plant once)

[philagardener]

There are two species with overlapping common names - the large white, Pieris brassicae, and the small white, Pieris rapae. In N. America, we typically encounter P. rapae but in Europe you might find either.  Both show a strong preference for members of the Brassica family as host plants, using chemical cues to find plants that contain plant toxins accumulated by the larvae during feeding as an anti-predatory defense.

Interestingly, the Wikipedia page for P. brassicae shows caterpillars on nasturtiums, consistent with your experience.

[hortusbrambonii]

That's the same one as we have here.

We have 3 native species that are equaly common, P. brassicae (groot koolwitje), p. rapae (klein koolwitje) and P. napi (klein geaderd witje). I do think the third one, while named after Brassica napus, is not known to be a pest though and mainly lives on wild species.

They are also related to the orange tip butterflies, my favorite butterfly who can be seen only for a small persiod of time, which is now! It feeds of Cardamine-species (C. pratensis mainly, which is also a plant I love) and garlic mustard, which seems to be a problematic exotic species in N-America...

I have had the caterpillars of P. brassicae both on cabbages and on Tropaeolum (both garden Nasturtium and mashua), which has the same chemical compounds as mustard and cress species (and similar taste, which is why it has a common name derived from the scientific name of water crees) even though being in a completely different family.

[robertb]

Cabbage whites (portamanteau term for large and small whites) will feed quite happily on nasturtiums. Orange tips, which feed on garlic mustard, hedge mustard, and related plants, are very common round my allotment around this time of year. Strangely enough I don't see that many cabbage whites.

[mountaindweller]

barbera is edible but self sows and is weedy

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