It was not until the sixteenth
century that the plant was introduced into England. Gerarde
mentions cultivating four varieties for Queen Elizabeth in Lord
Burleigh's garden.
The YELLOW ROCKET, HERB OF ST. BARBARA, YELLOW BITTER-CRESS,
WINTER- or ROCKET-CRESS (Barbarca Barbarea; B. vulgaris of Gray)
sends up spikes of little flowers like a yellow sweet alyssum as
early as April, and continues in bloom through June. Smooth pods
about one inch long quickly follow. The thickish, shining, tufted
leaves, very like the familiar WATER-CRESS (Roripa Nasturtium),
were formerly even more commonly eaten as a salad. In rich but
dry soil the plant flourishes from Virginia far northward,
locally in the interior of the United States and on the Pacific
Coast.
WITCH-HAZEL
(Hamamelis Virginiana) Witch-hazel family
Flowers - Yellow, fringy, clustered in the axils of branches.
Calyx 4-parted; 4 very narrow curving petals about 34 in. long; 4
short stamens, also 4 that are scale-like; 2 styles.
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