(13 votes, average: 2.85 out of 5)
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Watercress
Edible 
Autumn 
Spring 
Summer
Watercress was one of the first green vegetables we have evidence of early humans eating.
| Hedgerow Type | |
| Common Names | Watercress |
| Scientific Name | Nasturtium officinale |
| Season Start | Mar |
| Season End | Nov |
Leaves
Opposite oval leaves with a smooth or wavy margin and a larger terminal leaf at the end.
Flowers
A small cluster of white cruciform flowers with six yellow stamen which will mature into small seed pods.
Seed Pods
Small green pods looking similar to pea pods.
Stem
Hollow and usually floating although they can be erect or when lying along the ground can develop rootlets at the leaf nodes. The stems are usually green but can be red to purple.
Habitat
Slow moving shallow water, ponds and wet ditches.
Possible Confusion
Fools Watercress, pictured, although a crush and smell of the leaves of Fools Watercress will reveal a strong smell of carrot, it is also edible so confusing the two is not a dangerous mistake to make.
Lesser Water Parsnip, Berula erecta is more upright, smells of parsnip and has rings around the stems at the leaf nodes but is not poisonous.
Smell
Like cress or a bit peppery.
Taste
Hot and cress like.
Frequency
Fairly common but not as common as Fools Watercress.
Collecting
When collecting Watercress from the wild it must be cooked as out of site upstream there might be sheep and if so there is the potential for liver flukes, which can cause fascioliasis, a nasty liver disease.
Medicinal Uses
Watercress contains iodine and high levels of vitamin K so should be included in your diet although it must be cooked when found in the wild.
2 comments for Watercress
I belong to a fly fishing club in the U.K. and this hot (2018) summer there has been so much watercress on our rivers that trout fishing in August through to October has been almost impossible to carry out. What we are concerned about is if we leave these enormous tranches of watercress in place – will the seedpods germinate and will we get the same profusion of watercress in the same places every year now?
Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Brian
Last summer was quite a bloom due to the weather; I would expect it to continue growing in similar quantities though, more seeds in the right conditions = more plants.
Eat your way through it 😉