FOOD RESOURCE COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SCIENCES, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
NASTURTIUM OFFICINALE, WATER CRESS
Hedrick, U.P. editor. 1919. Sturtevant's Notes on Edible Plants. Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station for the Year 1919 II. Albany, J.B Lyon Company, State Printers. [References Available]
is a plant of the north temperate regions. The young shoots and leaves of water cress have been used as a salad from time immemorial. Xenophon strongly recommended its use to used as a salad from time immemorial. Xenophon strongly recommended its use to the Persians, and the Romans recommended it to be eaten with vinegar as a remedy for those whose minds were deranged; hence the Greek proverb, "Eat creass and learn more wit." the first attempt to cultivate water cress by artificial means in Europe is said by Booth to have been at Erfurt, about the middle of the sixteenth century. Gerarde and Lord Bacon wrote strongly in its favor, but, according to Don, it has been cultivated as a salad near London only since 1808. At the present time, it is cultivated in plantations many acres in extent and the demand for this popular salad herb during the season can scarcely be supplied. In America, it is mentioned among garden esculents by McMahon, 1806, and by succeeding writers on gardening. In India, this herb is much prized and is sought after by the Mohammedans.
