Barbarea

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Barbarea
Illustration Barbaraea vulgaris0.jpg
Barbarea vulgaris
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Brassicales
Family: Brassicaceae
Genus: Barbarea
W. T. Aiton

Barbarea (winter cress or yellow rocket) is a genus of about 22 species of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in southern Europe and southwest Asia. They are small, herbaceous, biennial or perennial plants with dark green, deeply lobed leaves and yellow flowers with four petals.

Contents

Selected species

Uses

They grow into rosettes of edible cress foliage that resemble dandelion leaves. Barbarea verna, known as upland cress, early winter cress, American cress, Belle Isle cress and scurvy grass, is used to add a spicy taste to salads and mixed leaf greens for cooking. [1] [ additional citation(s) needed ]

Chemical compounds

Winter cress contains different glucosinolates, flavonoids, and saponins. [2] [3] [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brassicaceae</span> Family of flowering plants

Brassicaceae or Cruciferae is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, while some are shrubs. The leaves are simple, lack stipules, and appear alternately on stems or in rosettes. The inflorescences are terminal and lack bracts. The flowers have four free sepals, four free alternating petals, two shorter free stamens and four longer free stamens. The fruit has seeds in rows, divided by a thin wall.

<i>Erysimum</i> Genus of flowering plants

Erysimum, or wallflower, is a genus of flowering plants in the cabbage family, Brassicaceae. It includes more than 150 species, both popular garden plants and many wild forms. Erysimum is characterised by star-shaped and/or two-sided) trichomes growing from the stem, with yellow, red, pink or orange flowers and multiseeded seed pods.

<i>Barbarea verna</i> Species of plant in the family Brassicaceae

Barbarea verna is a biennial herb in the family Brassicaceae. Common names include land cress, American cress, bank cress, black wood cress, Belle Isle cress, Bermuda cress, poor man's cabbage, early yellowrocket, early wintercress, scurvy cress, creasy greens, and upland cress. It is native to southern Europe and western Asia, and naturalized elsewhere It has been cultivated as a leaf vegetable in England since the 17th century. As it requires less water than watercress, it is easier to cultivate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allyl isothiocyanate</span> Chemical compound

Allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) is a naturally occurring unsaturated isothiocyanate. The colorless oil is responsible for the pungent taste of cruciferous vegetables such as mustard, radish, horseradish, and wasabi. This pungency and the lachrymatory effect of AITC are mediated through the TRPA1 and TRPV1 ion channels. It is slightly soluble in water, but more soluble in most organic solvents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glucoraphanin</span> Chemical compound

Glucoraphanin is a glucosinolate found in broccoli, mustard and other cruciferous vegetables.

<i>Iberis</i> Genus of flowering plants

Iberis, commonly called candytuft, is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Brassicaceae. It comprises annuals, evergreen perennials and subshrubs native to the Old World. The name "candytuft" is not related to candy, but derives from Candia, the former name of Iraklion on the Island of Crete.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glucosinolate</span> Class of chemical compounds

Glucosinolates are natural components of many pungent plants such as mustard, cabbage, and horseradish. The pungency of those plants is due to mustard oils produced from glucosinolates when the plant material is chewed, cut, or otherwise damaged. These natural chemicals most likely contribute to plant defence against pests and diseases, and impart a characteristic bitter flavor property to cruciferous vegetables.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sinigrin</span> Chemical compound

Sinigrin or allyl glucosinolate is a glucosinolate that belongs to the family of glucosides found in some plants of the family Brassicaceae such as Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and the seeds of black mustard. Whenever sinigrin-containing plant tissue is crushed or otherwise damaged, the enzyme myrosinase degrades sinigrin to a mustard oil, which is responsible for the pungent taste of mustard and horseradish. Seeds of white mustard, Sinapis alba, give a less pungent mustard because this species contains a different glucosinolate, sinalbin.

<i>Barbarea vulgaris</i> Species of flowering plant

Barbarea vulgaris, also called wintercress, or alternatively winter rocket, rocketcress, yellow rocketcress, yellow rocket, wound rocket, herb barbara, creases, or creasy greens, is a biennial herb of the genus Barbarea, belonging to the family Brassicaceae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Triterpene</span> Class of chemical compounds

Triterpenes are a class of terpenes composed of six isoprene units with the molecular formula C30H48; they may also be thought of as consisting of three terpene units. Animals, plants and fungi all produce triterpenes, including squalene, the precursor to all steroids.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glucobrassicin</span> Chemical compound

Glucobrassicin is a type of glucosinolate that can be found in almost all cruciferous plants, such as cabbages, broccoli, mustards, and woad. As for other glucosinolates, degradation by the enzyme myrosinase is expected to produce an isothiocyanate, indol-3-ylmethylisothiocyanate. However, this specific isothiocyanate is expected to be highly unstable, and has indeed never been detected. The observed hydrolysis products when isolated glucobrassicin is degraded by myrosinase are indole-3-carbinol and thiocyanate ion, which are envisioned to result from a rapid reaction of the unstable isothiocyanate with water. However, a large number of other reaction products are known, and indole-3-carbinol is not the dominant degradation product when glucosinolate degradation takes place in crushed plant tissue or in intact plants.

<i>Erysimum cheiranthoides</i> Species of flowering plant

Erysimum cheiranthoides, the treacle-mustard,wormseed wallflower, or wormseed mustard is a species of Erysimum native to most of central and northern Europe and northern and central Asia. Like other Erysimum species, E. cheiranthoides accumulates two major classes of defensive chemicals: glucosinolates and cardiac glycosides.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gluconasturtiin</span> Chemical compound

Gluconasturtiin or phenethyl glucosinolate is one of the most widely distributed glucosinolates in the cruciferous vegetables, mainly in the roots, and is probably one of the plant compounds responsible for the natural pest-inhibiting properties of growing crucifers, such as cabbage, mustard or rape, in rotation with other crops. This effect of gluconasturtiin is due to its degradation by the plant enzyme myrosinase into phenethyl isothiocyanate, which is toxic to many organisms.

<i>Reseda luteola</i> Species of flowering plant

Reseda luteola is a flowering plant species in the family Resedaceae. Common names include dyer's rocket, dyer's weed, weld, woold, and yellow weed. A native of Europe and Western Asia, the plant can be found in North America as an introduced species and common weed. While other resedas were used for the purpose, this species was the most widely used source of the natural dye known as weld. The plant is rich in luteolin, a flavonoid which produces a bright yellow dye. The yellow could be mixed with the blue from woad to produce greens such as Lincoln green.

Barbarea australis, commonly known as native wintercress or riverbed wintercress, is a morphologically and ecologically typical Barbarea species with an unusual distribution: it is an endemic and threatened species from Tasmania. The leaves have a large end-lobe and only few side lobes, much like the leaf-shape of Barbarea stricta and Barbarea orthoceras. With regard to defence chemicals (glucosinolates), it is similar to other members of the genus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prunasin</span> Chemical compound

(R)-prunasin is a cyanogenic glycoside related to amygdalin. Chemically, it is the glucoside of (R)-mandelonitrile.

Phenylalanine N-monooxygenase (EC 1.14.14.40, phenylalanine N-hydroxylase, CYP79A2) is an enzyme with systematic name L-phenylalanine,NADPH:oxygen oxidoreductase (N-hydroxylating). This enzyme catalyses the following chemical reaction

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glucotropaeolin</span> Chemical compound

Glucotropaeolin or benzyl glucosinolate is a glucosinolate found in cruciferous vegetables, particularly garden cress. Upon enzymatic activity, it is transformed into benzyl isothiocyanate, which contributes to the characteristic flavor of these brassicas.

<i>Erysimum crepidifolium</i> Species of plant

Erysimum crepidifolium, the pale wallflower, is a plant species in the crucifer family, Brassicaceae. It is a member of the genus Erysimum, which includes between 150 and 350 species in the Northern Hemisphere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">4-Hydroxyphenylacetonitrile</span> Chemical compound

4-Hydroxyphenylacetonitrile is a naturally occurring nitrile.

References

  1. Angier, Bradford (1974). Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books. p. 250. ISBN   0-8117-0616-8. OCLC   799792.
  2. Vera Kuzina; Jens Kvist Nielsen; Jörg Manfred Augustin; Anna Maria Torp; Søren Bak; Sven Bode Andersen (2011). "Barbarea vulgaris linkage map and quantitative trait loci for saponins, glucosinolates, hairiness and resistance to the herbivore Phyllotreta nemorum". Phytochemistry . 72 (2–3): 188–198. Bibcode:2011PChem..72..188K. doi:10.1016/j.phytochem.2010.11.007. PMID   21130479.
  3. Lea Dalby-Brown; Carl Erik Olsen; Jens Kvist Nielsen; Niels Agerbirk (2011). "Polymorphism for novel tetraglycosylated flavonols in an eco-model crucifer, Barbarea vulgaris". Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry . 59 (13): 6947–6956. doi:10.1021/jf200412c. PMID   21615154.
  4. Niels Agerbirk & Carl Erik Olsen (2011). "Isoferuloyl derivatives of five seed glucosinolates in the crucifer genus Barbarea". Phytochemistry . 72 (7): 610–623. Bibcode:2011PChem..72..610A. doi:10.1016/j.phytochem.2011.01.034. PMID   21354584.