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Close-up of watercress (Nasturtium officinale) leaves covered with droplets of water. eedlings
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Close-up of watercress (Nasturtium officinale) leaves covered with droplets of water.
watercress Watercress (Nasturtium officinale).

watercress

plant
Also known as: Nasturtium officinale
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eedlings
eedlingsWatercress seedlings (Nasturtium officinale).

watercress, (Nasturtium officinale), perennial aquatic plant of the mustard family (Brassicaceae), native to Eurasia and naturalized throughout North America. Watercress thrives in cool flowing streams, where it grows submerged, floating on the water, or spread over mud surfaces. It is often cultivated in tanks or moist soil for its edible young shoots and delicate peppery-flavoured leaves, which are rich in vitamin C. The garden ornamental nasturtium (genus Tropaeolum) is not closely related to watercress.

Watercress plants often form bushy colonies and root freely from the stems. The alternate leaves are pinnately compound with three to nine leaflets. The plant bears compact clusters of tiny four-petaled white flowers; each seedpod, known as a silique, bears two rows of seeds.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Melissa Petruzzello.