[After Du. winterkers.] Any of the cruciferous herbs of the genus Barbarea, the leaves of which were formerly used as a winter salad; esp. B. vulgaris (Winter Rocket, Yellow R.).
1548. Turner, Names of Herbes (E.D.S.), 44. Irio … in englishe wynter cresse.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, V. lxi. 626.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, II. viii. 189. The seede of winter Cresse … helpeth the strangurie.
1650. [W. Howe], Phytol. Brit., 14. Barbarea, Pseudobunias,… Winter Cresses.
1785. Martyn, Lett. Bot., xxiii. (1794), 323. Winter Cress with lyrate leaves … and spikes of yellow flowers, growing by ditch-sides.
1858. Hogg, Veg. Kingd., 63.
