Day 218: Being in voluntary lockdown has provided me with a good reason to explore the area around my home more thoroughly than ever before. Even so, the last thing I expected was to find a "new" plant in my own extended "back yard." This morning, I went for a somewhat longer ramble to follow a little-known and little-used social trail down to the river. As I turned to come back up the hill, a little yellow flower caught my eye. "And who are you, little guy?" I said. "You have funny long siliques and an odd little flower, and those leaves...you're not a mustard and you're not a Rorippa. Who the heck are you, anyway?" I suspected the poor thing of being a weed, if the truth be told, but after referring to several different sources, I confirmed its identity as a native species, Barbarea orthoceras, aka American wintercress rocket. It's remotely related to the mustards, being a member of the Brassicaceae which also includes such things as turnips, collards and kale as well as Cardamine, Alyssum and the drabas. Collectively known as crucifers, all Brassicas exhibit four-petalled flowers. That was the main clue which put me on the path toward identification of the plant as Barbarea. As a sidebar, Washington has been having a flurry of small earthquakes this last week, but the last one you felt might have been me jumping up and down shouting, "I got a new plant! I got a new plant!"
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