Cress

Watercress is, as you have always thought, a cress that grows in watery places. I have seen it bent forward by the current of a fast-flowing stream in the Oxfordshire village of Ewhelme. Like you, I, too, have enjoyed its peppery tang, which reminds some people of mustard, another distant member of the enormous Cruciferae family. The scientific name, Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum, alludes, as Davidson reminds us, to the “nose-twisting” quality of watercress implied by nasturtium, which means exactly that. Watercress is not at all related to the flower nasturtium. I have never tasted nasturtium blooms (or greens) and have no intention of doing so.