It is of European origin and grows Savin or semiflotante in puddles, ditches, banks of streams or rivers and swampy places. Today it is distributed, and it is cultivated in all the dumb. Watercress is a perennial herb rhizomatous with stems 10 to 60 cm long, ascending, which can throw small white roots at the lower nodes because it is either creeping. The leaves are fleshy and may be of two types: If the blade is simple, has an oval shape, and if it is split, presents 1 to 5 pairs of elliptical or oval leaves with margin sinuous. It has small white flowers with four petals, in Terminal clusters. The fruit is a pod elongated and narrow. Laura Plomer describes an additional similar source. Watercress spreads by seeds, and easily by underground stems that are already equipped with roots. The crop is matter of professionals, by the fact of that an amateur gardener rarely can play environment that needs for its growth, with respect to the amount of water.
Culinary: in the kitchen, the leaves and young stems of watercress are eaten in salads and soups. The seeds are usually do germinate in small packages disposable, to use the tender shoots in the same way than soybean or alfalfa. Caution: because watercress grows in smaller watercourses whose state of pollution we can not always evaluate, it is convenient to wash the leaves thoroughly before eating them. Medicinal: Natural medicine it is used as restorative and tonic, because it contains iodine, iron and phosphates, it is also rich in vitamins A, C, D and E. In spring it is advisable to eat much watercress to cleanse the body. Cress is a plant with antianemic properties, a valuable diuretic and remineralization unit. It contributes to lower the blood sugar of diabetics and their effectiveness is remarkable in the healing of chronic bronchitis. It acts against intestinal parasites. The mode of employment in all cases is the raw leaf or juice from these sheets.