Edible plant - advanced Season - present all year. Flowers: summer Common names Fool's watercress, Lebanese cress, poor man's watercress
Scientific name meaning: Apium is derived from the latin Apis, for “bee” in reference to the bee's supposed preference of the plant. Nodiflorum, from the Latin Nodus and Floris, means flowering at the nodes, due to fool's watercress producing its flowerheads at the leaf nodes
Habitat  Fool's watercress likes the shallow water of streams, dykes, brooks, ditches, ponds and wet banks. It is a native of western Europe. |
Overall structure  Bears some resemblance to watercress, which is actually in a different family entirely. It forms a mat of leaf stalks that are often submerged, with erect leaves showing above the water. |
Leaves  The leaves are pinnately compound with 2 - 6 pairs of leaflets that have very small to no stalks. The terminal leaflet is sometimes lobed. The edges of the leaflets are bluntly toothed. When crushed, the leaves and their stems smell strongly of carrot/parsnip. |
Stem  The cylindrical stems are hollow and pale green. They smell strongly of carrot/parsnip when crushed. |
Flowers  The white flowers form on compound umbels in summer. The inflorescence emerges from the base of a leaf - the leaf node. |
Seeds  The seed are egg-shaped and retain some of the external female reproductive parts (the style) giving it the appearance of having antannae. The seeds ripen to brown. |
Possible lookalikes  Water parsnip (Berula erecta) is confused with fool's watercress. There is conflicting findings (1977 and 1986 studies) over whether or it is toxic. Water parsnip has sharply serrated leaves, bracts, a leafstalk ring and 7 to 10 pairs of leaflets, compared to fool's watercress' 2 to 6. Watercress (Nasturtium officinale) is also similar but smells of cress rather than carrots.
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Use as a food Can be used cooked in soups and stews as an aromatic green. It can also be used to enhance the flavour of spinach or other wilted greens Use in herbal medicine and medicine None known at time of writing
If you are suffering from any ailment or need medical advice, please see your General Practitioner.
Hazards Fool's watercress is member of the notoriously difficult to identify Apiacaea (carrot) family. This is a plant for advanced foragers only. As it grows in waterways, it must be cooked to remove the risk from waterborne parasites such as liver fluke
Other uses None known at time of writing Importance to other species Provides an important food source for pollinators
Always stay safe when foraging. You need to be 100% sure of your identification, 100% sure that your foraged item is edible, and 100% sure that you are not allergic to it (it is good practice to always try a small amount of any new food you are consuming). If in doubt, leave it out!