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Cochlearia ( scurvy-grass or spoonwort) is a genus of about 30 species of Annual plant and perennial plant in the family Brassicaceae. They are widely distributed in temperate and arctic areas of the northern hemisphere, most commonly found in regions, on cliff-tops and where their high tolerance of sodium chloride enables them to avoid competition from larger, but less salt-tolerant plants; they also occur in Alpine climate habitats in and tundra.
They form low, rounded or creeping plants, typically 5–20 cm tall. The leaves are smoothly rounded, roughly spoon-shaped (the scientific name Cochlearia derives from the form, cocleare, of the Greek language κοχλιάριον, kokhliárion, a spoon; this a diminutive of κόχλος, kókhlos, seashell), or in some species, lobed; typically 1–5 cm long, and with a fleshy texture. The are white with four petals and are borne in short .
Two species formerly included in the genus Cochlearia are now usually treated in separate genera:
Cook's scurvy grass, Lepidium oleraceum, was used by James Cook to prevent scurvy, but is now almost extinct.
The Rev. George Moore recorded the purchase of "a pint of scurvey-grasse" for 1 s in 1662. He apparently "suffered much" from scurvy, purchasing scurvey-grasse in both bundled and bottled form. The book Cochlearia curiosa: or the curiosities of scurvygrass was published in English in 1676, Described as "both a learned and accurate work", it was well received, and apparently brought scurvy-grass "into great repute" as a remedy. According to the Royal Society, the book contains "not only a description of the several kinds of this plant, with its several names, place, and time of growth, temperature and general vertues, but also an enumeration of the uses, medicinal vertues and manner of applying each part of this plant." In 1857, Cochlearia officinalis was described in The Elements of Materia Medica and Therapeutics as "A gentle stimulant, aperient, and diuretic. It has long been esteemed as an antiscorbutic. It has also been used in visceral obstructions. It is occasionally eaten with bread and butter, like the water-cress."
The leaves, which have a strong acrid, bitter, or peppery taste similar to the related horseradish and watercress, are also sometimes used in or eaten with bread and butter.
Scurvy-grass sorrel ( Oxalis enneaphylla) is an unrelated plant from southern South America and the Falkland Islands that was also used to treat scurvy.
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