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Nuttall's toothwort, slender toothwort

narrow-leaved bittercress, sand bittercress, small-flowered bittercress

Habit Plants perennial, glabrous or pubescent; rhizomes slender, tuberous, segmented, producing fragile segments, ovoid, oblong, or cylindrical, 2–5 mm in diameter, nodes fleshy. Plants annual, slender, glabrous or pubescent.
Stems

erect, 0.5–2(3) dm; simple, bases above ground much wider than attachment to rhizome.

somewhat flexuous; (5)10–30(40) cm.

Basal leaves

often withered by anthesis, not rosulate, pinnately (5)7–13(17)-foliolate; (2)4–10 cm;

terminal leaflets linear, oblong, oblanceolate, obovate, or suborbicular; (1)3–10 × 1–7 mm;

margins entire, or 3(5)-toothed or -lobed;

lateral leaflets similar to terminal.

Rhizomal leaves

simple or 3(5)-foliolate; (3)4–20(25) cm;

blades or terminal leaflets reniform, suborbicular; ovate, or oblong; (0.9)1.3–4(5.2) × (0.8)1.2–5(7) cm, often with purple spots, bases cordate to obtuse;

margins apiculate-dentate or 5–7-lobed.

Cauline leaves

1–3, pinnately or palmately compound, 3(5)-foliolate, bases not auriculate;

terminal leaflets ovate, oblong, or linear; (0.5)1–3.5(6) cm;

lateral leaflets smaller; entire, dentate, or lobed.

pinnately or palmately compound; (5)9–15(17)-foliolate, bases not auriculate;

lateral leaflets narrowly oblong, linear, or filiform, 1–3 mm wide;

terminal leaflets filiform, linear, or narrowly oblong, 3–10(16) × 0.3–3 mm;

margins entire or rarely 1–3-toothed.

Inflorescences

bracts 0, fruiting pedicels ascending to divaricate, 1–3.5 cm.

bracts 0, fruiting pedicels divaricate or ascending, 4–10 mm.

Flowers

sepals erect, oblong, 3.5–5 mm;

lateral pair saccate;

petals obovate, 10–15 × 4–7.5 mm, purple to pale pink, rarely white, not clawed;

tips rounded;

ovules 8–16 per ovary;

styles 4–8 mm.

sepals oblong, 1–1.5(2) mm;

petals oblanceolate; (1.5)1.8–2.5(3) × 0.4–0.8(1) mm, white;

stamens 6;

anthers ovate, 0.2–0.4 mm;

ovules 20–50 per ovary;

styles 0.3–0.7(1) mm.

Fruits

25–56 × 2–2.3 mm, glabrous.

(5)10–20(25) × 0.6–0.9 mm, glabrous.

Seeds

oblong, 2–2.5 × 1.4–1.6 mm.

oblong-ovate, 0.6–0.9 × 0.4–0.6 mm, margined or not.

2n

=16.

Cardamine nuttallii

Cardamine parviflora

Distribution
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Damp woods, shaded bottomlands and hillsides, mossy slopes, streamsides. Flowering Mar–Jul. 0–2000 m. Casc, Col, CR, ECas, Est, Sisk, WV. CA, WA; north to British Columbia. Native.

Roadsides, riverbanks, rocky crests and outcrops, dry woods, fallow fields, marsh and swamp margins, floodplains, waste grounds, ledges and cliffs. Flowering Apr–Jun. 0–1300 m. BW, WV. WA; throughout southern Canada, central and eastern US. Native.

Source Flora of Oregon, volume 2 draft
Ihsan Al-Shehbaz
Flora of Oregon, volume 2, page 466
Ihsan Al-Shehbaz
Sibling taxa
C. angulata, C. bellidifolia, C. breweri, C. californica, C. cordifolia, C. flexuosa, C. hirsuta, C. holmgrenii, C. occidentalis, C. oligosperma, C. parviflora, C. pattersonii, C. penduliflora, C. pensylvanica
C. angulata, C. bellidifolia, C. breweri, C. californica, C. cordifolia, C. flexuosa, C. hirsuta, C. holmgrenii, C. nuttallii, C. occidentalis, C. oligosperma, C. pattersonii, C. penduliflora, C. pensylvanica
Synonyms Cardamine nuttallii var. covilleana, Cardamine nuttallii var. dissecta, Cardamine nuttallii var. gemmata, Cardamine nuttallii var. nuttallii, Cardamine pulcherrima, Cardamine pulcherrima var. pulcherrima, Cardamine pulcherrima var. tenella, Dentaria gemmata, Dentaria tenella, Dentaria tenella var. pulcherrima, Dentaria tenella var. quercetorum, Dentaria tenella var. tenella
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