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Nuttall's toothwort, slender toothwort

Cardamine pattersonii

Saddle Mountain 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 or short-lived perennial, glabrous; rhizomes cylindrical, slender, 0.5–1.5 mm in diameter.
Stems

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

not flexuous, 6–30 cm.

Basal leaves

rosulate or not, 3–5-foliolate, 1–6 cm;

terminal leaflets obovate to orbicular or subcordate, 0.3–1.5(2) × 0.25–1.6(1.8) cm, bases obtuse or cordate;

margins entire, dentate, or sinuate;

lateral leaflets considerably smaller.

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.

2–4 below raceme, 3–5-foliolate, bases not auriculate.

Inflorescences

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

with bracts throughout, fruiting pedicels divaricate-ascending; (10)15–30(45) 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, 2–3 mm;

lateral pair not saccate;

petals obovate, 6–9 × 3–4 mm, purple or pink, not clawed;

ovules 14–20 per ovary;

styles 2–4 mm.

Fruits

25–56 × 2–2.3 mm, glabrous.

20–30 × 1–1.5 mm, glabrous.

Seeds

oblong, 2–2.5 × 1.4–1.6 mm.

oblong to ovate, 1.7–2.2 × 1–1.5 mm, distally winged.

Cardamine nuttallii

Cardamine pattersonii

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.

Moist mossy cliffs, rocky slopes, banks. Flowering Apr–Jun. 200–1000 m. CR. Native. Endemic to Oregon.

The species is known only from a limited number of collections, all made in northwestern Oregon.

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. parviflora, 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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