The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

slender toothwort

Habit Perennials; usually glabrous, rarely sparsely pubescent. Perennials; usually glabrous throughout, rarely pilose.
Rhizomes

(tuberiform, fragile) moniliform, segments fusiform, 3–6 mm diam. (fleshy).

cylindrical, slender, 0.7–1.5 mm diam.

Stems

erect, unbranched, 1.2–3(–4) dm, glabrous or pubescent.

erect or ascending, unbranched, 0.5–2(–2.5) dm.

Rhizomal leaves

3-foliolate, to 24 cm, leaflets petiolulate or subsessile;

petiole (3–)5–12(–16) cm;

lateral leaflets subsessile or petiolulate (0.2–1 cm), blade similar to terminal leaflet or smaller;

terminal leaflet (petiolule) (0.2–)0.5–1.5(–2) cm, blade broadly ovate to rhombic-obovate, 1.5–6(–8) cm, base usually cuneate, rarely subtruncate, margins coarsely dentate to crenate or 3-lobed, surfaces puberulent or not.

pinnately 5- or 7-foliolate, 2.5–12 cm (not fleshy), leaflets petiolulate;

petiole 1.5–4(–9) cm;

lateral leaflets similar to terminal, or smaller and margins usually toothed, rarely entire;

terminal leaflet (petiolule 0.15–0.3 cm) blade suborbicular to broadly obovate, 0.4–1.5 cm × 2.5–14 mm, base obtuse to subcordate, margins 3–5-toothed, (apiculate).

Cauline leaves

2 (or 3), 3-foliolate (usually alternate, rarely opposite, different in morphology from rhizomal), petiolate, leaflets petiolulate or sessile;

petiole 0.5–2 cm, base not auriculate;

lateral leaflets sessile, blade similar to terminal, smaller, margins usually dentate, rarely entire;

terminal leaflet sessile or petiolulate, blade narrowly lanceolate to narrowly oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 2–7 × 0.3–0.6 cm, margins minutely puberulent.

1–3, (3–)5-foliolate (alternate), petiolate, leaflets petiolulate or subsessile;

petiole 0.2–2(–6.5) cm, base not auriculate;

lateral leaflets similar to terminal;

terminal leaflet subsessile or petiolulate (to 0.2 cm), blade obovate to oblanceolate, 0.5–1.5 cm × 3–10 mm, base cuneate, margins 3-toothed or entire.

Racemes

ebracteate.

ebracteate.

Flowers

sepals oblong, 5–7.5 × 1–2 mm, lateral pair slightly saccate basally;

petals purple to pale pink, oblanceolate, 9–18 × 2–5 mm (clawed, apex rounded);

filaments: median pairs 5–10 mm, lateral pair 3.5–8 mm;

anthers linear, 1.5–3 mm.

sepals oblong, 2–3.5 × 2–2.5 mm, lateral pair slightly saccate basally;

petals white, broadly obovate, 7–10 × 3–6 mm (clawed, apex rounded);

filaments: median pairs 3–4 mm, lateral pair 2–3 mm;

anthers oblong, 1–1.5 mm.

Fruiting pedicels

ascending to divaricate, 15–40 mm.

erect to ascending, 0.7–22 mm.

Fruits

linear, 2.5–4 cm × 1.5–2.5 mm;

ovules 8–12 per ovary;

style (5–)7–11 mm.

linear, 1.6–4 cm × 1–1.3 mm;

ovules 14–24 per ovary;

style 0.7–3 mm.

Seeds

dark brown, oblong, 2–2.5 × 1–1.5 mm.

brown, oblong, ca. 1.5 × 1 mm.

2n

= ca. 128.

= 28, 42.

Cardamine angustata

Cardamine blaisdellii

Phenology Flowering Mar–May. Flowering Jul–Aug.
Habitat Moist woods, wooded ridges and bottomlands, floodplains, shady ravines, streambeds Moist streamsides, meadows, river gravel, mesic grounds, wet tundra, moist humus, scree slopes, calcareous fellfields
Elevation 300-1300 m (1000-4300 ft) 50-1000 m (200-3300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; DC; DE; GA; IN; KY; MD; MS; NC; NJ; OH; PA; SC; TN; VA; WV
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; n Europe; e Europe (Russian Far East, Siberia)
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Cardamine heterophylla (Nuttall) Alph. Wood (1870), not Host (1797) is an illegitimate name, sometimes found in synonymy with C. angustata.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Cardamine blaisdellii was treated by R. C. Rollins (1993) as a synonym of C. microphylla, but the morphological differences (see key) and molecular data (R. B. Jørgensen et al., 2008) clearly demonstrate that they are distinct.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 7, p. 467. FNA vol. 7, p. 468.
Parent taxa Brassicaceae > tribe Cardamineae > Cardamine Brassicaceae > tribe Cardamineae > Cardamine
Sibling taxa
C. angulata, C. bellidifolia, C. blaisdellii, C. breweri, C. bulbosa, C. californica, C. clematitis, C. concatenata, C. constancei, C. cordifolia, C. digitata, C. diphylla, C. dissecta, C. douglassii, C. flagellifera, C. flexuosa, C. hirsuta, C. holmgrenii, C. impatiens, C. longii, C. macrocarpa, C. maxima, C. micranthera, C. microphylla, C. nuttallii, C. nymanii, C. occidentalis, C. oligosperma, C. pachystigma, C. parviflora, C. pattersonii, C. penduliflora, C. pensylvanica, C. pratensis, C. purpurea, C. rotundifolia, C. rupicola, C. umbellata
C. angulata, C. angustata, C. bellidifolia, C. breweri, C. bulbosa, C. californica, C. clematitis, C. concatenata, C. constancei, C. cordifolia, C. digitata, C. diphylla, C. dissecta, C. douglassii, C. flagellifera, C. flexuosa, C. hirsuta, C. holmgrenii, C. impatiens, C. longii, C. macrocarpa, C. maxima, C. micranthera, C. microphylla, C. nuttallii, C. nymanii, C. occidentalis, C. oligosperma, C. pachystigma, C. parviflora, C. pattersonii, C. penduliflora, C. pensylvanica, C. pratensis, C. purpurea, C. rotundifolia, C. rupicola, C. umbellata
Synonyms C. angustata var. ouachitana, Dentaria heterophylla C. microphylla subsp. blaisdellii, C. microphylla var. blaisdellii
Name authority O. E. Schulz: Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 32: 349. (1903) Eastwood: Bot. Gaz. 33: 146. (1902)
Web links