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Blue Ridge bittercress

Habit Perennials; hirsute or pilose proximally, sparsely pubescent or glabrous distally. Annuals, biennials, or perennials; eglandular.
Rhizomes

swollen, compact at stem base, (fleshy, stolons many, slender, ca. 1 mm diam., pubescent or glabrous).

Stems

erect, usually unbranched, rarely branched distally, 1–2.5 dm, sparsely to densely hirsute or pilose proximally, sparsely so or glabrous distally.

Rhizomal leaves

usually simple, rarely 3-foliolate, (3–)6–16 cm, leaflets petiolulate or subsessile;

petiole (1.5–)4–13 cm;

lateral leaflets subsessile or petiolulate (to 0.5 cm), blade similar to terminal, much smaller;

terminal leaflet (petiolule 0.5–2 cm), blade orbicular to reniform or broadly ovate, (1–)1.5–4.5 cm, base cordate, margins repand to coarsely crenate, (apiculate at vein endings, surfaces sparsely pubescent or glabrous).

Cauline leaves

2–5, 3 or 5-foliolate, petiolate, leaflets petiolulate or subsessile;

petiole 0.8–5 cm, base not auriculate;

lateral leaflets sessile or petiolulate (to 0.5 cm), blade similar to terminal, smaller;

terminal leaflet petiolulate (0.5–1.5 cm), blade broadly ovate to suborbicular, 1.5–4(–5) cm × 12–35 mm, margins repand to coarsely crenate or slightly lobed, (apiculate at vein endings, margins glabrous).

(rarely absent), usually petiolate, sometimes sessile;

blade (simple or compound), base auriculate or not, margins entire or dentate to pinnately lobed.

Trichomes

absent or simple.

Racemes

ebracteate.

usually ebracteate (Selenia bracteate throughout), often elongated in fruit.

Flowers

sepals (ascending) oblong, 3–3.5 × 1–1.5 mm, lateral pair not saccate basally;

petals white, oblanceolate, 5–6.5(–8) × 1.5–2.5 mm, (not clawed, apex obtuse to subemarginate);

filaments: median pairs 3.5–5 mm, lateral pair 2.5–3 mm;

anthers oblong, 1.2–1.6 mm.

actinomorphic;

sepals erect to spreading or ascending, lateral pair seldom saccate basally;

petals white, yellow, pink, lilac, or purple, claw usually present, rarely absent, often distinct;

filaments unappendaged, not winged;

pollen 3-colpate.

Fruiting pedicels

ascending to divaricate-ascending, 7–20 mm.

Fruits

linear, 1.5–2.5 cm × 1–1.2 mm;

ovules 10–14 per ovary;

style 1.2–2.5 mm.

silicles or siliques, dehiscent, unsegmented, terete, 4-angled, or latiseptate, rarely angustiseptate;

ovules 4–300[–numerous] per ovary;

style distinct or obsolete (absent in Subularia);

stigma usually entire.

Seeds

brown, oblong, 1.2–1.7 × 0.8–1.1 mm.

biseriate or uniseriate;

cotyledons usually accumbent, sometimes incumbent.

Cardamine flagellifera

Brassicaceae tribe Cardamineae

Phenology Flowering Mar–Jun.
Habitat Moist wooded slopes, gorges, wooded ravines, seepage places
Elevation 300-1000 m (1000-3300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
GA; NC; SC; TN; WV
[BONAP county map]
Nearly worldwide
Discussion

Genera 12, species ca. 335 (10 genera, 85 species in the flora).

The assignment of Subularia to Cardamineae is provisional and based solely on morphology.

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

Source FNA vol. 7, p. 474. FNA vol. 7, p. 458.
Parent taxa Brassicaceae > tribe Cardamineae > Cardamine Brassicaceae
Sibling taxa
C. angulata, C. angustata, 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. 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
Subordinate taxa
Synonyms C. flagellifera var. hugeri, C. hugeri
Name authority O. E. Schulz: Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 32: 405. (1903) Dumortier: Fl. Belg., 124. (1827)
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