Cardamine flagellifera |
Cardamine nuttallii |
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Blue Ridge bittercress |
beautiful bitter-cress, beautiful bittercres, Nuttall's bittercress, Nuttall's toothwort, palmate toothwort, slender toothwort |
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Habit | Perennials; hirsute or pilose proximally, sparsely pubescent or glabrous distally. | Perennials; glabrous or sparsely pubescent. |
Rhizomes | swollen, compact at stem base, (fleshy, stolons many, slender, ca. 1 mm diam., pubescent or glabrous). |
(tuberiform, fragile), with ovoid to oblong or cylindrical nodal swellings, slender, 2–5 mm diam., (fleshy). |
Stems | erect, usually unbranched, rarely branched distally, 1–2.5 dm, sparsely to densely hirsute or pilose proximally, sparsely so or glabrous distally. |
erect, unbranched, 0.5–2(–3) dm, glabrous or sparsely pubescent 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). |
simple or 3 (or 5)-foliolate, (3–)4–20(–25) cm, leaflets petiolulate or subsessile; petiole (2–)3–18(–21) cm; lateral leaflets (when present) petiolulate to subsessile, blade similar to terminal, sometimes smaller; terminal leaflet (subsessile or petiolule 0.2–3 cm), blade (simple leaf or terminal leaflet) reniform to suborbicular or ovate to oblong, (0.9–)1.3–4(–5.2) cm × (8–)12–50(–70) mm, base cordate to obtuse, margins crenate, dentate, or 5–7-lobed, (apiculae terminating teeth or lobes, surfaces 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). |
1–3, 3 (or 5)-foliolate, (appearing palmate), petiolate, leaflets petiolulate or sessile; petiole (0.2–)0.5–2(–3) cm, base not auriculate; lateral leaflets sessile, blade similar to terminal, smaller; terminal leaflet petiolulate or sessile, blade broadly ovate to oblong or linear, (0.5–)1–3.5(–6) cm, margins usually entire or dentate, rarely lobed. |
Racemes | ebracteate. |
ebracteate. |
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. |
sepals oblong, 3.5–5 × 1.5–2 mm, lateral pair saccate basally; petals usually purple to pale pink, rarely white, obovate, 10–15 × 4–7.5 mm, (not clawed, apex rounded); filaments: median pairs 5–8 mm, lateral pair 3.5–5 mm; anthers oblong, 1.5–2 mm. |
Fruiting pedicels | ascending to divaricate-ascending, 7–20 mm. |
ascending to divaricate, 10–35 mm. |
Fruits | linear, 1.5–2.5 cm × 1–1.2 mm; ovules 10–14 per ovary; style 1.2–2.5 mm. |
linear, 2.5–5.6 cm × 2–2.3 mm; ovules 8–16 per ovary; style 4–8 mm. |
Seeds | brown, oblong, 1.2–1.7 × 0.8–1.1 mm. |
dark brown, oblong, 2–2.5 × 1.4–1.6 mm. |
Cardamine flagellifera |
Cardamine nuttallii |
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Phenology | Flowering Mar–Jun. | Flowering Mar–May. |
Habitat | Moist wooded slopes, gorges, wooded ravines, seepage places | Open pine forests, damp woods, shaded bottomlands, mossy slopes, streamsides, shaded and moist hillsides |
Elevation | 300-1000 m (1000-3300 ft) | 150-1000 m (500-3300 ft) |
Distribution |
GA; NC; SC; TN; WV |
CA; OR; WA; BC
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Discussion | The infraspecific taxonomy of Cardamine nuttallii has been based almost entirely on the division and margin of rhizomal leaves. The treatments by O. E. Schulz (1903), L. E. Detling (1937), and R. C. Rollins (1993), though utilizing the same characters, varied considerably, especially in the application of names to varieties. The absence of rhizomal leaves on most specimens makes varietal determination an almost impossible task. Furthermore, leaf morphology is so highly variable that it is not useful for formally recognizing some of the other variants in the species. We therefore prefer to not subdivide the species. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 7, p. 474. | FNA vol. 7, p. 478. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. flagellifera var. hugeri, C. hugeri | Dentaria tenella, C. californica var. gemmata, C. gemmata, C. nuttallii var. covilleana, C. nuttallii var. dissecta, C. nuttallii var. gemmata, C. nuttallii var. pulcherrima, C. pulcherrima, C. pulcherrima var. tenella, C. quercetorum, C. tenella var. covilleana, C. tenella var. dissecta, C. tenella var. quercetorum, Dentaria gemmata, Dentaria macrocarpa, Dentaria macrocarpa var. pulcherrima, Dentaria quercetorum, Dentaria tenella var. palmata, Dentaria tenella var. pulcherrima, Dentaria tenella var. quercetorum |
Name authority | O. E. Schulz: Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 32: 405. (1903) | Greene: Bull. Calif. Acad. Sci. 2: 389. (1887) |
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