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wavy bitter-cress, wood bitter-cress, woodland bitter-cress

cut-leaf toothwort

Habit Annuals or biennials; sparsely to densely hirsute basally or throughout, or glabrous. Perennials; usually sparsely pubescent, sometimes glabrous.
Rhizomes

absent.

(tuberiform, fragile), moniliform, segments fusiform, 2–10(–20) mm diam. (fleshy).

Stems

erect, ascending, or decumbent, branched or unbranched, (0.6–)1–5 dm, (slightly flexuous).

erect, unbranched, (1–)2–4(–5.5) dm, glabrous or pubescent distally.

Basal leaves

(often withered by anthesis), not rosulate, 5–15-foliolate, (2.7–)4–14(–19) cm, leaflets petiolulate;

petiole 0.7–5 cm, (ciliate or not);

lateral leaflet blade oblong, ovate, or elliptic, smaller than terminal, margins entire, repand, crenate, or 3 (or 5)-lobed;

terminal leaflet (petiolule 0.3–1.7 cm), blade reniform, broadly ovate, or suborbicular, 0.5–2.5 cm × 4–30 mm, margins repand, crenate, or 3 or 5-lobed.

Rhizomal leaves

3-foliolate, (7–)10–20(–30) cm, leaflets sessile;

petiole (4–)7–18(–25) cm;

lateral leaflets similar to terminal, blade sometimes smaller;

terminal leaflet blade oblong, lanceolate, oblanceolate, or linear, 2.5–6 cm, base cuneate, margins coarsely dentate to incised, laciniate, or 3-lobed (lobes usually toothed to incised, rarely entire, surfaces puberulent or not, trichomes 0.2–0.3 mm).

Cauline leaves

3–15, 5–15-foliolate [leaves (2–)3.5–5.5(–7) cm, including petiole], petiolate, leaflets petiolulate;

petiole base not auriculate;

lateral leaflets similar to basal, (0.4–2.5 mm wide).

(2 or) 3, 3-foliolate (usually whorled or opposite, rarely alternate, similar in morphology to rhizomal leaves), petiolate, leaflets petiolulate or subsessile;

petiole (1–)1.5–6(–7.5) cm, base not auriculate;

lateral leaflets sessile, blade similar to terminal, sometimes smaller;

terminal leaflet subsessile or petiolulate (to 3 cm), blade lanceolate, linear, or oblanceolate, (3–)4–10(–12) cm × (3–)5–20(–25) mm, margins usually coarsely dentate to incised, rarely subentire (margins minutely puberulent).

Racemes

ebracteate.

ebracteate.

Flowers

sepals oblong, 1.5–2.5 × 0.7–1 mm, lateral pair not saccate basally;

petals white, spatulate, 2.5–4(–5) × 1–1.7 mm; (stamens rarely 4, lateral pair absent);

filaments 2–3 mm;

anthers ovate, 0.3–0.5 mm.

sepals oblong, (4–)5–8 × 2–4 mm, lateral pair slightly saccate basally;

petals white to pale pink, oblanceolate, (8–)10–20 × (3–)4–7(–9) mm, (short-clawed, apex rounded);

filaments: median pairs 8–12 mm, lateral pair 6–8 mm;

anthers oblong-linear, 1.5–2.5 mm.

Fruiting pedicels

divaricate or ascending, (5–)6–14(–17) mm.

ascending to divaricate, (6–)10–27(–33) mm.

Fruits

linear, (torulose), (0.8–)1.2–2.8 cm × 1–1.5 mm;

ovules 18–40 per ovary;

style 0.3–1(–1.5) mm.

linear-lanceolate, (2–)2.5–3.8(–4.8) cm × 1.5–3 mm; (valves glabrous or sparsely pubescent);

ovules 10–14 per ovary;

style (2–)5–9(–12) mm.

Seeds

brown, oblong or subquadrate, 0.9–1.5 × 0.6–1 mm, (narrowly margined or not).

brown, oblong, 1.6–3 × 1.8–2 mm.

2n

= 32.

= 128–256.

Cardamine flexuosa

Cardamine concatenata

Phenology Flowering Apr–Jul. Flowering Feb–May.
Habitat Disturbed areas, fields, nurseries, plantations, gardens, flower beds, lawns, roadsides Wooded bottoms and bluffs, rich woods, limestone cliffs and outcrops, rocky banks, mesic forests, moist areas with leaf litter, floodplain woods
Elevation 0-1100 m (0-3600 ft) 0-1000 m (0-3300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; CA; FL; GA; IL; IN; LA; MD; MI; NC; NY; OH; OR; RI; TX; VA; WA; BC; NF; ON; Europe; e Asia [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico, Central America, South America, Australia]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; ON; QC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

According to J. Lihová et al. (2006), the populations referred to Cardamine flexuosa in North America comprise two taxa of different polyploid origins and evolutionary histories: tetraploid C. flexuosa (2n = 32), native to Europe, and the octoploid taxon informally called “Asian C. flexuosa” (2n = 64), native to eastern Asia. For the latter, the name C. flexuosa subsp. debilis can be used. Nevertheless, these two taxa should be recognized at species level and the correct name for the Asian species should be sought. Based on available data, both taxa occupy the same habitats in North America, but the Asian taxon is much more widespread. The occurrence of European C. flexuosa was, until now, confirmed only for Washington, where both taxa have been recorded. More detailed studies of the North American distributions of both these weeds are needed.

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

Source FNA vol. 7, p. 474. FNA vol. 7, p. 470.
Parent taxa Brassicaceae > tribe Cardamineae > Cardamine Brassicaceae > tribe Cardamineae > Cardamine
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. flagellifera, 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. blaisdellii, C. breweri, C. bulbosa, C. californica, C. clematitis, 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. flexuosa subsp. debilis, C. flexuosa var. debilis, C. hirsuta subsp. flexuosa, C. scutata subsp. flexuosa Dentaria concatenata, C. laciniata var. integra, C. laciniata var. lasiocarpa, Dentaria laciniata, Dentaria laciniata var. alterna, Dentaria laciniata var. coalescens, Dentaria laciniata var. integra, Dentaria laciniata var. latifolia, Dentaria laciniata var. opposita
Name authority Withering: Arr. Brit. Pl. ed. 3, 3: 578. (1796) (Michaux) O. Schwarz: Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 46: 188. (1939)
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