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

narrow-leaf bitter-cress

Habit Biennials or, rarely, annuals; usually glabrous, rarely sparsely pubescent basally. Annuals, biennials, or perennials; eglandular.
Rhizomes

absent.

Stems

erect, (angled, sometimes flexuous), unbranched basally, usually branched distally, (1.2–)2–6.5(–9) dm.

Basal leaves

(often withered by flowering), rosulate, similar to cauline, with fewer distal leaflets.

Cauline leaves

9–24, (9–)13–25-foliolate, petiolate, leaflets petiolulate;

petiole 2–6 cm, base auriculate (auricles to 10 × 2.2 mm);

lateral leaflets similar to terminal, blade often smaller;

terminal leaflet (petiolule to 0.5 cm), blade orbicular, obovate, ovate, or lanceolate, 1–4(–5) cm × 5–17 mm, margins entire or 3–5(–9)-toothed or -lobed.

(rarely absent), usually petiolate, sometimes sessile;

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

Racemes

ebracteate.

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

Flowers

sepals oblong, 1.2–2(–2.5) × 0.7–1(–1.2) mm, lateral pair not saccate basally;

petals (rarely absent), white, oblanceolate, 1.5–4(–5) × 0.6–1.2 mm;

filaments 2–3(–4) mm;

anthers ovate, 0.3–0.5 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

divaricate or ascending, 3.5–12(–15) mm.

Fruits

linear, (torulose), (1–)1.6–3(–3.5) cm × 0.9–1.5 mm; (valves glabrous or, rarely, pilose);

ovules 10–30 per ovary;

style 0.6–1.6(–2) 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, 1.1–1.5 × 0.8–1 mm, (compressed, sometimes narrowly winged apically).

biseriate or uniseriate;

cotyledons usually accumbent, sometimes incumbent.

Trichomes

absent or simple.

2n

= 16.

Cardamine impatiens

Brassicaceae tribe Cardamineae

Phenology Flowering May–Jul.
Habitat Streamsides, slopes, roadsides, fields, disturbed areas
Elevation 0-200 m (0-700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CT; KY; MI; MN; NH; OH; PA; VA; WV; ON; Eurasia [Introduced in North America; introduced also in South Africa]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[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. 476. 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. flagellifera, C. flexuosa, C. hirsuta, C. holmgrenii, 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. impatiens var. angustifolia
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 655. (1753) Dumortier: Fl. Belg., 124. (1827)
Web links