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largeseed bittercress

Habit Annuals; glabrous or sparsely puberulent.
Rhizomes

absent.

Stems

(simple or several from base), erect or decumbent, (flexuous or straight, narrowly winged-angled), unbranched or branched distally, (1.4–)2–4.5(–5.3) dm.

Basal leaves

(soon withered), not rosulate.

Cauline leaves

3–9, middle ones 5–9-foliolate, petiolate, leaflets petiolulate or subsessile;

petiole 1–3 cm, base not auriculate;

lateral leaflets similar to terminal, blade often smaller, with oblique base, distal leaflets subsessile, blade smaller and narrower distally;

terminal leaflet (petiolule 0.2–0.8 cm), blade usually broadly ovate to narrowly lanceolate, rarely oblong, 0.7–2 cm × 2–10 mm, base cuneate to rounded, margins repand, crenate, or 3-lobed.

Racemes

ebracteate, (rachis slightly to strongly flexuous or geniculate).

Flowers

sepals oblong, 2–3.5 × 0.7–1.2 mm, lateral pair not saccate basally;

petals white, linear, 6–8 × 0.7–1 mm;

filaments: median pairs 4–5 mm, lateral pair 3.5–4 mm;

anthers oblong, 0.7–1 mm.

Fruiting pedicels

horizontal to divaricate or ascending, (3–)4–9(–12) mm.

Fruits

linear, (2.5–)3–4.6 cm × 1.7–2.1 mm;

ovules 14–22 per ovary;

style 1–3 mm.

Seeds

dark brown, oblong, 2–2.5 × 0.9–1.2 mm.

Cardamine macrocarpa

Phenology Flowering Mar–Sep.
Habitat Rock crevices and ledges, gravel bars of mountain streams, moist rocky stream banks, shaded loamy forest floors
Distribution
from FNA
TX; Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León)
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Cardamine macrocarpa is known from the Chisos Mountains, Brewster County.

The characters by which var. texana is said to differ from var. macrocarpa are artificially drawn, and the style length, presence or absence of indumentum on the pedicels, and degree of flexuosity of the raceme rachises do not correlate and can vary within a given area. For these reasons, we do not recognize infraspecific taxa in Cardamine macrocarpa.

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

Source FNA vol. 7, p. 476.
Parent taxa 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. flexuosa, C. hirsuta, C. holmgrenii, C. impatiens, C. longii, 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. macrocarpa var. texana
Name authority Brandegee: Zoë 5: 233. (1906)
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