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

cuckoo bitter-cress, lady smock, northern field bitter-cress

largeseed bittercress

Habit Perennials; (cespitose); glabrous. Annuals; glabrous or sparsely puberulent.
Rhizomes

absent.

absent.

Stems

erect, unbranched or, rarely, branched, 0.5–1.6(–3.5) dm.

(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

(7 or) 9–21-foliolate, (thick, veins impressed);

leaflets petiolulate or sessile;

lateral lobes or leaflets similar to terminal;

terminal lobe or leaflet blade orbicular, broadly ovate to lanceolate, base rounded to cuneate, margins usually entire.

(soon withered), not rosulate.

Cauline leaves

2–4(–7), pinnatisect or pinnately compound, (7 or) 9–21-foliolate, (thick, veins impressed), petiolate, leaflets petiolulate or sessile;

petiole base not auriculate;

lobes or leaflets (of proximal leaves) (4–)7–10 each side of rachis, fewer distally, distal leaves with 4 or 5 lobes or leaflets each side of rachis;

terminal leaflet petiolulate or sessile, blade (or lobe) narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate, base cuneate, margins entire.

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.

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

Flowers

sepals oblong or ovate, 3.6–4.4 mm, lateral pair saccate basally, (green with hyaline margins);

petals white-lilac, 9–12.3 × 4.8–6.8 mm, (clawed, apex rounded or emarginate);

filaments: median pairs 3.5–4.5 mm, lateral pair 2–3 mm;

anthers narrowly oblong, 0.9–1.4 mm.

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

erect-ascending, 5–15 mm.

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

Fruits

linear, 1–1.8 cm × ca. 1.5 mm;

ovules ca. 16 per ovary;

style ca. 1 mm, (stout).

linear, (2.5–)3–4.6 cm × 1.7–2.1 mm;

ovules 14–22 per ovary;

style 1–3 mm.

Seeds

brown, oblong, ca. 1.5 mm.

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

2n

= 56, 60, 64, 80–100.

Cardamine nymanii

Cardamine macrocarpa

Phenology Flowering Jun–Aug. Flowering Mar–Sep.
Habitat Wet meadows, marshes, margins of ponds, along streams, seacoasts, swamps Rock crevices and ledges, gravel bars of mountain streams, moist rocky stream banks, shaded loamy forest floors
Distribution
from FNA
AK; MB; NL; NT; NU; QC; YT; Greenland; n Eurasia
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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. 478. FNA vol. 7, p. 476.
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. flexuosa, C. hirsuta, C. holmgrenii, C. impatiens, C. longii, C. macrocarpa, C. maxima, C. micranthera, C. microphylla, C. nuttallii, 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. 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. pratensis var. angustifolia C. macrocarpa var. texana
Name authority Gandoger: Bull. Soc. Bot. France 72: 1043. (1925) Brandegee: Zoë 5: 233. (1906)
Web links