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

purple bittercress

Habit Perennials; (cespitose); glabrous. Perennials; (often cespitose); hirsute.
Rhizomes

absent.

vertical, 1–3 mm diam., (not fleshy).

Stems

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

(simple or few to several from base), usually erect, unbranched, (0.3–)0.5–1.2(–1.5) 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.

sometimes rosulate, usually 3 or 5-foliolate, rarely simple, (1.5–)2.5–7 cm, leaflets petiolulate or sessile;

petiole (1.2–)2–5 cm;

lateral lobes or leaflets sessile, blade similar to terminal, distinctly smaller;

terminal lobe or leaflet petiolulate (0.05–0.6 cm), blade reniform or suborbicular to broadly ovate, 0.3–1 cm × 4–15 mm, base subcordate to rounded, margins entire, repand, or obscurely 2-toothed.

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.

1–3, usually compound, rarely simple, petiolate, leaflets petiolulate or sessile;

petiole (0.2–)0.5–2 cm, base not auriculate;

similar to basal, smaller.

Racemes

ebracteate.

ebracteate.

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(–4) × 1.4–1.7 mm, lateral pair not saccate basally;

petals usually purple to pink, rarely white, obovate, 5–7(–9) × 3–4(–5) mm, (clawed, apex rounded);

filaments: median pairs 2.5–3.5 mm, lateral pair 1.5–3.5 mm;

anthers oblong, 0.6–0.9 mm.

Fruiting pedicels

erect-ascending, 5–15 mm.

suberect, ascending, or divaricate, 5–12 mm, pubescent.

Fruits

linear, 1–1.8 cm × ca. 1.5 mm;

ovules ca. 16 per ovary;

style ca. 1 mm, (stout).

linear, 1.5–2.5 cm × 1.5–1.8 mm;

ovules 10–14 per ovary;

style 1–2.5 mm.

Seeds

brown, oblong, ca. 1.5 mm.

brown, oblong to broadly ovoid, 1.7–2.1 × 1.4–1.7 mm.

2n

= 56, 60, 64, 80–100.

= 96.

Cardamine nymanii

Cardamine purpurea

Phenology Flowering Jun–Aug. Flowering Jun–Aug.
Habitat Wet meadows, marshes, margins of ponds, along streams, seacoasts, swamps Moist tundra, damp woods and ravines, alpine turf, river flats, peaty subarctic meadows, streamsides, moist slopes
Elevation 600-1800 m (2000-5900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; MB; NL; NT; NU; QC; YT; Greenland; n Eurasia
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; YT; e Asia (Russian Far East)
[BONAP county map]
Source FNA vol. 7, p. 478. FNA vol. 7, p. 483.
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. 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. rotundifolia, C. rupicola, C. umbellata
Synonyms C. pratensis var. angustifolia C. purpurea var. albiflora, C. purpurea var. albiflos, C. purpurea var. lactiflora
Name authority Gandoger: Bull. Soc. Bot. France 72: 1043. (1925) Chamisso & Schlechtendal: Linnaea 1: 20. (1826)
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