FNA: Cardamine umbellata

	Cardamine umbellata
	Siberian bittercress, umbel bitter-cress, umbellate bittercress
Habit	Perennials; usually glabrous.
Rhizomes	often elongated, usually slender, rarely thickened, 1–2(–5) mm diam., (not fleshy).
Stems	(simple or few to several from base), erect to ascending, (not flexuous), unbranched basally, sometimes branched distally, (0.3–)0.8–2.5(–3) dm.
Basal leaves	(sometimes withered by anthesis), rosulate, pinnately compound, (3 or) 5 or 7 (or 9)-foliolate, 2–5(–9) cm, leaflets petiolulate or subsessile; lateral leaflets shortly petiolulate or subsessile, blade usually broadly ovate, rarely broadly obovate or orbicular, smaller than terminal, margins usually entire, rarely slightly 3 (or 5)-lobed or crenate; terminal leaflet subsessile, blade reniform or orbicular, 0.4–0.8(–1.2) cm × 5–9(–16) mm, margins entire or 3 (or 5)-lobed or crenate.
Cauline leaves	3–5(–7), 3–7 (or 9)-foliolate, petiolate, leaflets subsessile or sessile; base not auriculate; lateral leaflets: blade narrowly obovate, oblanceolate to linear, margins similar to terminal; terminal leaflet blade narrowly obovate, ovate, oblanceolate, lanceolate, oblong, margins usually entire, sometimes 3-lobed or crenate.
Racemes	ebracteate, (subumbellate, 2–8(–14)-flowered, rachis usually 3–20 mm).
Flowers	sepals (greenish or purplish), oblong, 1–2 × 0.5–1 mm, lateral pair not saccate basally; petals white, narrowly obovate, 2.5–5 × 1–3 mm.
Fruiting pedicels	suberect to ascending, 3–8(–10) mm.
Fruits	linear, (torulose), (1.3–)1.8–2.5(–3) cm × 0.8–1.5(–2) mm; (valves glabrous or sparsely pubescent); style 0.5–2 mm.
Seeds	brown, oblong, 1–1.5 × 0.8–1 mm.
2n	= 32, 36, 48.

	Cardamine umbellata
Phenology	Flowering Jun–Sep.
Habitat	Stream banks, tundra, alpine slopes, wetlands, damp, swampy and mossy areas, beach gravel and sand, alpine stream margins
Elevation	0-1800 m (0-5900 ft)
Distribution	AK; WA; AB; BC; NT; YT; e Asia (Russian Far East) [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Discussion	Recent molecular data (J. Lihová et al. 2006) indicate that Cardamine umbellata, often treated as a variety of C. oligosperma, represents a distinct lineage more closely related to taxa from New Zealand; this does not exclude C. oligosperma as one of the possible parents of this polyploid. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source	FNA vol. 7, p. 484.
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. 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
Synonyms	C. hirsuta subsp. kamtschatica, C. kamtschatica, C. oligosperma var. kamtschatica, C. sylvatica var. kamtschatica
Name authority	Greene: Pittonia 3: 154. (1897)
Web links	Local floras: BC, WA Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Cardamine umbellata

Siberian bittercress, umbel bitter-cress, umbellate bittercress

Habit

Perennials; usually glabrous.

Rhizomes

often elongated, usually slender, rarely thickened, 1–2(–5) mm diam., (not fleshy).

Stems

(simple or few to several from base), erect to ascending, (not flexuous), unbranched basally, sometimes branched distally, (0.3–)0.8–2.5(–3) dm.

Basal leaves

(sometimes withered by anthesis), rosulate, pinnately compound, (3 or) 5 or 7 (or 9)-foliolate, 2–5(–9) cm, leaflets petiolulate or subsessile;

lateral leaflets shortly petiolulate or subsessile, blade usually broadly ovate, rarely broadly obovate or orbicular, smaller than terminal, margins usually entire, rarely slightly 3 (or 5)-lobed or crenate;

terminal leaflet subsessile, blade reniform or orbicular, 0.4–0.8(–1.2) cm × 5–9(–16) mm, margins entire or 3 (or 5)-lobed or crenate.

Cauline leaves

3–5(–7), 3–7 (or 9)-foliolate, petiolate, leaflets subsessile or sessile;

base not auriculate;

lateral leaflets: blade narrowly obovate, oblanceolate to linear, margins similar to terminal;

terminal leaflet blade narrowly obovate, ovate, oblanceolate, lanceolate, oblong, margins usually entire, sometimes 3-lobed or crenate.

Racemes

ebracteate, (subumbellate, 2–8(–14)-flowered, rachis usually 3–20 mm).

Flowers

sepals (greenish or purplish), oblong, 1–2 × 0.5–1 mm, lateral pair not saccate basally;

petals white, narrowly obovate, 2.5–5 × 1–3 mm.

Fruiting pedicels

suberect to ascending, 3–8(–10) mm.

Fruits

linear, (torulose), (1.3–)1.8–2.5(–3) cm × 0.8–1.5(–2) mm; (valves glabrous or sparsely pubescent);

style 0.5–2 mm.

Seeds

brown, oblong, 1–1.5 × 0.8–1 mm.

= 32, 36, 48.

Cardamine umbellata

Phenology

Flowering Jun–Sep.

Habitat

Stream banks, tundra, alpine slopes, wetlands, damp, swampy and mossy areas, beach gravel and sand, alpine stream margins

Elevation

0-1800 m (0-5900 ft)

Distribution

AK; WA; AB; BC; NT; YT; e Asia (Russian Far East)

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

Recent molecular data (J. Lihová et al. 2006) indicate that Cardamine umbellata, often treated as a variety of C. oligosperma, represents a distinct lineage more closely related to taxa from New Zealand; this does not exclude C. oligosperma as one of the possible parents of this polyploid.

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

Source

FNA vol. 7, p. 484.

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. 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

Synonyms

C. hirsuta subsp. kamtschatica, C. kamtschatica, C. oligosperma var. kamtschatica, C. sylvatica var. kamtschatica

Name authority

Greene: Pittonia 3: 154. (1897)

Web links

Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, UW Burke Herbarium

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Cardamine umbellata

Cardamine umbellata