Cardamine
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 Cardamine pennsylvanica (Pennsylvania Bittercress) | ||||||||||||
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Cardamine (Car-dá-mi-ne, Bittercress or Bitter-cress), is a large genus in the family Brassicaceae. It contains more than 150 species of annuals and perennials. The genus grows worldwide in diverse habitats, except in the Antarctic. Genus Dentaria is a synonym for Cardamine.
The leaves can have different forms, going from minute to medium-sized. They can be pinnate or bipinnate. They are basal and cauline (growing on the upper part of the stem), with narrow tips. They are rosulate (forming a rosette). The blade margins can be entire, serrate or dentate. The stem internodes lack firmness.
The radially symmetrical flowers grow in a racemose many-flowered inflorescence or in corymbs. The white, pink or purple flowers are minute to medium-sized. The petals are longer than the sepals. The fertile flowers are hermaphroditic.
The fruits are long, thin pods with many (20-100) seeds. In some regions this plant is considered a nuisance; one author observes, "Weeding this little pest is decidedly unsatisfying, for when its fully ripe pods are touched, they split open and shoot out their seeds, thus spitefully sowing another crop."[1]
Some plants were reputed to have medicinal qualities (treatment of heart or stomach ailments).
The name Cardamine is derived from the Greek word kardamon, referring to a Persian or Indian herb with pungent leaves.
Species
- Cardamine africana
- Cardamine amara - Large Bittercress
- Cardamine amporitana
- Cardamine angulata - Seaside Bittercress, Angled Bittercress
- Cardamine angustata - Slender Toothwort
- Cardamine bellidifolia - Alpine Bittercress, Alpine Cress
- Cardamine bilobata
- Cardamine breweri - Brewer's Bittercress
Cardamine bulbosa (Bulbous Bittercress) - Cardamine bulbifera - Coralroot
- Cardamine bulbosa - Bulbous Bittercress, Spring Cress
- Cardamine californica - Milkmaids
- Cardamine changbaiana
- Cardamine chenopodiifolia
- Cardamine clematitis - Small Mountain Bittercress
- Cardamine concatenata - Cutleaf Toothwort, Cut-leaved Toothwort
- Cardamine constancei - Constance's Bittercress
- Cardamine cordifolia - Heartleaf Bittercress, Heartleaved Bittercress, Large Mountain Bittercress
- Cardamine corymbosa
- Cardamine debilis - Roadside Bittercress
- Cardamine dentata
- Cardamine digitata - Richardson's Bittercress
- Cardamine diphylla - Crinkleroot, Twin-leaved Toothwort
- Cardamine dissecta - Forkleaf Toothwort
- Cardamine douglassii - Limestone Bittercress
- Cardamine enneaphyllos - Drooping Bittercress
- Cardamine fargesiana
- Cardamine flagellifera - Blue Ridge Bittercress
- Cardamine flexuosa - Woodland Bittercress, Wavy Bittercress
- Cardamine gambelii
- Cardamine glacialis
- Cardamine gunnii
- Cardamine gunnii-lilacina
- Cardamine heptaphylla
- Cardamine hirsuta - Hairy Bittercress
- Cardamine impatiens - Narrowleaf Bittercress, Narrow-leaved Bittercress
- Cardamine jamesonii
- Cardamine keysseri
- Cardamine laciniata
- Cardamine lihengiana
- Cardamine lilacina
- Cardamine lojanensis
- Cardamine longii - Long's Bittercress
- Cardamine lyrata
- Cardamine macrocarpa - Largeseed Bittercress
- Cardamine maritima
- Cardamine matthiola
- Cardamine maxima - Large Toothwort
- Cardamine micranthera - Small-anthered Bittercress, Streambank Bittercress
- Cardamine microphylla - Small-leaf Bittercress
- Cardamine montelucii
- Cardamine nuttallii - Nuttall's Toothwort
- Cardamine nymanii - Lady Smock
- Cardamine obliqua
- Cardamine occidentalis - Big Western Bittercress
- Cardamine oligosperma - Idaho Bittercress, Little Western Bittercress, Annual Bittercress
- Cardamine pachystigma - Serpentine Bittercress
- Cardamine palustris
- Cardamine parviflora - Sand Bittercress, Small-flowered Bittercress
- Cardamine pattersonii - Saddle Mountain Bittercress
Cardamine pratensis from Thomé : Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz 1885 - Cardamine paucijuga
- Cardamine penduliflora - Willamette Valley Bittercress
- Cardamine pensylvanica - Pennsylvania Bittercress, Quaker Bittercress
- Cardamine pentaphyllos
- Cardamine pratensis - Cuckoo Flower, Ladies Smock, Lady's Smock, Meadow Cress
- Cardamine pulcherrima
- Cardamine purpurascens
- Cardamine purpurea - Purple Bittercress
- Cardamine regeliana - Japanese Bittercress
- Cardamine residifolia
- Cardamine raphanifolia
- Cardamine rotundifolia - American Bittercress, American watercress, Mountain Watercress
- Cardamine rupicola - Cliff Bittercress
- Cardamine seidlitziana
- Cardamine tenera
- Cardamine trichocarpa
- Cardamine trifoliata
- Cardamine uliginosa
- Hybrids
- Cardamine × anomala - Anomalous Bittercress
- Cardamine × incisa - Incised Bittercress
References
- Eugene N. Kozloff, Plants and Animals of the Pacific Northwest (Seattle: University of Washington, 1978), p. 124
- Taxonomic Revision of Cardamine
- LIHOVÁ J. & MARHOLD K. (2003). "Taxonomy and distribution of the Cardamine pratensis group (Brassicaceae) in Slovenia". Phyton (Horn) 43: 241–261.
- LIHOVÁ J., MARHOLD K. & NEUFFER B. (2000). "Taxonomy of Cardamine amara in the Iberian Peninsula". Taxon 49: 747–763. doi:.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; from the article "Cardamine". Image Credit.
