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Cardamine is a large genus of flowering plants in the mustard family, Brassicaceae, known as bittercresses and toothworts. It contains more than 200 species of annuals and perennials.[1] Species in this genus can be found in diverse habitats worldwide, except the Antarctic.[1] The name Cardamine is derived from the Greek kardaminē, water cress, from kardamon, pepper grass.[2]
The leaves can have different forms, from minute to medium in size. They can be simple, 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.[clarification needed]
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.[citation needed]
Cardamine pratensis from Thomé: Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz 1885
Certain members of the genus, particularly Cardamine diphylla and Cardamine angustata, and to a lesser extent Cardamine concatenata, are also used as one of the main food sources for the butterfly Pieris oleracea.[5][page needed]
Cardamine concatenata
Cardamine nuttallii
Cardamine pattersonii
Cardamine trifolia
