''Cardamine concatenata'', the cutleaved toothwort, crow's toes, pepper root or purple-flowered toothwort, is a flowering plant in

Brassicaceae Brassicaceae () or (the older) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, while some are shrubs. The le ...

. It owes its name to the tooth-like appearance of its

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

. It is a perennial woodland

wildflower A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant probably is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is in any way different from the w ...

native to eastern

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. It is considered a spring ephemeral and blooms in March, April, and/or May.

Description

The vegetative parts of this plant, which can reach 20–40 cm, arise from a segmented

. The leaves are on long petioles, deeply and palmately dissected into five segments with large "teeth" on the margins. The white to pinkish

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s are held above the foliage in a spike.

Fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

is an elongated pod which can be up to 4 cm long. Its native habitats include rich woods, wooded bottomlands, limestone outcrops, and rocky banks and bluffs.

Uses

The roots can be washed, chopped and ground in vinegar to be used as a

horseradish Horseradish (''Armoracia rusticana'', syn. ''Cochlearia armoracia'') is a perennial plant of the family Brassicaceae (which also includes mustard, wasabi, broccoli, cabbage, and radish). It is a root vegetable, cultivated and used worldwide ...

substitute.

References

External links

Flora of North America: ''Cardamine concatenata''
concatenata Ephemeral plants Flora of North America Plants described in 1803 {{Brassicales-stub