''Cardamine nuttallii'' is a species of

cardamine ''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. Species in this genus can be found worldwide, except the ...

known by the common name Nuttall's toothwort. It is native to western North America from

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, where it grows in moist mountain habitats.

Description

''Cardamine nuttallii'' is a perennial herb growing from a small, white rhizome. It produces a thin, unbranching stem under 20 centimeters tall. The leaves are smooth or lobed along the edges and sometimes divided into a few smaller leaflets. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

bears generally more than one pale purple, pink, or occasionally white flowers with petals each over a centimeter long. The fruit is a

silique A silique or siliqua (plural ''siliques'' or ''siliquae'') is a type of fruit (seed capsule) having two fused carpels with the length being more than three times the width. When the length is less than three times the width of the dried fruit i ...

up to 4 centimeters long.

Varieties

There are four varieties of this plant. The rare ''Cardamine nuttallii'' var. ''gemmata'' is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the ''Sequoia sempervirens'' redwood forests of northern California and southern

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment - ''Cardamine nuttallii''''Cardamine nuttallii'' - USDA Plants ProfilePhoto gallery: ''Cardamine nuttallii'' var. ''nuttallii''
nuttallii Flora of the West Coast of the United States Flora of British Columbia Flora of California Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Brassicales-stub