''Cardamine hirsuta'', commonly called hairy bittercress, is an annual or biennial species of plant in the family

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 leav ...

, and is edible as a salad green. It is common in moist areas around the world.

Description

Depending on the climate ''C. hirsuta'' may complete two generations in a year, one in the spring and one in the fall; also depending on the climate, the seeds may

germinate Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, fer ...

in the fall and the plants may remain green throughout the winter before flowering in the spring. It often grows a rosette of leaves at the base of the stem, while there may be leaves on the upright stem, most of the leaves will be part of the basal rosette. The leaves in this rosette are pinnately divided into 8–15 leaflets which have short stems connecting them to the petiole. These basal leaves are often 3.5–15 cm long. The leaflets are round to ovate in shape and may have smooth or dentate edges. The leaflet at the tip of the leaf (terminal leaflet) will be larger than the other leaflets and round to reniform in shape. The cauline (attached to the upright stem) leaves are also pinnately divided, with fewer leaflets, and generally smaller than the basal leaves; these leaves will be borne on a petiole and are 1.2–5.5 cm long. The stems, petioles, and upper surfaces of the cauline leaves are sparsely hairy. Cardamine hirsuta6pl

Plants of this species are usually erect and grow to no more than about from a stem which is either unbranched or branched near the base. The small white flowers are borne in a raceme without any bracts, soon followed by the

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s and often continuing to flower as the first seeds ripen. The flowers have (4) white petals (which may be lacking but are mostly present) which are 1.5–4.5 mm long and

spatulate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular ...

shaped. The flowers also have (4) stamens of equal height instead of the 6 which are found in most closely related plants. Pollens are elongated, approximately 32 microns in length. Below the flowers there are 4

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coine ...

s which are oblong shaped and 1.5–2.5 mm long and .3–.7 mm wide. The seeds are borne in upright pointing siliquae which are straight and 1.5–2.5 cm long and 1–1.4mm in diameter. When the fruit is ripe the valves on the siliquae will coil tightly from the bottom to the top after being touched and burst explosively, sending the seeds flying far from the parent plant. This seed dispersal strategy is referred to as

ballochory In Spermatophyte plants, seed dispersal is the movement, spread or transport of seeds away from the parent plant. Plants have limited mobility and rely upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their seeds, including both abiotic vectors, ...

and is a type of

rapid plant movement Rapid plant movement encompasses movement in plant structures occurring over a very short period, usually under one second. For example, the Venus flytrap closes its trap in about 100 milliseconds. The traps of Utricularia are much faster, closin ...

Hairy bittercress is very similar to ''

Cardamine flexuosa inflorescence ''Cardamine flexuosa'', commonly known as wavy bittercress or wood bitter-cress, is an herbaceous annual, biennial, or short-lived perennial plant in the cabbage family (Brassicaceae). Description This is a small flowering pla ...

''. Some differences are that the stems are hairless and the leaves do not clasp the stems, as in ''C.flexuosa''. It has only 4 stamens, ''C. flexuosa'' has 6 stamens, and the fruits overtop the flowers. In ''C. flexuosa'' the fruits do not overtop the younger flowers. The fruits grow in a thin pod arranged as a single row.

Habitat and distribution

It is commonly found in damp, recently disturbed soil, open ground, turf and wasteplaces and native to Europe as far east as the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

, and to

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

. These conditions are prevalent in nursery or garden centre plants, and hairy bittercress seeds may be introduced with those plants. Once established, it is difficult to eradicate. The tiny flowers are attractive to a few early butterflies, including (in the United States) spring azure (''

Celastrina ladon ''Celastrina ladon'', the spring azure or echo blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in North America from Alaska and Canada south of the tundra, through most of the United States except the Texas coast, southern plain and ...

'') and falcate orange-tip (''

Anthocharis midea ''Anthocharis midea'', the falcate orangetip, is a North American butterfly that was described in 1809 by Jacob Hübner. It belongs to the family Pieridae, which is the white and sulphurs. These butterflies are mostly seen in the eastern Unit ...

''). It is native to Eurasia but has been introduced in many countries across the world. Its range includes but is not limited to: Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Gabon, Great Britain, India, Japan, Laos, Madagascar, Mexico, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkmenistan, United States, Venezuela, and Vietnam. The 1889 book 'The Useful Native Plants of Australia' records that it was also called "Lady's Smock" and that "This and other species afford excellent pot-herbs when luxuriant and flaccid. The present one is a common weed almost throughout the world."

Etymology and naming

*Binomial etymology **''Cardamine'' is

Dioscorides Pedanius Dioscorides ( grc-gre, Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης, ; 40–90 AD), “the father of pharmacognosy”, was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of '' De materia medica'' (, On Medical Material) —a 5-vo ...

' name for cress. It is derived from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

.Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). pp 91, 201 **''Hirsuta'' means "hairy" or "hirsute". *Common names **Other common or country names include lamb's cress, land cress, hoary bitter cress, spring cress, flick weed, and shot weed (or lambscress, landcress, hoary bittercress, springcress, flickweed, and shotweed). Some of these common names may be shared with other plants in the family

and are therefore of limited usefulness since they may be shared. As

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

''stune'', the plant is cited as one of the herbs invoked in the pagan Anglo-Saxon ''

Nine Herbs Charm The "Nine Herbs Charm" is an Old English charm recorded in the tenth-century CEGordon (1962:92–93). Anglo-Saxon medical compilation known as ''Lacnunga'', which survives on the manuscript, Harley MS 585, in the British Library, at London.Macleo ...

'', recorded in the 10th century.

Uses

The leaves are edible raw and other tender parts of the plant can be cooked.

References

External links

* *http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.php?Genus=Cardamine&Species=hirsuta {{Taxonbar, from=Q157926 hirsuta Edible plants Palearctic flora Flora of Europe Flora of Asia Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus