Cardamine

Cardamine
Cardamine oligosperma
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Brassicales
Family: Brassicaceae
Tribe: Cardamineae
Genus: Cardamine
L.
Species

See list of Cardamine species

Synonyms
  • Dentaria Tourn. ex L.
  • Dracamine Nieuwl.
  • Ghinia Bubani
  • Heterocarpus Phil.
  • Iti Garn.-Jones & P.N.Johnson
  • Loxostemon Hook.f. & Thomson
  • Sphaerotorrhiza (O.E.Schulz) A.P.Khokhr.

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 in diverse habitats worldwide, except the Antarctic. The name Cardamine is derived from the Greek kardaminē, water cress, from kardamon, pepper grass.

Description

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]

Taxonomy

The genus Cardamine was first formally named in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum. As of August 2024, there are 264 accepted species in Kew's Plants of the World Online database.

The genus name Dentaria is a commonly used synonym for some species of Cardamine.

Species

Select species include:

Ecology

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.[page needed]

Uses

The roots of most species are edible raw.

Some species were reputed to have medicinal qualities (treatment of heart or stomach ailments).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Cardamine L." Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanical Gardens Kew. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  2. ↑ "Definition of CARDAMINE". Merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
  3. ↑ "Cardamine L." ipni.org. International Plant Names Index. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  4. ↑ English Names for Korean Native Plants (PDF). Pocheon: Korea National Arboretum. 2015. p. 387. ISBN 978-89-97450-98-5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2016 – via Korea Forest Service.
  5. ↑ Davis, Samantha L. (17 May 2015). Evaluating Threats to the Rare Butterfly, Pieris Virginiensis (PDF) (PhD thesis). Wright State University. pp. 24, 27, 43. S2CID 89373310. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  6. ↑ Angier, Bradford (1974). Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books. p. 226. ISBN 0-8117-0616-8. OCLC 799792.

Bibliography