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 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, with narrow tips. They are rosulate. The blade margins can be entire, serrate or dentate. The stem internodes lack firmness.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.
Taxonomy
The genus Cardamine was first formally named in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum., 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
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.''Uses
The roots of most species are edible raw.Some species were reputed to have medicinal qualities.