Nearctica - Eastern Wildflowers - Brassicaceae - Mountain Watercress (Cardamine rotundifolia)

Mountain Watercress

(Cardamine rotundifolia)

Color Photograph: Copyright Nearctica.com, Inc.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

Cardamine bulbosa

Mountain Cress might be mistaken for Spring Cress. Spring Cress, however lacks the pair of small lobes on the petiole of the basal leaves.

Mountain Watercress (Cardamine rotundifolia)

Identification: Flowers white, in a terminal cluster. Seed pods elongate, pointed at the apex, but without a distinct beak. Basal leaves kidney-shaped, outer margins without teeth, and each leaf on a long leaf petiole. Leaf petiole of basal leaves with a of small, lateral lobes. Middle leaves sessile to the stem and only weakly toothed. Plant 8 to 18 inches in height.

Distribution: Ohio to Pennsylvania and New Jersey in the east, southward to Missouri, Kentucky, and Georgia.

Habitat: Mountain Cress is found along cold springs, brooks, and wet forested spots.

Mountain Watercress (Cardamine rotundifolia)

Similar Species:

Spring Cress (Cardamine bulbosa)

Similar Species