TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL (1993) |
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©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
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Annual to subshrub
Leaves generally basal and cauline, alternate, generally simple; stipules 0
Inflorescence: generally raceme
Flower bisexual; sepals 4, free; petals (0)4, free, generally white or yellow, often clawed; stamens generally (2,4)6, generally 4 long, 2 short; ovary 1, superior, chambers generally 2, septum membranous, connecting 2 parietal placentas, style 1, stigma simple or 2-lobed
Fruit: generally capsule ("silique") with 2 deciduous valves, sometimes breaking transversely or indehiscent
Seeds 1many per chamber
Genera in family: 300+ genera, 3000+ species: worldwide, especially cool regions; some cultivated for food (especially Brassica, Raphanus ) and ornamental
Recent taxonomic note: Recently treated to include Capparaceae [Rodman et al. 1993 Ann Missouri Bot Gard 80:686699; Rollins 1993 Cruciferae of Continental North America. Stanford Univ Press]
Family description, key to genera by Robert A. Price.CARDAMINE
BITTER-CRESS, TOOTHWORT
Annual, biennial, perennial herb, from taproots, fibrous roots, or tuber-like rhizomes; hairs 0 or simple
Leaves entire or palmately or pinnately lobed to compound; rhizome leaves often present, separate from others
Inflorescence bracted or not
Flower: sepals equal at base; petals white to pink or rose
Fruit linear, generally flat; valves generally opening elastically, sometimes by coiling from base; septum margins intruding on valves
Seeds many, 1 row per chamber, wingless (± margined in C. oligosperma); embryonic root at edges of both cotyledons
Species in genus: ± 170 species: most temp parts of world
Etymology: (Greek: for a cress with medicinal uses)
Native C. pensylvanica Willd.
Biennial; roots fibrous
Stems erect or decumbent, 1few, generally branched, 1070 cm; hairs few or generally 0 toward base
Leaves 1-pinnate, generally glabrous; basal 0few, not rosetted; basal, lower cauline leaflets 511, widely elliptic to obovate, lateral < terminal
Flower: petals 24 mm, white
Fruit ± erect, 2030 mm, ± 1 mm wide; pedicel ascending, 510 mm, slender, glabrous; style ± 1 mm
Seed ± 1 mm; wing 0
Chromosomes: 2n=32
Ecology: Muddy streambanks, seepages
Elevation: 7501900 m.
Bioregional distribution: Cascade Range, n Sierra Nevada Foothills
Distribution outside California: to Canada, se US
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