Cuckooflower - Cardamine pratensis

Alternative names
Lady's Smock and as Cuckoo Flower
Description

Medium height, hairless plant with erect stems. Basal leaves in a rosette, pinnate with a large end leaflet. Upper leaves with numerous narrow leaflets. Flowers pale lilac, rarely white 12 to 18 mm notched petals and yellow anthers.

Identification difficulty
Habitat

Damp pasture, marshes, stream and pond margins.

When to see it

April to June.

Life History

Perennial.

UK Status

Common throughout Britain.

VC55 Status

Common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 463 of the 617 tetrads.

In the current Checklist (Jeeves, 2011) it is listed as Native, locally frequent

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Lady's Smock, Cuckooflower, Cuckoo Flower, Milk-Maids
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Brassicales
Family:
Brassicaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
523
First record:
11/05/1992 (John Mousley;Steve Grover)
Last record:
23/04/2025 (Pugh, Dylan)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

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