Hairy Bitter-cress - Cardamine hirsuta
About 10 to 20cm in height branched only at the base, with a basal rosette of pinnate leaves, hairy on top. The stems are straight and hairless. The flowers are white 3 to 4 mm with 4 stamens. The pods overtop the flowers.
Cardamine flexuosa
Most open flowers with 4 stamens, sometimes 5
General photo of plant in habitat, plus details of the flowers
Bare open ground, cultivated land, rocky places and even walls.
February to November.
Annual.
Common throughout most of Britain.
Quite common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 269 of the 617 tetrads.
In the current Checklist (Jeeves, 2011) it is listed as Native, locally frequent
 Calver Cottages wall Sapcote SP 4908 9317 (taken 20.3.2006)..JPG)
Graham Calow
Sapcote
20 March 2006 31 Harecroft Crescent Sapcote SP 4900 9371 (taken 16.3.2009).JPG)
Graham Calow
Sapcote garden1
16 March 2009
flowers with 4 stamens
Mike Higgott
County Hall
14 March 2017
Steve Mathers
Holwell Brown's Hill Quarry
24 April 2017
Andy's Rutland
Empingham garden
13 March 2020
Saharima Roenisch
Highway Road
11 March 2017
 Calver Cottages wall Sapcote SP 4908 9317 (taken 20.3.2006)..JPG)
 31 Harecroft Crescent Sapcote SP 4900 9371 (taken 16.3.2009).JPG)
Leicestershire & Rutland Map
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Species profile
- Common names
- Hairy Bitter-cress
- Species group:
- Wildflowers
- Kingdom:
- Plantae
- Order:
- Brassicales
- Family:
- Brassicaceae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 134
- First record:
- 20/03/2006 (Calow, Graham)
- Last record:
- 27/02/2025 (Pugh, Dylan)
Total records by month
% of records within its species group
10km squares with records
The latest images and records displayed below include those awaiting verification checks so we cannot guarantee that every identification is correct. Once accepted, the record displays a green tick.
In the Latest Records section, click on the header to sort A-Z, and again to sort Z-A. Use the header boxes to filter the list.
Latest images
Latest records
Andy's Rutland
Empingham garden
13 March 2020
Steve Mathers
Swithland Reservoir Dam
06 February 2017
Mike Higgott
Anstey garden
25 March 2017
David Nicholls
Barrow Upon Soar
15 July 2011
Mike Higgott
Anstey garden
11 March 2017
Graham Calow
Broughton Road, Cosby
05 February 2016
Saharima Roenisch
Abbey Park
22 March 2017
