Wavy Bitter-cress - Cardamine flexuosa

Description

Similar to Hairy Bitter-cress but the stems are likely to be hairy, at least in the lower half, and are quite often branched and wavy (flexuous). Flowers are white with 6 stamens (Hairy Bitter-cress has four stamens). The seed pods don't usually extend beyond the flowers, unlike Hairy Bitter-cress.

Similar Species

Hairy Bitter-cress

Identification difficulty
ID checklist (your specimen should have all of these features)

Most open flowers with 6 stamens

Recording advice

General photo of plant in habitat, plus details of the flowers and stamens

Habitat

Damp and shaded habitats, ditches and areas that are subjected to Winter flooding.

When to see it

April to September.

Life History

Biennial or perennial.

UK Status

Common thoughout most of Britain.

VC55 Status

Quite common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 350 of the 617 tetrads.

In the current Checklist (Jeeves, 2011) it is listed as Native, 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
Wavy Bitter-cress
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Brassicales
Family:
Brassicaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
106
First record:
11/05/1992 (John Mousley;Steve Grover)
Last record:
12/04/2024 (Calow, Graham)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

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