Cardamine Bitter-Cress

Family: Brassicaceae- Mustard Family [E-flora4]

Cardamine bellidifolia Atlas Alpenflora [1]
Cardamine bellidifolia 		Cardamine flexuosa kz1 [2]
Cardamine flexuosa 		hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) [3]
Cardamine hirsuta

Annual to perennial herb, from taproots, fibrous roots, or tuber-like rhizomes; hairs 0 or simple. Leaf: alternate, opposite, or whorled; entire to palmately, pinnately lobed, or compound; cauline leaves petioled or 0, not lobed at base [lobed]. Inflorescence: elongated, bracts generally 0. Flower: sepals erect (spreading), bases sac-like or not; petals white, pink, purple, or violet. Fruit: silique, linear, flat parallel to septum, dehiscent, unsegmented; valves generally coiling when dehiscent; placental margins flattened. Seed: (4)10–80, in 1 row, wingless.
± 200 species: temperate, worldwide. (Greek: for cress) Some North American species (e.g., Cardamine californica, Cardamine nuttallii, Cardamine pachystigma) highly variable, more study needed; species treated conservatively here. Cardamine flexuosa With. a waif in gardens, nurseries.

Unabridged note: Some North American species (e.g., Cardamine californica, Cardamine nuttallii, Cardamine pachystigma) highly variable and numerous minor variants were recognized as varieties. C ritical studies of these complexes reveal that only a fraction of the overall continuous variation was formally recognized. Without detailed molecular and cytological studies, a broader sp. concept is adopted herein. [Jepson2012]

"A genus of about 200 species, herbs, cosmopolitan. Dentaria should apparently be included (Sweeney & Price 2000)." [Weakley FSMAS]

Local Species;

  1. Cardamine angulata - angled bitter-cress [E-flora][PCBC]
  2. Cardamine bellidifolia - alpine bitter-cress [E-flora][PCBC]
    • var. bellidifolia
  3. Cardamine breweri - Brewer's bitter-cress [E-flora][PCBC]
    • var. orbicularis
  4. Cardamine corymbosa - New Zealand bittercress [E-flora]
  5. Cardamine flexuosa - Wood bittercress [E-flora]
  6. Cardamine hirsuta - hairy bitter-cress [E-flora]
  7. Cardamine nuttallii - Slender toothwort [E-flora][PCBC][TSFTK]
  8. Cardamine occidentalis - Western Bitter-cress [E-flora][PCBC]
  9. Cardamine occulta - wood bitter-cress [E-flora]
  10. Cardamine oligosperma - little western bitter-cress [E-flora][PCBC]
  11. Cardamine parviflora - small-flowered bitter-cress [E-flora]
    • var. arenicola
  12. Cardamine pensylvanica - Pennsylvanian bitter-cress [E-flora][PCBC]
  13. Cardamine pratensis - Cuckoo-flower [E-flora][PCBC]
  14. Cardamine umbellata - umbel bitter-cress [E-flora][PCBC]

Cardamine angulata - Angled Bitter-Cress

This is a Blue-Listed species in B.C. [E-flora]

Habitat / Range

Medicinal Use

"The Haida people used the roots of C. angulata mixed with ‘water lily medicine’ (Nuphar lufea ssp. polysepala) in a poultice for sores (Turner, person- al communication)." [Mccutcheon.,1995]

Activities

"Cardamine angulata, Conocephalum conicum, and Polypodium glycyrrhiza had anti-HSV-1 activity [20]."[ModPhyt] "Caruizmiw angdata Hook. (Cruciferae) Common name: Bitter Cress. Root extract showed activity against bovine herpesvirus type 1." [Mccutcheon.,1995]

"This plant extract only exhibited very slight antibacterial and antifungal activity in previous screenings, although N. lutea ssp. polysepala, the plant that it was compounded with, had very strong antimicrobial activity (McCutcheon et al., 1993; 1994). No other reports of pharmacological activity nor reports on the chemical constituents of this plant were found in the literature." [Mccutcheon.,1995]

Cardamine bellidifolia - Alpine bitter-cress

Subtaxa Present in B.C.
Cardamine bellidifolia var. bellidifolia [E-flora4]

Cardamine breweri - Brewer's bitter-cress

Two varieties occur in BC:

Cardamine corymbosa - New Zealand bittercress

Origin Status: Exotic [E-flora]

Cardamine flexuosa - Wood bittercress

Origin Status: Exotic [E-flora]

Food Use

C. flexuosa & C. hirsuta: "Leaves/shoots All parts peppery and spice up salads. Also used like watercress in soups." [Crawford FFFG]

Medicinal Use

Stems used to treat toothache [Pullaiah EOI]

Cardamine hirsuta - Hairy Bitter-cress

Food Use

Leaves & Flowers: "Leaves and flowers eaten raw or cooked, mainly used as a garnish or flavouring in salads etc., but are also sometimes used as a potherb" [EMNMPV.7]

C. flexuosa & C. hirsuta: "Leaves/shoots All parts peppery and spice up salads. Also used like watercress in soups." [Crawford FFFG]

Medicinal Use

Cardamine hirsuta L. - "Shoot: Extract taken to low blood pressure and in cardiac problems (Darjeeling: [74]; Sikkim: [75])." [Uprety et al.,2016]

Other information

Seed "Oil, % on dry wt: 25", "Mass of 1,000, g: 0.1"[LLCEOPS]

Cardamine nuttallii - Slender toothwort

Origin Status: Native [E-flora]

Ecological Indicator Information

"A shade-tolerant, submontane to montane, Pacific North American forb; ecologically comparable to C. breweri. Occurs in maritime to hypermaritime cool mesothermal climates on very moist to wet, nitrogen-rich soils; its occurrence decreases with increasing elevation and continentality. Sporadic in closed-canopy forests on water-receiving sites; occasional in depressions on water-collecting sites with groundwater table at the ground surface. A nitrophytic species characteristic of Moder or Mull humus forms." [IFBC-E-flora]

Synonyms
Cardamine pulcherrima Greene [ThePlantLIst.org] 2/3 Confidence, Accessed Feb 13, 2014. [E-flora]
Cardamine nuttallii var. nuttallii [E-flora]
Cardamine nuttallii var. pulcherrima (Greene) Taylor & MacBryde [E-flora]
Dentaria tenella Pursh [E-flora]
Dentaria tenella var. pulcherrima (Greene) Detling [E-flora]

Cardamine occidentalis - Western Bitter-Cress

Synonyms Cardamine pratensis var. occidentalis S. Watson ex B.L. Rob. [E-flora3]

Cardamine occulta - wood bitter-cress

Status: Exotic [E-flora-1]

Cardamine Oligosperma - Few-seeded Bitter-cress

Notes:
Two rather weak varieties occur in BC.
1. Racemes more or less umbel-like, the central axis 1-2 cm long; plants of the upper montane to alpine zones...................... var. kamtschatica (Regel) Detling
1. Racemes more elongate, the central axis greater than 3 cm long; plants of the lowland and lower montane zones............................ var. oligosperma [IFBC-E-flora]

Habitat / Range: Wet to mesic streamsides, ditches, waste places, roadsides, meadows, gravelly slopes and open woods in the lowland to alpine zones; var. oligosperma - common in S BC, less frequent northward, var. kamtschatica - frequent in coastal and N BC; var. oligosperma - S to MT and CA, var. kamtschatica - amphiberingian, N to AK, YT and NT, E to AB and S to OR; E. Asia. [IFBC-E-flora]

Edible Uses

Medicinal Uses

Synonyms
Cardamine oligosperma sensu lato [E-flora]
Cardamine oligosperma var. oligosperma Nutt. [E-flora]

Cardamine parviflora - Small-flowered bitter-cress

Habitat/Range: "Dry sandy or rocky places in the lowland and montane zones; rare, scattered throughout BC; circumpolar, N to NT, E to NF, S to TX, FL and OR; Eurasia." [IFBC-E-flora-5]

Cardamine pensylvanica - Pennsylvanian bitter-cress

Habitat / Range: Moist streamsides, ditches, open woods and waste places in the lowland and montane zones; frequent throughout BC; E to NF and S to TX, FL and N CA. [IFBC-E-flora]

Edible Uses

Medicinal Uses

Leaves & Flowering Plant: Carminative and digestive[172]. [PFAF]

Synonyms

Cardamine pratensis - Cuckooflower

Other Names: Lady's-smock [Wildman]

Subtaxa Present in B.C.

Status: Exotic [IFBC-E-flora]

"Cuckooflower or lady's-smock (Cardamine pratensis) is a perennial, hairless, erect mustard, growing from 8 to 20 inches tall. Its distinctive, fernlike, feather-compound leaves consist of three to seven paired leaflets, and one terminal leaflet. Basal leaflets are rounder, while upper leaflets are more narrow. The pink flowers are typical of mustards. They bloom in spring; then the plant disappears, so you have to collect early. Look for it in moist places, such as swamps, springs, wet meadows, and wet woods, throughout the northern half of North America." [Wildman]

Edible Uses

One of the best-tasting plants of the genus. [Schofield] Its peppery taste makes it a favorite of everyone who tries it. Use it raw or cooked. [Wildman] "Lady’s smock, Cardamine pratensis L., was used in soup in the Faroes." [Svanberg,2012]

Medicinal Uses

"Wild plant taxa, traded by a small southern-Swedish foraging enterprise, which is also the main provider of wild food plants at the restaurant NOMA, in Copenhagen (Data from Łuczaj et al. 2012)" - Cardamine pratensis L. - Aerial parts [Tardio MWEP]

"The young leaves have proved a useful anti-scorbutic in their time. Hill. 1754 thought the juice of the fresh leaves “an excellent diuretic, and … good for the gravel”. They have been used for hysteria, and epilepsy, too (Hulme). Thornton rather ambitiously reported that “St Vitus’s dance … has yielded to these flowers…” In Russian folk medicine, it is sometimes combined with an infusion of haws for angina pectoris remedies (Kourennoff), but it is the haws that is the important element in this case. In the Highlands, it was reckoned good for reducing fevers (Beith)." [DPL Watts] "Claims by physicians that the flowering tops have powerful anti-spasmodic properties which are helpful in cases of hysteria, epilepsy and St Vitus’ dance appear in the learned medical literature from the time of John Ray onwards, but evidence that this was also (and maybe originally) a folk remedy seems to be limited to the Highlands150"[MPFT]

"Its bitterish and slightly pungent leaves are supposed to be antiscorbutic. The seeds are said to contain myronic acid, and to yield on decomposition by hydrolysis an oil analogous to oil of mustard. Feist investigated C. amara L. and its volatile oil and found thio-urea. Kuntze states that two kinds of crystals were isolated, both being forms of thio-urea. (A. Pharm., 1907, 657.)"[Remington USD20]

"A mixture of [Viscum] album and Cardamine pratensis is applied for nervous afflictions [8]." [MBI Volume III]

"Aerial Part Mustard oil Content, %: 0.0014–0.03 [1, 2] Composition: Butylmustard oil [2] Seed Oil, % on dry wt: 20–22 [1]"[LLCEOPS]

Flavonoids - Kaempferol-3,7-O-diglucoside - "Biological sources: Cardamine pratensis [1], Vicia sepium [2]" [Azimova NC]

Cardamine Umbellata - Umbel bitter-cress

Status: Native. [E-flora-2]

Food Use: Another common and tasty species. [Schofield]

Synonyms: Cardamine oligosperma var. kamtschatica (Regel) Detling [E-flora]

Uses of Cardamine Sp.

Edible Uses

There are more than one hundred Cardamine species worldwide. Though some taste better than others, I know of no species that are harmful. [Schofield] "Hedrick (1919) listed eight species of Cardamine used from the Straits of Magellen to New Caledonia, so the comment by Fernald et al. (1958) that species, other than the two they listed, “doubtless have similar qualities,” is surely correct. Most who comment on the genus suggest that it has “just the taste of the English water-cress” (Hedrick 1919). The comparison in the name to “cress” records that long-standing impression" [Daniel F. Austin]

Mustard leaves can be juiced with milder greens like chickweed Stellaria media or sweet fruits like rose hips Rosa species for a vitamin-crammed drink. When pickling salmon, try adding mustard pods and glasswort Salicornia sp. to the brined fish. [Schofield]

Leaves 

Leaves of young bitter cress add zest to salads, quiches, sandwich fillings, soups, and casseroles. Spring to early summer.[Schofield] "These plants are good raw in salads or better cooked in various ways, depending on the cook's imagination and ability. Some are better than others, C. pensylvanica being one of the best" [Kirk WEP]

Medicinal Uses

Mustards, in general, are often recommended to those plagued by indigestion or lack of appetite. [Schofield]

Seeds 

Cardamine seeds are often eaten in India after meals to stimulate digestion. They also are carminative, promoting release of excess gas. Late summer. [Schofield]

Cultivation

Besides nibbling from the wild, you can plant Cardamine and other wild mustards in your garden. Bitter cress does well in rich, moist loam in damp areas at the perimeter of bogs and garden ponds. [Schofield]

"Increased development of plant defense chemicals in leaves can be induced by the presence of leaf-pathogenic fungi. This increased concentration of polyphenols causes a significant reduction in the decomposition of plant litters (Whitham and Schweitzer, 2002). The higher content of these chemicals reduces the colonization of litter by saprotrophic and mycorrhizal fungi. Koide et al. (1998a,b) demonstrated a significant reduction in the growth of ectomycorrhizal fungi as a result of the effects of high concentrations of polyphenols. This effect could be considered analogous to an allelopathic effect if the reduction in mycorrhizal colonization of a host plant led to a reduction in the host plant’s fitness. Molofsky et al. (2000), however, contest that the survival and fitness of the annual plant Cardamine pensylvanica is related to leaf litter mass and persistence rather than litter quality. It is thus possible that the controls exerted by leaf litters are different for annual and perennial plants."[Dighton FEP]

Use of Non-Local Species

"The other cresses eaten by colonists (R. dictyosperma, Cardamine gunnii, C. tenuifolia) have tiny white flowers with four petals, fylindrical seed pods, and slender delicate leaves of varying shape. They grow in south-eastern Australia in damp forests or near streams." [Low WFP]

"Goyang is an ethnic fermented wild plant food, generally prepared by the Sherpa women of high mountains in the Himalayan regions of India and Nepal (Tamang and Tamang 2007). The leaves of the wild edible plant (Cardamine macrophylla Willd), are collected, washed and cut into pieces, squeezed to drain off excess water, and tightly pressed into bamboo baskets lined with two to three layers of leaves from fg plants. The top of the baskets are then covered with fg plant leaves, and fermented naturally at room temperature for 25 to 30 days. Freshly fermented goyang is transferred into an airtight container which can be stored for 2 to 3 months. The shelf life of goyang can be prolonged by making the freshly fermented goyang into balls that are sun-dried for 2 to 3 days before being stored for several months. Goyang is eaten as a soup. Lb. plantarum, Lb. brevis, Lactococcus lactis, Enterococcus faecium, P. pentosaceus, and yeasts from Candida spp. have been isolated from goyang (Tamang and Tamang 2007). " [Hui HPBFFBT] "Goyang is boiled in a soup along with yak or beef meat and noodles to make a thick thukpa, a common staple food of the Sherpa."[Tamang FFBW] "Goyang is an ethnic fermented, slightly acidic vegetable food of the Sherpa of Sikkim and Nepal (Figure 2.7). It is prepared during rainy season, when the leaves of the wild plant, locally called magane-saag (Cardamine macrophylla Willd.), belonging to the family Brassicaceae, are in plentiful supply in the hills of Nepal and Sikkim." [Tamang HFF]

Food Use

Medicinal Use

Cardamine bonariensis Pers. - Circulatory system - Plant without root - Therapeutic administration = Oral. sold in 33 traditional markets at Loja province, Southern Ecuador [Tinitana et al.,2016]

Other Uses

"Detailed investigation of the plants of temperate-zone serpentine soils has led to the discovery of Ni hyperaccumulation in a total of about 35 further species in the Brassicaceae. They occur in the genera Cardamine in Italy [22];" [R.D.REEVES]

Cardamine resedifolia - known to hyperaccumulate heavy metals and metalloids [Phytorem1]

Cardamine amara

"Europe and northern Asia. Lightfoot says the young leaves are acrid and bitter but do not taste amiss in salads. Johnson says the leaves are often employed by country people in salads, their caste, although pungent and bitter, is not unpleasant." [Sturtevant EPW]

Cardamine amara; diuretic; depurative, spasms, tumor [CRC Eth] "Several plants were used in soup or salads, for instance Glechoma hederaceum, Veronica beccabunga L., Ranunculus ficaria L., Cardamine amara L., Portulaca sativa L. and Taraxacum." [Svanberg EE]

Cardamine diphylla (Michx.) - Wood two-leaved toothwort

"Cardamine diphylla (Michaux) A. Wood, Crinkleroot, Toothwort. Mt (GA, NC, VA, WV), Pd (DE, NC): rich, mesic forests; common (rare in DE). April-May; May-June. NB west to MN, south to n. GA, SC, and AL. [= RAB, C, K, X, Y, Z; = Dentaria diphylla Michaux – F, G, W; > Dentaria diphylla – S; > Dentaria incisa Small – S] " [Weakley FSMAS]

"The underground stems, leaves, and flowers contain mustard oils, spicy, pungent, and somewhat bitter substances belonging to a class of carbohydrates called glucosinolates. These aromatic compounds are released by mechanical breakdown of the tissue (e.g., chopping, chewing) and action of the enzyme thioglucosidase. In moderate amounts, the underground stems, leaves, and flowers make great additions to salads and can be used as condiments (their flavor is reminiscent of Amoracia rusticana—horse-radish). In large quantities the mustard oils are reported to be irritating to the gastrointestinal tract." [Haines AP]

"Because of the pungent mustard oils contained in the plant (especially within the underground stem), Cardamine diphylla is an expectorant when ingested. Applied externally as a poultice, the rhizome can be used as a rubefacient. Because the glucosinolates contained within the plant tissue are sulphur-containing compounds, Cardamine diphylla shows some antimicrobial action. The leaves are high in vitamin C and, therefore, are antiscorbutic (i.e., preventing scurvy)." [Haines AP]

Cardamine impatiens

"Cardamine impatiens Linnaeus, Narrowleaf Bittercress. Mt (NC, VA, WV), Pd (DE, NC), Cp (DE): alluvial floodplains (in the New River drainage in NC and VA); common (rare in NC and VA), native of Europe. June-July." [Weakley FSMAS]

Food Use

Cardamine impatiens L. - Shoots,leaves: "Young shoots including leaves and flower eaten as salad". [Pullaiah EOI]

"Relevant literature studies show that high levels of vitamin C, minerals, fibers and protein have been reported in Cardamine macrophylla [48–52]. Also, low concentration of heavy metal has been found in this wild edible species. As its affinity, C. tangutorum, theoretically also had abundant nutrient components." [Geng et al.,2016]

Medicinal Use

Cardamine impatiens L. - Whole plant - Nervous disease, for vigor [Pullaiah EOI]

Cardamine macrophylla

Food Use

"In our previous papers [26,27] from northern Qinling we noted that local people seem to value forest wild greens over the ruderal taxa. This is even more visible in this part of the Qinling, where the gathering efforts are nearly exclusively oriented towards forest greens. Local people venture six km hikes up steep slopes in order to collect ferns, marsh marigolds Caltha palustris and bittercress Cardamine macrophylla, and do not bother to collect annual wild greens growing around their homesteads!"[Kang et al.,2014]

Medicinal Use

Cardamine macrophylla Willd. - Whole plant - Asthma, diuretic, fever, tumor, wormicide [Pullaiah EOI]

References

Image References