Wavy Bittercress

Cardamine flexuosa

Please keep in mind that it is illegal to uproot a plant without the landowner's consent and care should be taken at all times not to damage wild plants. Wild plants should never be picked for pleasure and some plants are protected by law.
For more information please download the BSBI Code of Conduct PDF document.

Plant Data

Flowering Months:

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Order:

Brassicales

Family:

Brassicaceae (Cabbage)

Also in this family:

Alpine Pennycress, Alpine Rock-cress, American Wintercress, Annual Wall Rocket, Austrian Yellowcress, Awlwort, Bastard Cabbage, Black Mustard, Bristol Rock-cress, Charlock, Common Scurvygrass, Common Whitlowgrass, Coralroot, Creeping Yellowcress, Cuckooflower, Dame's-violet, Danish Scurvygrass, Dittander, Early Wintercress, Eastern Rocket, English Scurvygrass, Evergreen Candytuft, False London Rocket, Field Pennycress, Field Pepperwort, Flixweed, Garden Arabis, Garden Candytuft, Garden Cress, Garden Radish, Garlic Mustard, Glabrous Whitlowgrass, Gold of Pleasure, Great Yellowcress, Greater Cuckooflower, Greater Periwinkle, Greater Swinecress, Hairy Bittercress, Hairy Rock-cress, Hairy Rocket, Hairy Whitlowgrass, Hedge Mustard, Hoary Cress, Hoary Mustard, Hoary Stock, Hoary Whitlowgrass, Honesty, Horseradish, Hutchinsia, Hybrid Watercress, Intermediate Periwinkle, Isle of Man Cabbage, Large Bittercress, Lesser Swinecress, London Rocket, Lundy Cabbage, Marsh Yellowcress, Mountain Scurvygrass, Narrow-fruited Watercress, Narrow-leaved Bittercress, Narrow-leaved Pepperwort, Northern Rock-cress, Northern Yellowcress, Oilseed Rape, Perennial Rocket, Perennial Wall Rocket, Perfoliate Pennycress, Pinnate Coralroot, Purple Rock-cress, Pyrenean Scurvygrass, Rock Whitlowgrass, Russian Rocket, Scottish Scurvygrass, Sea Kale, Sea Radish, Sea Rocket, Sea Stock, Shepherd's Cress, Shepherd's Purse, Small-flowered Wintercress, Smith's Pepperwort, Steppe Cabbage, Swede, Sweet Alyssum, Tall Rocket, Thale Cress, Tower Mustard, Treacle Mustard, Trefoil Cress, Turnip, Wall Whitlowgrass, Wallflower, Wallflower Cabbage, Warty Cabbage, Watercress, White Mustard, Wild Cabbage, Wild Candytuft, Wild Radish, Wild Turnip, Wintercress, Woad, Yellow Whitlowgrass

Type:

Flower

Life Cycle:

Biennial

Maximum Size:

50 centimetres tall

Habitats:

Gardens, riverbanks, riversides, swamps, waterside, woodland.

Flower:

White, 4 petals

Tiny and forming clusters at the top. 4 white petals with 6 yellow stamens. Counting the number of stamens is perhaps the most reliable way to distinguish this flower from the almost identical Hairy Bittercress which has 4 yellow stamens.

Fruit:

Long, thin, cylindrical seed pods which usually are lower than the topmost flowers. This is useful to know when trying to distinguish this flower from Hairy Bittercress which has seed pods that normally overtop the flowers.

Leaves:

The basal rosette has alternate leaves. Stem leaves are compound with 3-6 pairs of leaflets and a terminal leaflet. Leaflets are wavy edged. The upright main stem upon which the leaves emerge from are likely to be zigzagged or wavy after which the plant is named.

Aroma:

The leaves are aromatic when bruised.

Other Names:

Common Bittercress, Flick Weed, Greater Bittercress, Wavy-leaved Bittercress, Wood Bittercress, Woodland Bittercress.

Frequency (UK):

Abundant

Similar Species:

Narrow-leaved Bittercress

Distribution Map

Reproduced by kind permission of the BSBI.

Click to open an Interactive Map