The common name of cardamine flexuosa, wavy bittercress, refers to the zig-zag stems, rather than straight as in the otherwise very similar cardamine hirsuta. It also has flowers with six stamens instead of four.
Common name:
Wavy bittercress
Family:
Scientific name:
Cardamine flexuosa
Main flower color:
Range:
All across the UK
Height:
Up to 50 cm
Habitat:
Streambanks, woodland, damp grassland, disturbed ground
Flowers:
White, four-petalled, up to 4 mm in diameter, in terminal clusters at the top of the sparsely bristly stem, which is wavy rather than straight - adjacent sections between the leaf nodes are angled differently. The petals are about twice as long as the greenish-brown sepals. There are six stamens
Fruit:
Narrow cylinders, up to 25 mm long, ascending
Leaves:
Pinnately lobed, sparsely hairy. The shallowly toothed leaflets are round to oval lower down the stem, more ovate higher up
Season:
March to September
Rarity:
★★★★★
