Cardamine pratensis L. var. palustris Wimm. & Graebn.

Locations ofCardamine pratensis L. var. palustris Wimm. & Graebn. in Virginia

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Detail

Family
Brassicaceae
Botanical Name
Cardamine pratensis L. var. palustris Wimm. & Graebn.
Common Name
Cuckoo-flower
Synonym(s)
Cardamine pratensis L.; Cardamine dentata Schultes
Flora of Virginia Name/Status
Cardamine pratensis L. var. palustris Wimm. & Graebn.
Comments
As traditionally interpreted, Cardamine pratensis is a circumboreal species with representatives in Eurasia and northern North America. Eurasian plants have pink flowers and upper-stem leaves sessile to decurrent on the rachis, while North American plants have white flowers with upper-stem leaves petiolate. The two have been variously lumped (as by FNA), treated as vars. (as by Cronquist and Fernald), or treated as species (as by Haines and Flora of the Southeastern U.S.). The appropriate rank remains unresolved and in need of modern phylogenetic study. Virginia plants are all white-flowered natives, so the varietal designation seems like an appropriate compromise for now.
Habitat
Seepage swamps, alluvial and tidal swamps, and beaver wetlands. Rare in the central Coastal Plain (Lancaster, Middlesex, and Gloucester counties); disjunct to the nw. mountains (Frederick County).
Native Status
Native

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