MUSTARD FAMILY 



may be distinguished from the Dentarias, with which 

 it is usually found, chiefly by its leafy stem and the 

 varying forms of its leaves, which may be lanceolate, 

 rhomboid, or ovate, but simple, not compound. The 

 leaves of the Dentarias as well as the introduced Car- 

 ddmine pratensis are compound. 



CUCKOO-FLOWER. MEADOW BITTER CRESS 



Carddmine pratensis 



Perennial. In low rich land. Naturalized from Eu- 

 rope. Labrador to New Jersey, west to British Columbia 

 and Minnesota. Probably not in northern Ohio. April, 

 May. 



Roots. — Fibrous. 



Stems. — Slender and smooth, eight to twenty inches 

 high. 



Leaves. — Pinnately divided; divisions three to seven 

 pairs and an odd one. 



Flowers. — White or rose-color, crucifers, half an inch 

 long, in a loose raceme. 



Pods. Linear, straight. 



Pollinated by bees, flies, butterflies. Nectar-bearing. 



"When daisies pied and violets blue 

 And Lady-Smocks all silver white, 

 And Cuckoo buds of yellow hue 

 Do paint the meadows with dehght." 



— "Love's Labor's Lost," Shakespeare. 



Carddmine pratensis is our naturalized Bitter Cress, 

 the Lady-Smock of Shakespeare. It came by way of 

 the Atlantic seaports, in ballast or seed-grain, and seems 



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