Gardamine am'ara. Bitter Ladies-smock. 



CARDAMINE Lin. Gen. PL Tetradynamia Siliquosa. Siliqua elafKce difliliens, valvulis revo- 



lutis. Stigma integrum, Calyx fubhians. 



Rati Syn. Gen. 21. Herbm tetrapetalu siliquosa et siLicuLosiE. 



CARDAMINE amara foliis pinnatis axillis ftoloniferis. Lin. Syft. Vegetab. p. 497. p. 915. Fl. Suecic. n. 

 586. 



CARDAMINE foliis pinnatis, fubrotundis, angulofis. Halter, hifi. 474. 



CARDAMINE ftolonifera Scopoli, ic. 39 ? 



NASTURTIUM aquaticum majus et amarum. Baub. pin. 104. 



CARDAMINE flore majore elatior. Town. Injl. R. H. Rail Syn. 291. Bitter Creffes. 



Hud/on FL Angl. ed. 2. p. 294. Lightfioot Fl. Scot. p. 350. 



RADIX perennis, tenuis, albida, repens. | 



CAULIS pedalis ad bipedalem,erectus, bafi ftoloniferus, | 

 flexuofus, fubangulatus, glaber, ramofus. 



FOLIA radicalia magna, rotundata, fubintegerrima ; ¥ 



caulina fuberetla, pinnata, pinnarum paria I 



plerumque tria cum impari, pinnae oblongae, % 



-angulatae, angulis denticulo terminatis, laeves, | 



margine ad lentem vifae minutim ciliatae, ex- ^ 



tima majori et in plures angulos divisa. | 



FLORES albi, pro magnitudine plantae, minores, flof- 

 culis Cardamines pratenfis perquam fimiles, 

 nunquam vero colorati. 



PEDUNCULI ebractaeati, teretes, laeves alterni. 



CALYX: Perianthium tetraphyllum, foliolis con- 

 cavis, erectis, flavefcentibus, margine mem- 

 branaceis, deciduis. Jig. 1. 



COROLLA : Petala quatuor, fuberecta, alba, bafi 

 virefcentia, oblongo-ovata, fubemarginata, 

 plana, lineis profundis exarata. jig. 2. 



STAMINA: Filamenta fex, quorum duo breviora, 

 fubulata, alba; Anthers incumbentes, pur- 

 pureas ; apicibus convolutis. fig. 5. 3. 



GLANDULE ut in Cardamine pratenfi. fig. 7. 

 GERMEN compreffum, minute articulatum, longitu- 



dine ft.am.inum; Stylus brevis, obliquus ; 



Stigma minimum, fig. 4. 

 PERICARP1UM : Siliqua et Semina licut in Cardamine 



pratenfi, nifi majora. fig. 8. 9. 



ROOT perennial, {lender, whitifh, and creeping. 



STALK from one to two feet high, upright, at bottom 

 throwing out runners from the al<e of the 

 leaves, crooked, fomewhat angular, fmooth, 

 mining, and branched. 



LEAVES next the root large, round, and almoft per- 

 fectly entire ; on the Jialk nearly upright, pin- 

 nated, confiding for the moft part of three 

 pair of pinnae with an odd one, pinnae oblong, 

 angular, each angle terminated by a fmall 

 tooth or point, fmooth, the edge, if viewed 

 with a magnifier, appearing finely ciliated, 

 the terminal pinna larger than the others, 

 and divided into more angles. 



FLOWERS white, confidering the largenefs of the 

 plant rather fmall, very like thofe of the com- 

 mon Ladies-fmock, but never coloured. 



PEDUNCULES without any braftaea, round, fmooth, 

 and alternate. 



CALYX: a Perianthium of four leaves, the leaves 

 oblong, hollow, upright, yellowifh, membra- 

 nous at the edge, and deciduous, fig, 1. 



COROLLA : four Petals, fomewhat upright, white, 

 with a greenifh bafe, of an oblong-oval fhape, 

 nightly notched, flat, with lines deeply en- 

 graven, fig. 2. 



STAMINA: fix Filaments, two of which are fhorter 

 than the others, tapering and white ; An- 

 thers incumbent, purple, the top rolled 



U P- fig- 5- 3- 

 GL\NDS as in the common Ladies-fmock. fig. 7. 

 GERMEN flat, finely jointed, the length of the fh- 



mina; Style fliort and oblique-, Stigma 



very minute, fig. 4. 

 SEED-VESSEL; Poland Seeds fimilar to thofe of the 



common Ladies-fmock, but larger, fig. 8. 9. 



The Cardamine amara differs from the pratenfis in divers refpedts, yet its affinity is fo confiderable as often to 

 occafion its being miftaken for it ; if the following characters, which difHnguifh it in particular from that plant, 

 are attended to, the ftudent will not eafily be milled. 



The Cardamine pratenfis is a plant common in almoft every wet meadow, this on the contrary is much more 

 local, and rather affecls to grow on the edges of rivulets and ftreams of water, than in the open meadow ; the 

 ftalk-leaves of the pratenfis are ufually narrow, the fides doling almoft together, thefe on the contrary are large, 

 broad, and very angular, more refembling indeed the water-crefs, from which fimilarity this plant has obtained 

 among the old Botanifts the name of Nq/lurtium ; it is in every refpect a larger plant than the pratenfis, its blofloms 

 excepted, which are nearly of the fame fize ; and, as in the pratenfis they are always of a purple colour, more or 

 lefs deep, fo in this they are always perfectly white, the antherae, which in the pratenfis are of a yellow colour, 

 here form a ftriking contraft, and appear of a deep purple, and that, fo far as I have obferved, invariably, the 

 tips of them are alfo more curled up ; the ftyle, which in the pratenfis is upright, in the amara has an unufual 

 obliquity in it, which I believe has not been noticed ; towards the bottom of the ftalk the amara is more difpofed 

 to throw out runners from the alas of the leaves than the pratenfis, but this character depends, in a confiderable 

 degree, on the circumftances of fituation, moifture, &c. the pratenfis has a fimilar difpofition in degree, and I 

 have feen it throw out roots from the midrib of the bottom leaves. 



This plant may be confidered as one of our plantae rariores, I have noticed it here and there on the banks of 

 the Thames, and the creeks running from it about Batterfiea and Chelfea, Mr. Alchorne has obferved it about Lew- 

 yj am, and in the neighbourhood of Uxbridge, it grows in abundance. 



It flowers in May, and ripens its feed in June. 



1 s virtues and ufes remain to be difcovered, it has a flrong biting tafle of the crefs kind, but not that degree 

 temefs which would juflify the epithet amara. 



