CEUCIFEE^E. 



53 



2. Meadow Bittereress. Cardamine pratensis, Linn. 

 (Fig. 63.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 776. Bittereress. Ladies' Smock. Cuckooflower:) 



Rootstock short and perennial, often 

 bearing small fleshy scales or tubers, like 

 the Toothcresses. Stem erect, simple or 

 branched, near a foot high. Leaves pin- 

 nate, the segments of the lower radical 

 ones ovate or orbicular, the terminal one 

 the largest, those of the stem-leaves nar- 

 row-oblong or linear. Flowers large and 

 showy; the petals obovate and spread- 

 ing, sometimes of a pure white, but more 

 frequently tinged with a pinkish purple. 

 Pods more than an inch long. 



In moist meadows, and along brooks 

 and streams, common throughout Eu- 

 rope, Russian Asia, and arctic America. 

 Abundant in Britain. FL spring and early summer. 



Fig. 63. 



3. Narrow-leaved Bittereress. Cardamine impatiens, Linn. 



(Fig. 64.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 80.) 



An annual, with a stiff, erect, leafy 

 stem, a foot and a half high, simple, or 

 with a few erect branches. Leaves pin- 

 nate, with numerous lanceolate or almost 

 ovate segments, J to \ inch long, and 

 often deeply toothed or cut; the com- 

 mon leafstalk has, on each side, at its 

 base, a curved linear appendage em- 

 bracing the stem, and resembling a sti- 

 pule. Petals very minute, and some- 

 times wanting. Pods numerous, about 

 an inch long, the valves rolling back at 

 maturity, with much elasticity. 



On moist rocks, and in shady waste 

 places, over a great part of Europe and 

 Russian Asia. In Britain, scattered over 

 central and northern England and south- 

 ern Scotland, but not recorded from Ire- 

 land. FL summer. 



Fig. 64. 



