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Cardamine flexuosa

Common name:	Wavy Bittercress	Family:	Cruciferae
Author:	With.	Botanical references:	17
Synonyms:	Cardamine sylvatica (Link.)
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Much of Europe, including Britain, east through Asia to China and Japan.
Habitat:	Moist shady places by streams and occasionally on cultivated ground[17].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	C. hirsuta ssp. flexuosa[B,P] C. konaensis[B,P]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Bosveldkers [D], Wavy Bitter-cress [L], Woodland Bittercress [B,P],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	flexuosa = bending, curvy
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Capparales. Renamed to Brassicaceae -- Mustard family

Physical Characteristics

Annual/Perennial growing to 0.45m. It is hardy to zone 4 and is not frost tender. It is in flower from April to September, and the seeds ripen from May to September. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs). The plant is self-fertile. We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires moist or wet soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Bog Garden, Woodland, Dappled Shade, Shady Edge.

Edible Uses

Leaves Root.

Leaves - raw or cooked[8, 52, 105, 183]. A hot cress-like flavour. Nice as a flavouring in salads, it is usually available all year round.
Root - raw or cooked[183].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

Prefers a moist humus rich soil in shade or semi-shade[200] but it succeeds in most soils and positions[1].
A common garden weed, it is found especially in pot-grown plants[8].

Propagation

Seed - sow spring or autumn in situ. This species needs very little encouragement and is quite capable of sowing itself, often too freely.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[8] Ceres. Free for All. Thorsons Publishers 1977 ISBN 0-7225-0445-4
Edible wild plants in Britain. Small booklet, nothing special.

[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.

[52] Larkcom. J. Salads all the Year Round. Hamlyn 1980
A good and comprehensive guide to temperate salad plants, with full organic details of cultivation.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Cardamine+flexuosa
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