Brassicaceae: Cardamine diphylla (Michx.) Wood
(toothwort)
Cardamine diphylla is one of five spring ephemerals occurring in hardwood and mixed forests of Nova Scotia. It is a low (20 - 40 cm height) perennial with smooth stems and usually, two opposite, 3-parted, coarsely toothed leaves. The inflorescence is a raceme with long-stalked, 4-petalled flowers typical of the Brassicaceae. Petals are white to pink or purple. Slender pods bear seeds in a single row. In Nova Scotia it flowers from April to early June. Typical habitat is "moist rich soil along brooks and in low lying wet or rocky woods … only in the northern part of the province."1 C. diphylla has an eastern North America distribution, occurring in the Maritime provinces, Quebec and Ontario, and in the eastern U.S. south to Missouri, Alabama and Georgia.
Sources | Selected Web Resources | Line Drawing
Click on images for larger versions.
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May 19, 2011. Hants County: Smiley's Park on the Meander River
and a second site a few kilometers downstream. Photographer: JackPine. |
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 Habitat: rich hardwood intervale. Red maple, American ash, ironwood and shadbush were common trees.
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 Painted trillium was a common associated herb. |
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 | Left: This intervale site was several kilometers downstream frm Smileys Park. Other species in the photograph include bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), horsetail (Equisetum) sp., and possibly dame's rocket (Hesperis matronalis). |
Selected Web Resources
- Taxonomic Status (ITIS) Copy the species name above and paste it into a form on this ITIS Canada page to confirm the nomenclature and list synonyms.
- NatureServe Explorer Copy the species name above and paste it into a form on this page to view a map of its distribution within North America and its conservation status by province and state.
Notes & References
- Roland, A.E., Zinck, M. & Owen, E. (1998). Roland's flora of Nova Scotia, 3rd Ed. Halifax: Nimbus & Nova Scotia Museum.