CARDAMINE GRAECA

Family and Genus:- See- CRUCIFERAE

Common Name:- Southern bitter-cress

Homotypic Synonyms:- Pteroneurum graecum.

Meaning:- Cardamine (Gr) A name used by the Greek physician and botanist

Dioscorides for cress.

Graeca (L) Greek, from Greece.

General description:- Glabrous or hairy, annual or biennial plant.

Stem:-

1) (2.5-)5-35 cm, ascending to sub erect.

Leaves:-

1) Pinnate.

2) Lower, with 4 or 5 pairs of cuneate-obovate leaflets, each with 3 or more obtuse

lobes.

3) Upper cauline, with 2 or 3 pairs of 3-lobed or entire, lanceolate leaflets.

4) Petioles auriculate at the base.

Flowers:-

1) Sepals obtuse.

2) Petals (3-)4-6 mm, white.

3) Style 4-8 mm, winged.

Fruit:-

1) Siliqua, 35-50 x (2·5-)3-4 mm, glabrous, papillose or setose, somewhat secund.

2) Seeds on a broad funicle.

Key features:-

1) Sepals obtuse.

2) Funicle of seeds broad, flattened.

Habitat:- Rocky slopes and screes, generally in semi-shade. 0-1100 m.

(occasionally to 1400 m.).

Distribution:- Throughout Greece except many of the Aegean islands. -

Mediterranean region (except Iberian Peninsula) Anatolia to Caucasia and N Iran.

Somewhat limited distribution on Crete, mainly around the four massifs.

Flowering time:- Mar-May

Photos by:- Steve Lenton