Common Name:
CUCKOO-FLOWER
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Coefficient of Conservatism:
10
Coefficient of Wetness:
-5
Wetness Index:
OBL
Physiognomy:
Nt P-Forb
A. A. Reznicek
Fens, wet meadows, lakeshores, on logs and hummocks in marshy ground, borders of forest pools and streams, tamarack and cedar swamps; typically in undisturbed wetlands and often in shallow, cold water.
An attractive spring-flowering plant found around the world in northern latitudes. Our plants are almost all native, the subsp. dentata (Schult.) Čelak., now often recognized as Cardamine dentata Schult. This has pure white flowers, drying to pale brown, middle cauline leaves with the leaflets narrowed to a more or less distinct petiolule, and the enlarged terminal leaflets of the basal leaves with inconspicuous callus tips on the vein ends, these tips not excurrent and usually wider than long.
The European plant, subsp. pratensis, is occasionally cultivated, and a single wild collection is known, from along the St. Mary's River in Chippewa Co. (Voss 15286 in 1980). This has usually pink to purple flowers, drying pinkish, middle cauline leaves with the leaflets essentially sessile, and clearly excurrent callus on the enlarged terminal leaflets of the basal leaves, this callus often more or less pointed and sometimes longer than wide.