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Cardamine bulbosa - (Schreb.)Britt, Stern.&Pogg.;

Bulbous Bittercress

Author	(Schreb.)Britt, Stern.&Pogg.;	Botanical references	43, 235
Family	Cruciferae	Genus	Cardamine
Synonyms
Known Hazards	None known
Range	Eastern N. America - Vermont to Ontario and Minnesota, south to Florida and Texas.
Habitat	By springs, bottomland woods and meadows[43].
Edibility Rating	2 (1-5)	Medicinal Rating	0 (1-5)

Physical Characteristics

Perennial growing to 0.5m.

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

Woodland Garden; Dappled Shade; Shady Edge; Bog Garden;

Edible Uses

Edible Parts: Leaves.

Edible Uses: Condiment.

Leaves - raw[105, 177]. Added to salads. The rootstock is grated and used as a condiment[207], it is a horse radish substitute[105, 177]. A hot pungent taste.

Medicinal Uses

None known

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

We have very little information on this species and do not know if it will be hardy in Britain, though judging by its native range it should succeed outdoors in many parts of this country. The following notes are based on the general needs of the genus. Prefers a moist humus rich soil in shade or semi-shade[200] but succeeds in most soils that are not dry[1].

Propagation

Seed - sow outdoors in a seedbed in a shady position in April. Plant out in autumn or spring. Division in spring. Very easy, larger clumps can be replanted direct into their permanent positions, though it is best to pot up smaller clumps and grow them on in a cold frame until they are rooting well. Plant them out in the summer or following spring.

Links

Permaculture.info Details of this plant in the Permaculture.info project, a community plant and permaculture database.

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 Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[43] Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co. 1950
A bit dated but good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.

[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.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[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.

[207] Coffey. T. The History and Folklore of North American Wild Flowers. Facts on File. 1993 ISBN 0-8160-2624-6
A nice read, lots of information on plant uses.

[235] Britton. N. L. Brown. A. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada Dover Publications. New York. 1970 ISBN 0-486-22642-5
Reprint of a 1913 Flora, but still a very useful book.

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