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Cardamine pennsylvanica - Muhl.

Bittercress

Author	Muhl.	Botanical references	43, 274
Family	Cruciferae	Genus	Cardamine
Synonyms
Known Hazards	None known
Range	N. America - Newfoundland to Minnesota and Montana, south to Florida, Tennessee and Kansas.
Habitat	Usually found in moist or wet soils[159], it grows in most soils and habitats in eastern N. America[43].
Edibility Rating	2 (1-5)	Medicinal Rating	1 (1-5)

Physical Characteristics

Biennial/Perennial growing to 0.6m.

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

Bog Garden; Cultivated Beds;

Edible Uses

Edible Parts: Leaves.

Edible Uses: Condiment.

Leaves - raw or cooked[46, 61, 159, 171]. An excellent water cress substitute[105]. A slightly bitter flavour, but not disagreeable[207]. The grated raw root is used as a condiment[207].

Medicinal Uses

Carminative; Digestive.

The leaves and the flowering plant are carminative and digestive[172].

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 most parts of this country. A polymorphic species[43], it is closely related to C. parviflora[274]. 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.

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 Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).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

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[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.

[159] McPherson. A. and S. Wild Food Plants of Indiana. Indiana University Press 1977 ISBN 0-253-28925-4
A nice pocket guide to this region of America.

[171] Hill. A. F. Economic Botany. The Maple Press 1952
Not very comprehensive, but it is quite readable and goes into some a bit of detail about the plants it does cover.

[172] Schofield. J. J. Discovering Wild Plants - Alaska, W. Canada and the Northwest. 0
A nice guide to some useful plants in that area.

[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.

[274] Diggs, Jnr. G.M.; Lipscomb. B. L. & O'Kennon. R. J Illustrated Flora of North Central Texas Botanical Research Institute, Texas. 1999 ISBN 1-889878-01-4
An excellent flora, which is also available on-line.

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