Cardamine sp.

Bittercress at Bonython, ACT

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Identification history

Cardamine sp.

29 Aug 2015

MichaelBedingfield

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User's notes

This is a very small plant, a weed, up to 10cm tall, flowers similar to Shepherd's Purse, seed pod long narrow and flattish, annual, growing among grass, in a large, scattered patch.

7 comments

KenT wrote:

25 Aug 2015

I'm not sure I can see any leaves in these images, but the flowers appear to have four petals this together with the shape of the seed cases suggest the family Brassicaceae if this is correct then I'd probably start with the genus Cardamine. It is a bit of a guess as the PLantNET key for Brassicaceae requires more characters then the images show

Mike wrote:

26 Aug 2015

Is it Cardamine hirsuta? See 'Weeds of the South East' p.223

KenT wrote:

26 Aug 2015

Looking through the PlantNET key and descriptions it seems one really needs good images of the basal leaves and stem leaves if present for this genus. Cardamine hirsuta should have some visible hairs on the plant and in these images all appear to be glabrous but that may be an image resolution issue rather than evidence of absence. At the bottom of the 2nd & 3rd images it is possible that some cauline leaves are shown, if so, they do not seem to resemble leaves for Cardamine hirsuta and instead appear more like some of the leaves on the herbarium sheet for Cardamine moirensis shown in PlantNET.

MichaelBedingfield wrote:

27 Aug 2015

Hi Ken and Mike. Thanks for your interest in this sighting. I have revisited the scene, and have taken some more photos, especially of the base leaves. See sighting number 1944766. I have suggested it is Cardamine hirsuta. Your opinion would be welcome.

KenT wrote:

27 Aug 2015

Hi Michael, looking at your new photos I think on balance based on the vegetative characteristics it probably is Cardamine hirsuta. The keys in PlantNET and Flora of Australia both separate C. hirsuta from C. flexuosa on the number of stamens, you might need to collect a specimen to determine that. In the descriptions of the two species only C. hirsuta is mentioned to have all leaves with pinnae lobed or angled and I suspect these new images show this, also the PlantNET key indicates C. hirsuta to be sparsely hirsute which appears to be the case with C flexuosa being more hairy (none of your images appear to show hairs on the pedicel which the PlantNET key indicates for C. flexuosa).

MichaelBedingfield wrote:

28 Aug 2015

Thanks Ken.

MichaelBedingfield wrote:

29 Aug 2015

Please see comments on sighting number 1944766.

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