Pennsylvania Bittercress, Quaker Bittercress
Cardamine pensylvanica
Synonyms: Cardamine flexuosa ssp. pensylvanica, Cardamine hirsuta var. pensylvanica, Cardamine pennsylvanica, Cardamine pensylvanica var. brittoniana
The photo above shows the upper stem leaf
and elongated inflorescence of Pennsylvania bittercress. Photographed in wet
meadows along Crofton Creek where the Crofton Ridge Trail crosses it, Mt. Adams Wilderness.........June
19, 2005. Note the narrow leaflets on the pinnately compound leaves of
the mid and upperstem.
The photo above shows Pennsylvania bittercress as seen along
the trail to Lower Elowah Falls in the western Columbia River Gorge...........March
2005.
The photo above shows a pinnately compound lower leaf. The upper
leaflets have much narrower leaflets.
The photo directly above shows the entire plant of which the
other photos on this page were taken. Note the fairly thick whitish base of
the plant with fibrous roots diverging from its base. The plants seen at this
site were growing in moving water of small rivulets in wet meadows. Note also
the lack of a rosette of basal leaves, a key way to distinguish this species
from the similar western bittercress, Cardamine occidentalis or little
western bittercress, Cardamine oligosperma.
Another photo of Pennsylvania bittercress from the trail to Lower Elowah
Falls in the western Columbia River Gorge..........March 2005.
Pennsylvania bittercress as seen along the Elowah Falls Trail in the western Columbia River Gorge.........May 20, 2009.
Pennsylvania bittercress as seen along the Elowah Falls Trail in the western Columbia River Gorge.........April 22, 2015.
Paul Slichter