CUCKOOFLOWER
LADY'S-SMOCK
Cardamine pratensis
Cabbage Family [Brassicaceae] 
|
|
Cabbage Family [Brassicaceae]
|
|
status
flower
inner
morph
petals
stem
sex
| 4th June 2013, the marshy grasslands, Southport, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
| Growing in a moist place a mile south of Southport which may occasionally get washed by a high tide. |
| 12th May 2009, extinct Bugsworth tramway, Dove Holes. | Photo: © RWD |
| Cuckooflower enjoys growing in damp soggy ground. |
| 25th April 2015, Bromborough Rake, Dibbinsdale, Wallasey. | Photo: © RWD |
| Growing on a fallen log covered in mosses. |
_107.jpg)
| 2nd May 2007, Leeds & Liverpool Canal. | Photo: © RWD |
| There are small groupings of pale-lilac flowers atop a very thin un-straight stalk. |
| 20th April 2011, Birkdale, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
| Widely separated singly-pinnate leaves appear alternately on the stem. The leaflets are like fine feathers: very short and even more narrow, a little like those of Yarrow. The dark-green leaflets may be reddened to a dark purple sepia tone. |
_2007_05_02_LLcanal_025p.jpg)
| 2nd May 2007, Leeds & Liverpool Canal. | Photo: © RWD |
| The flowers have four lilac-coloured petals, with a yellow centre. The seed pods which grow beneath the flowers are on long stalls and very narrow and cylindrical. |
| 23rd April 2017, Bridgewater Canal, north of Dunham Massey. | Photo: © RWD |
| The 5 sepal cups supporting each flower. As the stem grows so too does the distance between the flower stalks. |
| 12th April 2007, Huddersfield Narrow Canal, Diggle. | Photo: © RWD |
| The flowers are on very long, somewhat droopy stalks, now fairly well separated from each other. The sepal cups turn yellower. |
| 12th May 2009, Peters Dale, Derbyshire. | Photo: © RWD |
| Bird's-eye view of a young plant. The sepals, greenish at first, turn yellow with reddish marks at the rounded tips. |
_058.jpg)
| 2nd May 2007, Leeds & Liverpool Canal. | Photo: © RWD |
| Flower colour can vary from off-white through lilac to a deeper pink. |
| 10th June 2009, Smardale, Yorkshire Dales. | Photo: © RWD |
| Some flowers are almost pure white. |
_057b.jpg)
| 2nd May 2007, Leeds & Liverpool Canal. | Photo: © RWD |
| Sepals turned a deep orange with reddish tips. |
_056.jpg)
| 2nd May 2007, Leeds & Liverpool Canal. | Photo: © RWD |
| The four petals are round and overlap each other in the centre. Stamens, which are grooved and recurved, number six; anthers are discoidal and yellowish green. |
| 20th April 2011, Birkdale, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
| Petals have deeper-lilac veins. The central 'disc' will become the cylindrical seed pod. |
| 23rd April 2011, Birkdale Dunes, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
| Fine long-oval leaflets are long and narrow, with but a few only to each singly-pinnate leaf and in singles on alternately opposite sides of the stem. From afar it looks as though the fine leaflets are on a circular stalk, but it is actually a flat stalk curled up tightly to form a slit cylinder. Leaflets reddish-brown at tips. Basal leaves (not shown) have rounded leaflets on single-pinnate leaves. |
| 23rd April 2017, Bridgewater Canal, north of Dunham Massey. | Photo: © RWD |
| The curled-up nature of the leaf rachis can also be seen in the lower leaf here. |
| 20th May 2012, woodland edge, Bury, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
| The very lowest leaves are a different shape, being almost circular with one at the tip and 3 (or more) other almost circular ones in opposite pairs (best seen in those near the bottom in the centre and just to the right). |
| 21st April 2015, staffs & Worcester Canal, north of Kidsgrove. | Photo: © RWD |
| The leaves and stems can sometimes turn a reddish-brown, to protect themselves from excess sun and heat. |
A DOUBLE-FLOWERED FORM |
|
Mutations Menu
|
_DavidPilling_2009_04_25_005p2.jpg)
| 25th April 2009, Lancashire | Photo: © David Pilling |
| A double-flowered form. |
_DavidPilling_2009_04_25_008p3.jpg)
| 25th April 2009, Lancashire | Photo: © David Pilling |
| Double-flowered form. |
| May 2019, a meadow, South Devon. | Photo: © Alison Tickner |
| Double-flowered form. |
|
Hybridizes with: Wavy Bitter-cress to produce Cardamine × fringsii, which occupies fewer than a dozen isolated tetrads in the southern half of England only.
Some similarities to : Not un-like: Water Violet (but that has five petals and grows in shallow water) and to Dame's-Violet which is much taller. Uniquely identifiable characteristics: Grows near water unlike Honesty which looks a little like it, but Honesty is much taller with purple (or white) flowers and large leaves. Distinguishing Feature : The fine pinnate leaves roughly half-way down the otherwise bare stem.
No relation to : Lords-and-Ladies nor to
|
 Cardamine
|
pratensis
|
⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ |
Brassicaceae
|
 Cardamine (Bitter-cresses) |
|
Cabbage Family [Brassicaceae]
|
BSBI maps