Spring 2010

Volume 19 No. 1

New Invader to Watch For!

NARROWLEAF BITTERCRESS (Cardamine impatiens) is only known from one site in Indiana, at Charlestown State Park in Clark County. Land managers there have watched it spread quickly through the riparian forest in the same way garlic mustard does. There are scattered sites for this species in the Midwest and in the Northeast, and the expectation is that there are more sites to find in Indiana.

Identification:

Herbaceous annual or biennial, with erect form; 6”-31”tall; shiny green in color.

Leaves pinnately divided with numerous (6-20), sharply toothed leaflets, with membrane-like, narrow, pointed ears at the leaf base and if a leaf is removed, the ears stay on the stem (this distinguishes this species from other mustards).

Stems erect and glabrous.

Flowers small and white, up to 0.1” long; blooms May to August.

Fruit/seeds slender seedpods in spreading-ascending erect pedicels 0.6-0.8” long, ripening from May to September.

 

Help stop this species before it spreads in Indiana - please report any finds of this species to Ellen Jacquart at ejacquart@tnc.org.