Korean bittercress is a woodland from East Asia with leaves divided into five to seven pointed leaflets and clusters of bright white, four-petaled flowers. It grows along shady streams and in moist mountain valleys, and is not native to the United States.
Appearance
- Growth form
- An upright, softly hairy perennial, about 10–28 in (25–70 cm) tall.
- Leaves
- Alternate, divided into 5–7 pointed, irregularly toothed leaflets.
- Flowers
- White, four-petaled flowers in clusters at the stem tips. Petals are about ⅜ in (8–10 mm) long, about twice as long as the sepals.
- Flowering time
- Spring to early summer (April–July in Korea and Japan).
- Fruit
- Slender pods about ¾ in (2 cm) long that split open to release small seeds.
Look-alikes
narrowleaf bittercressCardamine impatiens
Narrowleaf bittercress has tiny flowers whose petals are often missing, a pair of pointed ear-like lobes at the base of each leaf stalk, and many more leaflets (13–25 on stem leaves).
Why they get mixed upIt is an introduced, invasive bittercress in parts of the US with similar divided leaves and white flowers.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- shady stream banks
- moist mountain valleys
- forest edges
- Range
- Native to eastern Siberia, the Russian Far East, Sakhalin, Mongolia, China, Korea, and Japan. It is not native to the US.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
More species to explore
Record what you meet and build your own collection
Your photos are kept with their date and place, and you can fill regional albums one species at a time.