SPECIES DESCRIPTION
CARDAMINE GRAECA    

Family and Genus:- See- CRUCIFERAE

Common Name:- Southern bitter-cress

Homotypic Synonyms:- Pteroneurum graecum.

Meaning:- Cardamine (Gr) A name used by the Greek physician and botanist
Dioscorides for cress.
                  Graeca (L) Greek, from Greece.

General description:- Glabrous or hairy, annual or biennial plant.

Stem:-
1) (2.5-)5-35 cm, ascending to sub erect.

Leaves:-
1) Pinnate.
    a) lower, with 4 or 5 pairs of cuneate-obovate leaflets, each with 3 or more
        obtuse lobes.
    b) upper cauline, with 2 or 3 pairs of 3-lobed or entire, lanceolate leaflets.
2) Petioles, auriculate at the base.

Flowers:-
1) Sepals, obtuse.
2) Petals, (3-)4-6 mm, white.
3) Style, 4-8 mm, winged.

Fruit:-
1) Siliqua, 35-50 x (2·5-)3-4 mm, glabrous, papillose or setose, somewhat secund.
2) Seeds, on a broad funicle.

Key features:-
1) Sepals, obtuse.
2) Funicle, of seeds broad, flattened.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Rocky slopes and screes, generally in semi-shade. 0-1100 m.
(occasionally to 1400 m.).

Distribution:- Throughout Greece except many of the Aegean islands. -
Mediterranean region (except Iberian Peninsula) Anatolia to Caucasia and N Iran.
Somewhat limited distribution on Crete, mainly around the four massifs.
.
Flowering time:- Mar-May

Photos by:- Steve Lenton