Toothwort

One of the spring wildflowers I love to see and photograph each year is Toothwort. There are two types of toothwort I usually see – Cutleaf Toothwort (cardamine concatenata) and Broadleaf Toothwort (cardamine diphylla). Both are members of the Brassicaceae (mustard) family.

Worldwide – there are over 150 species related to Toothwort. Both of the ones I’m familiar with are native to the Eastern United States.

Cutleaf Toothwort grows to 12″ tall with a cluster of four-petaled white or pink flowers. The leaves are divided and toothed. I’ve photographed Cutleaf Toothwort in the Washington DC area.

 

 

Cutleaf Toothwort © 2014 Patty Hankins

Broadleaf toothwort grows a little taller than Cutleaf toothwort – to about 16″ tall. The flowers are also similar looking. The difference between the two Toothworts I’ve seen is mainly in the leaves. The leaves of the Broadleaf Toothwort are paired and much broader than the narrower more deeply cut looking leaves of Cutleaf Toothwort. Unfortunately I don’t have any great photos of the leaves of the Broadleaf Toothwort to show you the difference.

I’ve photographed Broadleaf Toothwort in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.