Cardamine flexuosa With., Brassicaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: wan qu sui mi ji

English: greater bittercress, wavy bitter cress, wood bittercress, woodland bittercress

Japanese: tanetsuke-bana

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Annual or biennial herbs; stems flexuous, ascending to weakly erect, 1-3 dm long, ± sparsely hirsute to subglabrate.  Leaves thin, odd-pinnately compound with 3-11 leaflets, basal leaves usually with more leaflets than cauline leaves, the leaflets ovate to reniform, rarely lanceolate, blades of lateral leaflets 2-10 mm long, 1.5-15 mm wide, 3-5-lobed, the terminal leaflet usually larger, 5-15 (-25) mm long, 6-17 mm wide, usually lobed similar to lateral leaflets, all leaflets sparsely hirsute to subglabrous, apex apiculate.  Flowers in 1 to several racemes 10-20 cm long, pedicels (1-) 2-3 mm long at anthesis; petals white, 2.5-3 mm long, not exceeding the sepals; stamens usually 6, usually divaricately ascending.  Siliques (1-) 1.4-2 (-2.5) cm long.  Seeds 8-14 per cell, reddish brown, broadly oblong, 0.9-1.1 mm long"  (Wagner et al., 1999; pp. 402-403).

Habitat/ecology:  In Hawai‘i, "naturalized in wet to seasonally wet sites in low elevation, disturbed areas to open or shaded areas at higher elevations in wet forest, especially in gulches or streambeds"  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 403).  In New Zealand, "weed of cultivation and bush remnants. Cardamine flexuosa is found more often in damper sites than Cardamine hirsuta"  (Webb et al., 1988; p. 412).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Eurasia (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 403).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Cook Islands Southern Cook Islands	Rarotonga Island	introduced invasive	McCormack, Gerald (2011)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 402-403) Voucher cited: U.S. Expl. Exped. s.n. (US)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 402-403)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Lāna‘i Island	introduced invasive	Oppenheimer, Hank L. (2003) (p. 8) Voucher cited: Oppenheimer H40130 (BISH, PTBG)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 402-403)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Moloka‘i Island	introduced invasive	Hughes, Guy D'Oyly (1995) (p. 2) Voucher cited: Hughes s.n. (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 402-403)
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands	introduced invasive	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011) Naturalized

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	New South Wales	introduced invasive	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011) Naturalized
Australia Australia (continental)	Queensland	introduced invasive	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011) Naturalized
Canada Province of British Columbia	Canada (British Columbia)	introduced invasive	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011) Naturalized
Canada Canada	Canada (country)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)
China China	China (People's Republic of)	native	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2011) "Fields, roadsides, grasslands, disturbed sites, streamsides, clearings, running water, wet forests, dry sites, greenhouses; near sea level to 3600 m".
China China	Hong Kong	native	Wu, Te-lin (2001) (p. 110)
Costa Rica Costa Rica	Costa Rica (Republic of)	introduced invasive	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011) Naturalized
El Salvador El Salvador	El Salvador (Republic of)	introduced invasive	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011) Naturalized
Guatemala Guatemala	Guatemala (Republic of)	introduced invasive	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011) Naturalized
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)	introduced invasive	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011) Naturalized
Malaysia Malaysia	Malaysia (country of)	introduced invasive	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011) Naturalized
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 412)
Panama Panama	Panama (Republic of)	introduced invasive	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011) Naturalized
Thailand Thailand	Thailand (Kingdom of)	introduced invasive	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011) Naturalized
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (California)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (Washington)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)
Vietnam Vietnam	Vietnam (Socialist Republic of)	introduced invasive	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011) Naturalized

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	United States (other states)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	USA (Florida)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)

Additional information:
Additional online information about Cardamine flexuosa is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Cardamine flexuosa as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Cardamine flexuosa may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Hughes, Guy D'Oyly. 1995. New Hawaiian plant records II. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Miller, Scott, E., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 1994. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 42:1-10.

McCormack, Gerald. 2011. Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga.

Oppenheimer, Hank L. 2003. New plant records from Maui and Hawai‘i Counties. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2001-2002. Part 1: Articles. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 73:3-30.

U. S. Government. 2011. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (on-line resource).

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. 2011. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. 1999. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawaii. Revised edition. Bernice P. Bishop Museum special publication. University of Hawai‘i Press/Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 1919 pp. (two volumes).

Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch. 1365 pp.

Wu, Te-lin. 2001. Check List of Hong Kong Plants. Hong Kong Herbarium and the South China Institute of Botany. Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department Bulletin 1 (revised). 384 pp.

Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong. 2011. Flora of China (online resource).