Toothwort in Helliwell
We hiked Helliwell Provincial Park on Hornby Island at the end of April and enjoyed the park and the many wildflowers of spring. One of the plants that was in flower was slender toothwort (Cardamine nutiallii). It is a perennial in the mustard family which grows in wetter climates at lower elevations. It grows from rhizomes and has a slender stem with a few long basal leaves and a few palm-shaped leaves on the stem. Flowers have pinkish-white petals.
There are many similar species and the names are also varied – Nuttall’s toothwort, bittercress, beautiful bitter-cress, and many variations for the 200 variants.