Index / Search / Cardamine pensylvanica

§1 Plant — species · Brassicaceae

Cardamine pensylvanica Muhl. ex Willd.

vernacular Pennsylvania bittercress


USDA
CAPE3
GBIF
3045880
Rank
species
Pennsylvania bittercress (Cardamine pensylvanica)
Platephotograph · no rights reservedCC0 · public domain source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Forb/herb
Duration
Annual, Biennial, Perennial
Group
Dicot
Family
Brassicaceae Burnett
Genus
Cardamine
§2a

Native status, by region

  • AK Alaska Native
  • CAN Canada Native
  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
  • SPM St. Pierre & Miquelon Native

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
None
Shade
Low
Moisture use
Medium
Fire
None
Salinity
None
Anaerobic
Low
CaCO₃
Medium
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-33 °F minimum
Frost-free days
75 min.
Precipitation
32–55 in/yr
pH range
4.8–6.8
Root depth
7 in min.
Fertility need
Medium
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Single Crown
Growth rate
Rapid
Lifespan
Short
Mature height
1.5 ft
Foliage texture
Fine
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Porous
Porosity (winter)
Porous
Flower colour
White
Fruit colour
Black
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Early Spring
Seed abundance
High
Seed begins
Spring
Seed ends
Summer
Spread rate
Rapid
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
275,000
Propagation
seed
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
No Known Source
Nursery stock
No
Browse palatability
Low
Graze palatability
Low
Palatable, human
No
Protein potential
Low
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Montana distribution

Recorded in 7 of 56 Montana counties.


§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/CAPE3 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/3045880 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T16:28:53Z