Cardamine californica
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae}}
{{Speciesbox
|image = MilkmaidsFlowers crwb.jpg
|image2 = MilmaidsPlant crwb.jpg
|genus = Cardamine
|species = californica
|synonyms = Dentaria californica Nutt.
}}
Cardamine californica, or milkmaids, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae, native to western North America from Washington to California and Baja California. It is common in a variety of habitats including shady slopes, open woodlands, chaparral and grasslands in the winter and early spring. In the San Francisco Bay Area, it is one of the first wildflowers to bloom, with blossoms from January to May.{{cite journal |title=Hand-Pollination of Cardamine californica Improves Seed Set |author=Kazuki Ariyoshi |author2=Emily Magnaghi |author3=Mark Frey |journal=Native Plants Journal |date=Fall 2006 |volume= 7 |number=3 |pages=248–252 |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/native_plants_journal/v007/7.3ariyoshi.html |access-date=2013-02-19 |doi=10.1353/npj.2007.0000|s2cid=83759121 |url-access=subscription }}
Description
Cardamine californica is an herbaceous perennial plant growing to about 1 foot tall. The flowers are borne on a raceme inflorescence, each flower about 1/2 inch in diameter with four white to pink petals. The flower closes its petals in late afternoon as the sun goes down and nods its pedicel before a rain, protecting the pollen.
Hand pollination of two milkmaids populations in the San Francisco Presidio improved seed set from 8% to 85%, with seeds ripening in about 53 days.
References
{{Reflist}}
Sources
- "Wildflowers of Henry W. Coe State Park" brochure, Larry Ulrich, 2002
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303214524/http://coepark.net/pineridgeassociation/plants-animals-geology/wildflowers?sobi2Task=sobi2Details&catid=7&sobi2Id=59 Photo of Milkmaids] in Henry Coe State Park
- [http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?2240,2342,2348 Jepson Manual Treatment - Cardamine californica]
- [http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=CACA39 USDA Plants Profile; Cardamine californica]
- [http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=photos_index&where-taxon=Cardamine+californica Cardamine californica - Photo gallery]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2106005}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States)
Category:Flora of the West Coast of the United States
Category:Flora of Baja California
Category:Flora without expected TNC conservation status
{{Brassicales-stub}}