Large-leaved bitter cress, Central China bitter cress
Cardamine macrophylla

Family: Brassicaceae

What it is like

A cabbage family herb. It grows 30-95 cm tall. It has creeping rhizomes or underground stems. The flower stems are erect and unbranched. The leaves are compound with leaflets along the stalk. The leaves are 7-10 cm long. There are 9-11 leaflets that are narrowly sword shaped and 3-8 cm long and up to 2 cm wide. There are teeth along the edge. The flowers are purple. The pod is narrow and 2-3.5 cm long and flattened. The seeds are oblong and 2 mm long. They are brown.

There are about 160 Cardamine species. They are mostly in damp places in temperate regions.

Where it is found

It is a temperate plant. It grows in damp forests, river banks, tundra, rock crevices, meadows, damp woodlands, thickets, stream sides, valleys, ravines, mountain slopes, among boulders between 500–4200 m altitude in China. In Northeastern India it grows between 3,500-4,000 m above sea level. It grows in wetlands. In Yunnan.

Countries/locations it is found in

Asia, Bhutan, Central Asia, China, India, Himalayas, Japan, Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Northeastern India, Pakistan, Russia, Sikkim, Siberia, Tibet

How it is used for food

Young parts are cooked and eaten as a vegetable.

Edible parts

Leaves, vegetable

How it is grown

Its other names

Local names

Chhurukpa, Da ye sui mi qi, Shi gen cai, Shijiacai, Shu, Wang-hru, You

Synonyms

Cardamine macrophylla var. crenata Trautvetter; Cardamine macrophylla var. dentariifolia J. D. Hooker & T. Anderson; Cardamine macrophylla var. diplodonta T. Y. Cheo; Cardamine macrophylla var. foliosa J. D. Hooker & T. Anderson; Cardamine macrophylla var. lo-bata J. D. Hooker & T. Anderson; Cardamine macrophylla var. mou-pinensis Franchet; Cardamine macrophylla subsp. polyphylla (D. Don) O. E. Schulz; Cardamine macrophylla var. polyphylla (D. Don) T. Y. Cheo & R. C. Fang; Cardamine macrophylla var. sikkimensis J. D. Hooker & T. Anderson; Cardamine polyphylla D. Don (1825), not O. E. Schulz (1903); Cardamine sachalinensis Miyabe & Miyake; Cardamine sino-manshurica (Kitagawa) Kitagawa; Cardamine urbaniana O. E. Schulz; Dentaria gmelinii Tausch; Dentaria macrophylla (Willdenow) Bunge ex Maximowicz; Dentaria sinomanshurica Kitagawa; Dentaria wallichii G. Don; Dentaria willdenowii Tausch