Cardamine cordifolia Gray var. incana Gray ex M.E. Jones
Synonyms: Cardamine cardiophylla Rydb.; Cardamine
infausta Greene; Cardamine cordifolia Gray var. pubescens
Gray ex O.E. Schulz; Cardamine incana (Gray) A.
Nels.
Family: Brassicaceae
Distribution: Colorado and Utah (Rollins 1993). Weber &
Wittmann (1996) state that southern Colorado counties have populations
with strongly pubescent leaves. According to Welsh et al. (1993),
all Utah plants are var. cordifolia.
Plants Seen or Cited: No entries
in the New Mexico Natural Heritage Program Database. All specimens
of Cardamine cordifolia at UNM appear to be var. cordifolia.
Some are significantly hairier than typical, but none are densely
so and they are never whitish as var. incana is supposed
be. Vestiture on these slightly hairier specimens is denser toward
the base of the plants and is more likely to be present on depauperate
individuals.
Habitat: Stream margins, cold springs, creek bottoms (Rollins
1993).
Discussion: Rollins (1993), perhaps the best source of information
about the plant, does not say anything about the commonness or
rarity of var. incana. It is apparently not considered
rare in Colorado (Spackman et al. 1997) or Utah (Atwood et al.
nd). Considering that there is some variation in vestiture within
Cardamine cordifolia even in New Mexico, and in other mustard
species for that matter, it may be that var. incana represents
the hairiest extreme of a continuum that ranges from the nearly
or completely glabrous state, that is typical of var. cordifolia,
to the hairiest state in var. incana. Since var. incana
apparently is present in Colorado and Utah in numbers sufficiently
great that no comment is necessary about its rarity, it
is probably too common to be considered rare in New Mexico, whether
it exists here or not.
Important Literature:
Atwood, D, J. Holland, R. Bolander, B. Franklin, D.E. House, L.
Armstrong, K. Thorne and L. England. No date (about 1990). Utah
threatened, endangered, and sensitive plant field guide.
Rollins, R.C. 1993. The Cruciferae of continental North America.
Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA. (page 267)
Spackman, S., B. Jennings, J. Coles, C. Dawson, M. Minton, A.
Kratz and C. Spurrier. 1997. Colorado Rare Plant Field Guide.
Prepared for the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service
and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by the Colorado Natural
Heritage Program.
Weber, W.A. and R.C. Wittmann. 1996. Colorado flora: Western Slope,
Second edition. University Press of Colorado. (page 118)
Welsh, S.L., N.D. Atwood, S. Goodrich and L.C. Higgins. 1993.
A Utah flora, Second edition, revised. Jones Endowment Fund, Monte
L. Bean Life Science Museum, Brigham Young University, Provo,
UT. (page 290)
1895. Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 5:620. (Original Citation)
Information Compiled By: David L. Bleakly, 1998
