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Brassicaceae
Lady's Smock
Cardamine pratensis
Fertility and spring.
- Family
- Brassicaceae
- Genus
- Cardamine
- Native to
- Europe, Western Asia, North America
- Bloom season
- Spring
- Type
- perennial
- Height
- 1-2 ft
- Sunlight
- full sun to partial shade
- Soil
- moist, rich meadow soil
- Water
- moderate to high
- Hardiness
- 3-7
- Lifespan
- perennial
Did you know
- Shakespeare listed Lady's Smock among the spring flowers in Love's Labour's Lost, calling it a 'lady-smock all silver-white.'
- It is the primary food plant for the orange-tip butterfly caterpillar, making it essential for this species' survival.
- Superstition held that picking Lady's Smock would attract lightning or bring adders, so it was rarely brought indoors.
- The peppery, watercress-like leaves are edible and were historically used in spring salads as a vitamin C source.
- It can reproduce vegetatively when detached leaflets fall onto moist ground and take root, forming new plants.
Color meanings
0
fertility
1
spring joy
2
maidenhood