Cardamine pachystigma

Rock toothwort

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Rock toothwort is a native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, northern Sierra Nevada foothills, Sierra Nevada, and southern Coast Ranges on rocky or serpentine outcrops, slopes, and cliffs at elevations of 250 to 2,900 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces pink to purple (occasionally white) flowers with petals 14 to 18 millimeters long in short inflorescences. Growing with erect, simple stems 10 to 30 centimeters tall, it emerges from a fleshy, ovoid to oblong rhizome 3 to 18 millimeters wide. Its rhizome leaves are round to heart-shaped, 1 to 2.5 centimeters wide, with entire or wavy margins and long petioles 6.7 to 19.5 centimeters long. The fruit is nearly erect, 3.2 to 5.4 centimeters long, containing 10 to 14 small ovate seeds.

Habitat: Rocky or serpentine outcrops, slopes, cliffs, lava talus

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 250-2900 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoR, n SNF, SNH, s SCoRO.

California counties: Tulare, Plumas, Ventura, Fresno, Kern, Nevada, Mendocino, Glenn, Butte, Tehama, El Dorado, Trinity, Humboldt, Siskiyou, Tuolumne, Placer, Shasta, Napa

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.