The tutor shares yet another field find.

Commonly, thumbing through a field guide, I notice a species on a page and think, “I wonder if I’ll ever see that one.” So it was with western bitter-cress, of the mustard family. The plant seemed so nondescript, it was hard to imagine recognizing it among showier ones.

Yesterday evening, my family was away. I wandered off into the woods, meandering about until finding a very attractive path that conducted me to an unfamiliar area. Eventually it crossed a shallow trench full of standing water about 5cm deep. Sprouting from below the surface: western bitter-cress.

There were around ten western bitter-cress plants in the trench, mostly around 30cm tall. They were erect, each with one main stem. The flowers formed terminal clusters of 10 or 20. They were small (a few mm long), with four white petals. The leaves were irregularly lobed.

Perhaps the most telling features are the smallness of the flowers, the fact that they are four-petaled, and the fact that the plants grow in standing water. In the stillness of the shady forest, that western bitter-cress confidently welcomes the visitor.

Source:

Pojar, Jim and Andy MacKinnon. Plants of Coastal British Columbia. Vancouver:
  BC Ministry of Forests and Lone Pine Publishing, 1994.

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.