Cardamine clematitis

Distinguished from C. flagellifera by the presence of a glabrous stem at base; lower leaves green underneath; petioles auriculate at the base, the auricles 1-5 mm long, acute to acuminate; leaves 3 (-5)-foliolate; siliques 22-40 mm long. In contrast C. flagellifera has a pubescent stem at base; lower leaves purple underneath; petioles not auriculate at the base; leaves 3-5- foliolate; siliques 10-25 mm long (Weakley 2005).

According to Boetsch and Rock (1999), Cardamine clematitis is restricted to higher summits in the southern Appalachians and to elevations above approximately 1,000 meters (3,280 feet). In their study of Cardamine clematitis in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park they found that "Cardamine was usually found near first-order streams and seeps. The canopy was mostly closed with a vegetation composition representing that of a northern hardwood community or the transition zone between birch-spruce and spruce-fir. Cardamine was relatively rare in spruce-fir and mesic oak-beech forests...Although previously considered common in high-elevation boulderfields, we found Cardamine to be an infrequent component of these areas...This species was most frequently found rooted in moss or in moist rock crevices, though occasionally was found rooted in soil or streamside sandy depositions. Toward the western edge of its distribution, Cardamine was found on north-facing rock ledges and outcrops where seepage occurred and crevices in the rock were available for rooting" (Boetsch and Rock 1999). At the northern end of its range in Virginia, the habitat includes seepy rocky slopes, mossy, wet, massive rock outcrops, these seepy habitats being within closed to partially shaded to open northern hardwood forests. Several of the populations are along edges and banks of a trail traversing the seeps. Two occurrences are within seepy springs within mature Picea rubra forest.