• Milk Maids
  • Coast Toothwort
  • Bitter Cress
Cardamine californica
Family: Brassicaceae (Mustard)
Flowers — color: white, size: 1/2", type: 4 petals

The Milk Maids' flower has four soft white petals with a small notch at the end, fading to light green at the center. The six green stamens have yellow anthers. The blooms reach about 1/2" diameter and grow on a stalk or at leaf nodes. Seems to be a very early bloomer (December through February)

Milk Maids' flower has 4 white petals Milk Maids flower stems with leaves and many blooms the center Milk Maids grows between two mugworts Milk Maids leaf variability

Habit:
Milk Maids is a perennial herb that goes dormant in summer. A single stem rises from roundish basal leaves to a height of roughly 12". Lower leaves on this stem are triplets, longer than wide, with shallow blunt teeth along the edges. The higher leaves are also triplets, much longer than wide, with smooth edges. Shady woodland in BMER.

Observations:
Hillside above Hidden Lake.