Cardamine parvifloraL.

sand bittercress

WFO wfo-0000587308 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Cardamine parviflora, photographed by Pavel Kacl
fig. a Pavel Kacl, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-21 / obs. 199431699

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 90 botanical countries

Regions where Cardamine parviflora is native: Algeria, Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, China North-Central, China Southeast, Chita, Inner Mongolia, Iran, Irkutsk, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Kuril Is., Manchuria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Primorye, Taiwan, Transcaucasus, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Philippines, Vietnam, Baltic States, Belarus, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Krym, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, Alabama, Alberta, Arkansas, British Columbia, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Newfoundland, North Carolina, Northwest Territories, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Québec, Rhode I., Saskatchewan, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin AlgeriaAltayAmurBuryatiyaChina North-CentralChina SoutheastChitaInner MongoliaIranIrkutskJapanKazakhstanKrasnoyarskManchuriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusPrimoryeTaiwanTranscaucasusWest SiberiaXinjiangPhilippinesVietnamBaltic StatesBelarusCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyHungaryItalyKrymNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenUkraineAlabamaAlbertaArkansasBritish ColumbiaConnecticutFloridaGeorgiaIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineManitobaMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMissouriNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew YorkNewfoundlandNorth CarolinaNorthwest TerritoriesOhioOklahomaOntarioOregonPennsylvaniaQuébecSaskatchewanSouth CarolinaTennesseeTexasVermontVirginiaWest VirginiaWisconsin KoreaDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaRhode I.
Native distribution of Cardamine parviflora, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
Arkansas ARK
British Columbia BRC
Connecticut CNT
Delaware DEL
District of Columbia WDC
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Idaho IDA
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kansas KAN
Kentucky KTY
Louisiana LOU
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Missouri MSO
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
North Carolina NCA
Northwest Territories NWT
Ohio OHI
Oklahoma OKL
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Pennsylvania PEN
Québec QUE
Rhode I. RHO
Saskatchewan SAS
South Carolina SCA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Amur AMU
Buryatiya BRY
China North-Central CHN
China Southeast CHS
Chita CTA
Inner Mongolia CHI
Iran IRN
Irkutsk IRK
Japan JAP
Kazakhstan KAZ
Korea KOR
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Kuril Is. KUR
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Primorye PRM
Taiwan TAI
Transcaucasus TCS
West Siberia WSB
Xinjiang CHX
Baltic States BLT EUROPE
Belarus BLR
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Ukraine UKR
Philippines PHI ASIA-TROPICAL
Vietnam VIE
Algeria ALG AFRICA

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 68 in flower of 83 examined

Proportion of examined Cardamine parviflora in flower, by month
Month In flower Examined Share 95% interval
Jan 1 3 too few examined
Feb 3 5 60% 23% to 88%
Mar 9 10 90% 60% to 98%
Apr 11 16 69% 44% to 86%
May 17 17 100% 82% to 100%
Jun 6 8 75% 41% to 93%
Jul 5 5 100% 57% to 100%
Aug 4 4 too few examined
Sep 9 11 82% 52% to 95%
Oct 3 4 too few examined
Nov 0 0 too few examined
Dec 0 0 too few examined

Peak flowering in May. Each bar is the share of Cardamine parviflora observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 68 of 83 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 5 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Where it actually grows measured, from 333 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -17.4 °C -4.7 °C 4.2 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 22.4 °C 25.9 °C 33.7 °C
Annual rainfall 529 mm 803 mm 1,385 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 69 mm 125 mm 281 mm

It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 333 research-grade observations of Cardamine parviflora that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one. Climate from CHELSA V2.1 (Karger et al. 2017); occurrences from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 14 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Cardamine arenicola Britton
  • Cardamine arenicola f. gracillima O.E.Schulz
  • Cardamine flexuosa var. fallax (O.E.Schulz) T.Y.Cheo & R.C.Fang
  • Cardamine manshurica (Kom.) Nakai
  • Cardamine parviflora f. gracillima O.E.Schulz
  • Cardamine parviflora f. hispida Franch.
  • Cardamine parviflora f. latifolia O.E.Schulz
  • Cardamine parviflora f. tenerrima O.E.Schulz
  • Cardamine parviflora subsp. virginica (L.) O.E.Schulz
  • Cardamine parviflora var. arenicola (Britton) O.E.Schulz
  • Cardamine parviflora var. manshurica Kom.
  • Cardamine parviflora var. parviflora L.
  • Cardamine regeliana var. manshurica (Kom.) Kitag.
  • Crucifera parviflora E.H.L.Krause

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.