Usually glabrous plants having pinnate leaves and white, lilac or purple flowers. It differs from Arabis in its pod being indistinctly keeled, with elastic valves. There are about fifty species, spread over the cold and temperate regions of both hemispheres. The name is derived from cress.

Fig. 34. Cardamine latifolia. (1/4 nat. size.)

1. G. pratensis. Lady's Smock or Cuckoo Flower. - A pretty though exceedingly common indigenous early-blooming perennial, with lilac or white flowers, of which there is a double variety in cultivation, occasionally found wild in wet situations.

2. C. latifdlia (fig. 34). - A tall-growing Spanish species with purple flowers, appearing in June. It inhabits swampy places.

3. C. trifdlia. - A distinct little plant, about 9 inches high, with glabrous trifoliate leaves and dense corymbs of small pure white flowers. A native of Switzerland, flowering in Spring.