Toothwort is a member of the mustard family that blooms March–May in wooded slopes and valleys. The sharply toothed, deeply lobed leaves are distinctive. The bright white, 4-petaled flowers shine at forest visitors.
Toothwort is a nonwoody, perennial, single-stemmed plant. The rhizomes are elongated, consisting of thickened, beadlike, tuberous portions connected by thinner, threadlike portions.
The flowers are several, occurring toward the top of the stem, borne above the leaves. The petals are white, sometimes pale lavender, and fairly large. Like other members of the mustard family, there are 4 petals, in a cross-shaped arrangement. When fully open, the flowers are about ½ inch wide (rather large and showy, for a mustard).
Blooms March–May.
The leaves occur in a whorl, midway on the plant stem, divided into 3 deeply incised, narrow sections that are pointed and coarsely toothed, giving a 5-lobed appearance.
Similar species: There are 7 other species in the genus Cardamine recorded for Missouri, all called “toothwort,” “cress,” or “bitter cress”; their flowers are white, pink, or purple. The toothwort described on this page is easily distinguished from the others by its leaf shape.
Height: to 16 inches.
Statewide, except for the southeastern lowlands.
Habitat and Conservation
Occurs in rich wooded slopes, ravines, and valleys, never in large groups but quite common through woods in early spring.
This is one of the many native early spring wildflowers that declines when invasive, nonnative garlic mustard takes over an area. Garlic mustard forms big patches, grows taller, and leafs out earlier than toothwort, shading it out and outcompeting it.
Status
Native Missouri wildflower.
Human Connections
The rhizomes of this plant are spicy and edible and can be eaten raw in salads or dried, ground, mixed with vinegar, and used like horseradish. Most people, however, enjoy toothwort as one of our early spring wildflowers.
This plant can be grown in woodland gardens, wildflower gardens, or in naturalized areas. If you wish to include toothwort in your garden, make sure you get your plants from an ethical wildflower nursery.
The deeply palmately lobed, toothed leaves sometimes draw attention when people see them and wonder if they are tiny cannabis plants. For the record, they are unrelated; they are in different families. Toothwort is more closely related to broccoli, cabbage, and radishes.
The genus name, Cardamine, is from a Greek word for watercress, peppergrass, or pepperwort. The word is related to the name for the spices called cardamom. Across the globe, many so-called warming spices, ranging from black pepper to chilis, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, and mustards, have been broadly referred to as "pepper."
The species name, concatenata, means "concatenate": a series of things linked together like a chain, or like beads on a string. It refers to the rhizomes, which are elongated but are constricted into beadlike, tuberous portions connected by thinner, threadlike portions.
Ecosystem Connections
A wide variety of bees and other insects visit the flowers for nectar, pollen, or both. Early spring wildflowers are important food sources for insects as they leave winter dormancy.
Many animals gratefully nibble these tender green plants in springtime.
Toothwort and other woodland flowers require a forest habitat to survive, so they depend on the oaks, hickories, maples, and other trees around them. The presence of toothwort in an area can be an indicator that the soil has not been disturbed by such activities as construction or plowing.
