Cardamine pratensis Seeds | Cuckoo Flower

Pale lilac four-petalled flowers of Cuckoo Flower (Cardamine pratensis) in wet grass — Cuckoo Flower (*Cardamine pratensis*): Brassicaceae, the lady’s smock of European damp meadows and stream margins.

LATIN NAME: Cardamine pratensis

COMMON NAME: Cuckoo Flower, Lady’s Smock

Plant Profile

Cuckoo flower is a delicate perennial of damp meadows, stream margins, wet woods and old lawns across Europe and western Asia. It grows fifteen to sixty centimetres tall, with pinnate leaves and loose clusters of four-petalled flowers that open in pale lilac-pink as the cuckoo returns in April.

The leaves at the base of the stem form a rosette, and small bulbils often grow in the leaf axils, which is one way the plant spreads without seed. It is the main food plant of the orange-tip butterfly, whose eggs are laid singly on the flower buds.

The stems are hollow and easy to bruise, so the flowers are best picked in the morning.

Science & Biotechnology

The species is studied both as a wildflower of declining wet meadow and as a plant with an unusual reproductive system. Some populations are self-incompatible and need cross-pollination, while others set seed without it, and the axillary bulbils allow clonal spread.

Research on wetland conservation uses it as an indicator of unimproved, consistently damp grassland. Its relationship with the orange-tip butterfly has been used to show how the timing of the butterfly’s emergence tracks the flowering of its host plant, and how closely the two are tied to spring temperature.

Uses & Benefits

It is a plant for a damp meadow, pond margin or bog garden, where the spring flowers and the association with orange-tip butterflies are the reward. The double form, Flore Pleno, is grown in gardens for its fuller flowers and is sterile, so it stays in bounds.

The leaves have a peppery, cress-like taste and were eaten in spring salads, in the same way as watercress, though the plant is now more valued for wildlife than for the table. In parts of Europe it was also used as a spring tonic, a use that has largely died out.

The double form lasts longer in flower and never sets seed, so it must be divided to increase.

Growing from Seed

Sow fresh seed on the surface of a moist, humus-rich mix and keep it wet, since the species will not germinate in dry compost. Light helps, so press the seed in rather than covering it. Keep at 15-18C; germination is usually quick in fresh seed.

Plant out in damp soil in sun or part shade, and do not let the ground dry out in summer. Divide clumps in spring if the plant spreads too far, and leave the seed heads to ripen if you want it to colonise the surrounding grass.

In a border, plant it at the edge of a pond liner to keep the root damp.

It looks best in a colony, so plant several and let them seed.

Our Take

Cuckoo flower belongs beside water, where its spring flowers and the orange-tip butterflies they feed make it worth more than its size suggests. It is easy, provided the ground stays wet.

Herb Seeds