Nuttall's Toothwort, Oak Toothwort, Slender Toothwort, Spring Beauty: Cardamine nuttallii var. nuttallii (Synonyms: Cardamine nuttallii var. covilleana, Cardamine nuttallii var. dissecta, Cardamine pulcherrima, Cardamine pulcherrima var. pulcherrima, Cardamine pulcherrima var. tenella, Dentaria tenella, Dentaria tenella var. pulcherrima, Dentaria tenella var. quercetorum, Dentaria tenella var. tenella)

[The Toothworts of the Columbia River Gorge of Oregon and Washington]

Oaks Toothwort, Nuttall's Toothwort, Slender Toothwort, Spring Beauty

Cardamine nuttallii var. nuttallii

Synonyms: Cardamine nuttallii var. covilleana, Cardamine nuttallii var. dissecta, Cardamine pulcherrima, Cardamine pulcherrima var. pulcherrima, Cardamine pulcherrima var. tenella, Dentaria tenella, Dentaria tenella var. pulcherrima, Dentaria tenella var. quercetorum, Dentaria tenella var. tenella

The photo above shows the inflorescence of oak toothwort as seen in oak forest atop the Columbia Hills to the north of The Dalles, OR.................April 7, 2007.

Characteristics:

Oaks toothwort is an interesting native wildflower with rhizomatous growth and erect stems from 10-30 cm tall. It is a perennial. The herbage is smooth to sparsely hairy. The leaves are long-petiolate, and on this variety, they are usually palmately or pinnipalmately compound with 3-7 leaflets as seen in the photo at right. There may be 1-3 stem leaves found above mid stem, each being compound with 3-5 thin leaflets.

The racemes are few-flowered, with the flowers erect or ascending. The 4 purplish sepals are 3-5 cm long, while the 4 petals range from 9-14 mm long. The petals are generally pink, red, or purplish. The siliques are 1.5-5 cm long and about 1.5 mm wide.

Varieties of this Species:

I believe that both of the following varieties of toothwort are now lumped within Cardamine nuttallii var. nuttallii. I've included these varietal divisions as several popular books for this region still use this terminology.

variety pulcherrima - The basal leave are at leas in part somewhat palmately to pinnipalmately compound with 3-7 leaflets, the blades deeply lobed to dissected.

variety tenella - The basal leaves are typically simple and rotund or a rounded hear-shape. If more deeply lobed, the lobes are entire or almost so.

Habitat:

Oaks toothwort is found in moist spring soil in open forests (under Oregon white oak in the gorge).

Range:

Oaks Toothwort is found from the Olympic Peninsula and Mt. Rainier south to Southwestern Oregon. In the Columbia River Gorge, it may be found from about the Wind River east to about Horsethief Butte, between the elevations of 100'-2500'.

Oak toothwort as seen in oak forest along the Dog Mountain Trail in the Columbia River Gorge.................May 4, 2011.

A basal leaf (left) and underside of the dark-veined petals and round-tipped sepals (right) of oak toothwort as seen in oak forest atop the Columbia Hills to the north of The Dalles, OR.................April 7, 2007.

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Close-ups of newly blooming oak toothworts as seen in talus under oak forest at Catherine Creek, central Columbia River Gorge...............March 7, 2011.

Several oaks toothworts in bloom under the oak forest along Dillacort Creek, Klickitat River drainage...............April 3, 2011.

Paul Slichter