73. Cardamine pratensis, Linn.

The medicinal plant Cardamine pratensis, Linn is a member of the Brassicaceae or Cruciferae (mustards) family. This page includes its habitat, botanical descption, medicinal uses (eg., Ayurveda), chemical constituents and history of use in modern and ancient India.

Index in Flora of British India (Hooker): 1.133.

Habitat:—Hassora in western Tibet.

Botanical description:—A perennial glabrous herb. Stem 1 ft.

Rootstock: sometimes bearing small fleshy tubers.

Leaves: pinnate; leaflets of the radical leaves orbicular or ovate, terminal longer; those of the cauline leaves linear-oblong entire, in equidistant pairs, angled, shortly petioled.

Flowers: large white or lilac, corymbose when young.

Petals: spreading three times as long as sepals.

Pods: 1 in., linear, erect.

Style: short.

Medicinal uses:—Used as a salad for the same purpose as Nasturtium officinale.