Cuckoo flower Cardamine pratensis

Features

Cardamine pratensis, the cuckoo flower, lady's smock, mayflower, or milkmaids, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae.

Species	Perrenial
Living space	Lake, Pond, River edge, Swamp, Wet site
Size	up to 50 cm

Description

Cardamine pratensis is a herbaceous, hairless, perennial plant growing to 40–50 cm tall, with pinnate leaves 5–12 cm long with 3–15 leaflets, each leaflet about 1 cm long. The flowers are produced on a spike 10–30 cm long, each flower 1–2 cm in diameter with four very pale violet-pink (rarely white) petals. The style of the fruit is short or longish. It grows best close to water. It is useful for making soups and salads.