Hedgerow flower id.

[Palustris]

We think this is a pale form of Cardamine pratensis. What say you?

[Tristan_He]

Hi Palustris, yes I agree. The flowers range from white to a sort of pinkish-purple.

[Palustris]

Thanks. Our Wild flower book only shows it as being much redder than this so we were a bit unsure,especially as the leaves are so well hidden in the undergrowth.

[Tristan_He]

I think its very pretty, well worth encouraging in grass (e.g. in the sort of meadow areas where you might grow Crocus and Fritillaria). Also the main foodplant of the orange tip butterfly, so double ornamental value.

[Palustris]

I grow some of the other Cardamine specie, but not this one. This was in the bank alongside one of the lanes near where we live.

[JohnnyD]

We always called it 'mayflower'. JohnnyD

[Maggi Young]

We always called it 'mayflower'. JohnnyD

I know Craetagus monogynus as  the "May Flower" ! Fascinating about the wide  use  of  common names  for  different  plants, isn't it?!

[Gail]

We call it lady's smock or cuckoo flower - as it is meant to flower at the same time as the cuckoo arrives (sadly don't get some many cuckoos now to put that to the test). It grows wild in some of the verges round here. I love it, particularly because as Tristan says, it is good for the orange tip butterflies. I've just bought a plant of the double form from Rumbling Bridge Nursery (along with Anemone sylvestris ‘Flore Pleno’, another good cottage garden plant).

[Tristan_He]

Double form no good for orange tips though sadly Gail - the caterpillars eat the developing seed pods. But still very pretty.