Cut-leaved Toothwort (Dentaria lacinata or Cardimine concatenata)

Yesterday, while walking through the woods, I decided to take a deer trail down to the creek on my neighbor’s property.  Not 20 feet down the trail I found a beautiful little wildflower that I had not seen before.  Thanks to the Maryland Native Plants Society I was able to identify it as the Cut-leaved Toothwort or Pepper Root (Dentaria lacinata).  This is a charming Spring wildflower that flowers at the same time as Spring Beauties and Bluebells.  You never know what you are going to see beneath your feet.  I looked around and there was only this one little plant that has colonized (by roots presumably) an area right on the deer path).  I can see that it’s going to get trampled but I just can’t bring myself to lift this plant and take to safety on our property 🙂  I guess the only thing to do is to buy some for myself from Lazy S or some such place that specializes in wildflowers.