Medicinal Monday Cutleaf Toothwort!

Cardamine concatenata or Cutleaf Toothwort is a lovely spring perennial that has charming clusters of small, four-petaled, white flowers. It is native to much of the eastern half of North America including Connecticut and can be found as far west as the Dakotas. Several Native American communities have found medicinal uses for this plant.

About Toothwort

Cutleaf toothwort is in the Brassicaceae family, meaning that it is related to broccoli, turnips, horseradish, and mustard greens. It gets its name, Cutleaf toothwort from its deeply lobbed leaves and tooth-shaped projections on its rhizomes. This plant rises from rhizomes and grows up with a single straight stem with short stalks and clusters of white flowers that open from the bottom up. Six stamens, of different heights and one long slender pistil, surround the yellowish center of this four-petaled flower. As the flowers die down the fruit of this plant is a long bean-like pod with a narrow tip. The stem is smooth below the leaves and hairy above the leaves. The leaves grow from the base of the stem and are deeply cut. Cutleaf toothwort spreads by underground rhizomes. It is found in moist woodland forests where there is deep leaf litter. It is a true spring ephemeral that blooms in the spring and all the above-ground vegetation disappears by July.

Medicinal  & Culinary Uses

This plant is edible and has a taste similar to horseradish. The leaves and the root are consumed in stews and salads.

The name toothwort comes from the supposed similarity of its bumpy rhizome to the root of a tooth and many Native American communities used this plant to treat dental issues. One of the most common uses of this plant was to pulverize the root and make it into a poultice and apply the mixture to the head to treat a headache. The Iroquois used this plant to stimulate appetite, regulate the stomach, and treat colds. The roots were also used in several ways to treat heart palpitations. 

The Iroquois used this plant in two unusual ways. They used this plant as both a love medicine and hunting medicine by placing a piece of root in their mouth to attract a woman and by rubbing the roots on traps and fishing lines or hooks to attract fish.  

Did You Know...

Other names for Cardamine concatenate are crow's toes, pepper root, and purple-flowered toothwort.

The species name, concatenate means linking together and refers to the appearance of the rhizomes. 

Sometimes this plant is chopped and ground into vinegar and used as a substitute for horseradish.

The flower provides nectar and pollen to bees, which are this flower's main pollinators.

West Virginia's White and Mustard White Butterflies depend on this plant to grow. The butterflies lay their eggs on it and the caterpillars eat the leaves to grow.