Cardamine nipponica Franch. & Sav.

Herbs perennial, 3-10 cm tall, glabrous throughout. Rhizomes slender, many branched, with petiolar remains of previous years. Stems erect, 2- or 3-leaved. Basal leaves rosulate, (3 or)5- or 7-foliolate; petiole 0.7-2.5 cm; terminal leaflet suborbicular, broadly ovate, or elliptic, 1.5-6 × 1-4 mm, base cuneate or obtuse, margin entire, apex acute and submucronate; lateral leaflets (1 or)2-4 pairs, subsessile, obovate, base cuneate, margin entire, slightly smaller than terminal one. Cauline leaves 3- or 5-foliolate; petiole 4-11 mm, base auriculate or amplexicaul; auricles lanceolate or toothlike, 0.2-2 × 0.1-0.4 mm, apex acute or subcaudate; terminal leaflet narrowly oblanceolate or linear, 2-10 × 0.5-1 mm; lateral leaflets 2 pairs, smaller than but similar to terminal lobe. Racemes 3-6-flowered, ebracteate; rachis flexuous in fruit. Fruiting pedicels divaricate or ascending, 3-8 mm, straight. Sepals oblong, 1.7-2.2 × ca. 0.8 mm. Petals white, spatulate, 5-6 × ca. 1.5 mm, apex rounded. Median filament pairs ca. 2.5 mm, lateral pair ca. 1.5 mm; anthers ovate, 0.4-0.5 mm. Ovules 10-16 per ovary. Fruit linear, 1.5-3 cm × 0.8-1.2 mm; valves smooth, glabrous; style 0.8-2 mm. Seeds brown, oblong, 1-1.5 × 0.6-0.9 mm, apically winged. Fl. and fr. Jul-Aug.

Alpine slopes. Taiwan [Japan].