Pink or Purple Brassicas
What are they?
This is a very mixed bunch of plants in the brassicaceae - the mustard or cabbage family. They all have flowers that are pink, mauve, purplish or violet, while most members of the family have white or yellow flowers. Some of these plants also occur in white-flowered forms and the two colours may often be found growing together.
Where are they found?
This mixed group of plants mostly consists of species that originated as garden plants. As such, they are typically found in disturbed or human-influenced places such as hedgerows, roadsides, waste ground and similar places. However, this is a varied bunch and you should read the habitat choices for each species, as these will often help you towards a successful identification.
Identification
Flower colour and precise petal shape will help narrow your search. If present, seed capsules will be invaluable, otherwise check leaf shape and read the notes on overall size and behaviour of plant (upright or trailing etc), as well as habitat type.
Cuckooflower Cardamine pratensis
The only native species on this page and found typically in wet grassland or marshy places. Flowers April to May. Paler pink flowers than other species on this page. Basal leaves compound with broad, rounded leaflets, stem leaves with narrow, linear leaflets.
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Common Radish Raphanus sativus
Introduced. Occasionally grown as an arable cover crop in a mixture with other brassicas and sometimes found as a relic of cultivation along field edges. Flowers throughout much of the year, depending on sowing time. Flowers often whitish with reddish veins, but the pink, red or purple colour can extend variably across much of the petal. Basal leaves rough with coarse, uneven lobes. Seed capsule more or less rounded with a smooth outline, showing little or no constriction between the seeds.
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Annual Honesty Lunaria annua
Introduced from mainland Europe. A popular garden plant and often escaping into rough, grassy areas and roadsides. Flowers April to May. Flowers may be rich, pinkish-purple or white, with the two colours often (though not always) growing together. Leaves broadly triangular with a rounded base and strongly toothed edges. Seed capsules are flat, rounded discs which, when completely dried and after the seeds have gone, are popular for flower-arranging or Christmas decoration.
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Perennial Honesty Lunaria rediviva
Introduced from mainland Europe. Grown occasionally as a garden ornamental and recorded a handful of times as an escape from cultivation, but not persisting. Flowers April to June. Flowers pale lilac, typically less showy than those of Annual Honesty. Seed capsules flattened and rounded, but tapered to an acute angle at both ends.
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Common Dame's-violet Hesperis matronalis
Introduced as a garden plant and occasionally escaping into rough, grassy areas and roadsides, though much less common than the similar Annual Honesty. Flowers May to July. Flowers heavily scented, mauve or white, with the two colours rarely growing together. Leaves spear-shaped with lightly toothed edges. Seed capsules long, thin and held erect.
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Aubretia Aubrieta deltoidea
Introduced as a garden plant and occasionally escaping into neighbouring areas. A trailing plant, most often seen growing on vertical walls or steep banks. Flowers March to July. Flowers may be any shade of pink, reddish-purple or bluish purple, or occasionally white. Leaves greyish-green with pointed tips, star-shaped hairs and two to three strong teeth along each side. Seed capsules short and fat, roughly hairy with star-shaped hairs.
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Virginia Stock Malcolmia maritima
Introduced as a garden annual and rarely found as a pavement weed or on waste ground and old borders. Flowers May to October or later if mild. Flowers pink with a paler centre. Leaves greyish-green with star-shaped hairs, rounded tips and a few, very weak teeth along each side. Seed capsules long, thin and wiry.
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Hoary Stock Matthiola incana
Introduced as a garden annual and surviving as a short-lived perennial in milder locations, especially near the coast. Flowers April to June or later. Flowers pinkish-purple or sometimes white. Leaves greyish-green with star-shaped hairs and entire margins. Seed capsules long and straight.
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Night-scented Stock Matthiola longipetala
Introduced from eastern Europe as a garden annual with a handful of records of garden escapes in the region. Flowers July to September. Flowers pinkish-purple or sometimes white with relatively long, often reflexed, petals. Leaves greyish-green with star-shaped hairs and entire or toothed margins. Seed capsules long and straight, with two, horn-like extensions at the end.
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Globe Candytuft Iberis umbellata
(Umbellate Candytuft) Introduced as a garden annual and rarely found as a pavement weed or on waste ground and old borders. Flowers May to October. Flowers various shades of pink or purple, occasionally white. Seedpods are distinctive with a two pronged tip and a long spike between the prongs, the latter the remants of the style. The seed capsules are carried in neat, globular heads. The assymetrical flowers with two small petals and two larger ones are unique in this group, but white-flowered specimens should be carriedcarefully with the other, white-flowered, candytufts.
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Spanish Mustard Erucaria hispanica
Introduced from SE Europe and once recorded at Felixstowe, Suffolk in 1936. Flowers June to August. Small lilac flowers and deeply dissected leaves. The seed capsules are very distinctive.
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Sand Rock-cress Arabidopsis arenosa
Introduced from mainland Europe and once recorded in Suffolk in 1959. Flowers March to June. Very similar to Thale Cress but petals more than 5mm long, white or pale pink. Basal leaves have roughly toothed or lobed margins.
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Coralroot Bitter-cress Cardamine bulbifera
Considered native in the Chilterns and the Weald of Kent and Sussex. Elsewhere an occasional escape from cultivation and in our region, recorded from North-east Essex near Brightlingsea. Flowers April to June. A perennial to around 60cm in height. Leaves pinnate with 2-4 pairs of side leaflets. Easily recognised by the blackish-purple bulbils that develop along the stem, in the axils of the leaves. Also differs from other bitter-cress species by the lack of a basal rosette of leaves.
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Radish-leaved Bitter-cress Cardamine raphanifolia
(Greater Cuckooflower) Introduced from mainland Europe as a garden ornamental and recorded from South Suffolk. Favours wet or marshy ground. Flowers March to June. A perennial to around 60cm in height with strong rhizomes that can spread to form extensive colonies. Leaves pinnate with 1-6 pairs of side leaflets and a terminal leaflet that is wider than the side leaflets.
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