U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Small-anthered bittercress (Cardamine micranthera) Description, biology, and habitat This rare perennial herb is a member of Historically, the small-anthered the mustard or cress family, The Federal bittercress was known to exist in small Brassicaceae. It’s one of thirteen species Endangered Species streambank seepage areas, adjacent in the genus Cardamine that are native sandbars, and stream edges in the Dan to North Carolina and Virginia. It’s erect Act River watershed in Stokes and Forsyth and slender, with fibrous roots and Counties, North Carolina, and Patrick typically one, but occasionally several, County, Virginia. simple or branched stem(s) growing 20 The Endangered to 40 centimeters tall. Basal leaves have Species First discovered in 1939, it was thought one or two pairs of small lateral lobes, to be extinct by the early 1960’s. while stem leaves are alternate and Act of 1973 (Act) However, in 1985 the species was seen mostly unlobed. The best time to find it is in April to May when it flowers and recognizes that many fruits. The flowers consist of four white of our nations petals, six stamens, and small, rounded anthers. The fruit contains brown seeds valuable plant that are approximately one millimeter long. It is distinguished from its common and animal relative, Cardamine rotundifolia, by its resources smaller flowers and fruits that are only have been half as long as those of C. rotundifolia. lost and that Why is the small-anthered bittercress so rare? other All known populations of small-anthered bittercress occur on privately-owned species are land. The surviving populations range in close to size from fewer than a dozen plants to over 1,000 individuals. As is the case with extinction. many aquatic and riparian species, the majority of small-anthered bittercress The Act populations have been negatively provides a impacted and continue to be threatened by impoundments, channelization, and means to help residential, industrial, and agricultural preserve these development. The close proximity to agricultural lands and the loss of species and their adequate stream buffer zones make the plants vulnerable to herbicides, erosion, habitats for future again in Stokes County along Little and siltation, as well as from trampling generations. Peters Creek, a tributary to the Dan by cattle. Logging in close proximity can River. The only known habitat in Forsyth also lead to erosion and siltation County was converted into a cow problems. Much of the seep habitat with pasture, and the species has never been which this species was historically relocated in this county. Following its associated is now gone, and most of the rediscovery, the species was state-listed surviving plants exist in the streambed as endangered in North Carolina and on small sandbars, making them Virginia. It was federally-listed as especially vulnerable to flooding that can endangered on September 21, 1989. As scour the streambanks and wash away of 2006, the global range of this species the few remaining plants. Invasive, consisted of approximately 36 sites, all of exotic species, such as Japanese which occur along tributaries to the Dan honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) have River in North Carolina and Virginia. taken over many areas of suitable habitat for this species. Germination of seeds in cultivation is being tested to enhance existing populations and for possible reintroduction to historical U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service anthered ■ Support local, state, and national bittercress cannot clean water legislation and wetland survive without protection efforts. the habitat of small, protected ■ Report illegal dumping activities and streambeds. These erosion and sedimentation problems. areas are also home These activities do affect you. to many other woodland species that ■ Recycle as much as you can. As require wet, boggy soils. The landfills become full, new ones are demise of small-anthered often placed in uninhabited areas, sites, however attempts to cultivate bittercress indicates that many other causing the destruction of hundreds small-anthered bittercress have shown species may also be on the verge of of acres of wild habitat. that cuttings will not flower and the decline. plants do not live long enough to flower Wild lands and the plants and animal life more than once in containers. More Although extinction is a natural process, that inhabit unique natural places are information is needed to determine if the current extinction rates are now dependent on us for survival. We rates of seed production – and seedling approximately one thousand times can enjoy and benefit from these natural survival – are adequate to maintain the greater than the normal rate. Before places with their diversity of life. With size of the remaining populations in the humans began to make extraordinary our help, they will be there for future wild. impacts on the environment, extinction generations. occurred in balance with speciation, the Why should we be concerned about the process through which new species For additional information, contact: loss of species? develop to take the place of species that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service All life on Earth is interconnected, disappear. Almost all extinctions in Asheville Field Office including humans. We depend on the recent history have been due to direct or 160 Zillicoa Street diversity of plant and animal life for indirect environmental changes caused Asheville, NC 28801 many resources, including food, many by humans. Our modern day impacts 828/258-3939 important medicines, and the ecological cause changes to occur too rapidly and to functions each species performs in its such a greater extent than natural February 2006 special niche. Every time a species changes would occur that species do not becomes extinct, we lose the known and have enough time to adapt to their This fact sheet may be copied. unknown benefits that particular species changing environment. provides. Over half of the medicines in use today come from plants and animals, What you can do to help but only a small fraction of species have ■ Establish and maintain forested been tested to determine their potential streamside buffers. Several federal, medicinal value. When a species state, and private programs are disappears, our opportunities to discover available to assist landowners, both new cures and treatments become more technically and financially, with limited, and important discoveries may restoring and protecting streamside be lost forever. The current population buffers and eroding streams. numbers of small-anthered bittercress are not known exactly, but field studies ■ Implement and maintain measures performed in 1996 found only nine small such as Best Management Practices populations in Stokes County, N.C., and for controlling erosion and storm 1999 studies found only thirteen water during and after land-clearing populations in Patrick County, VA. and disturbance activities Endangered species are indicators of the ■ Be careful with the use and disposal health of our environment. They serve as of fertilizers, pesticides, and other an early warning system that one or chemicals. Remember, what you put more basic elements, such as air, land, on your land or dump down the drain and water in our environment are may eventually wind up in nearby becoming compromised. The small- waters..