Japanese name: タネツケバナ（種漬花、種浸花） Scientific name:Cardamine scutata var. scutata
[Overview]
An annual or biennial found in rice paddies and along roadsides.
Sometimes side shoots emerge from the leaf axils, making it perennial-like.
The stem is 10–30 cm tall, branches from the lower part, and is somewhat hairy.
The stem is often tinged with dark purple.
The leaves include basal leaves and leaves alternate on the stem, and are pinnately compound, 2.5–9 cm long.
There are 1–8 pairs of lateral lobes; each lobe is oblong to round, and the terminal lobe is about the same size as the lateral lobes or slightly larger.
The flowers are borne in racemes and are white with 4 petals.
The petals are obovate, 3–4 mm long.
There are 6 stamens (rarely 4).
The fruit is a silique 1–2 cm long, standing erect.
Inside the fruit, many seeds about 1 mm long are arranged in a single row.
[Notes]
The name is said to derive from the fact that it blooms at the time when rice seed grains are soaked in water to prepare the seedbed.
