Sand bittercress

Cardamine parviflora, commonly known as sand bittercress or small-flowered bittercress, is a slender annual herb in the family Brassicaceae native to North America, Eurasia and northern Africa, growing in moist sandy or gravelly habitats including streambanks, rock outcrops, vernal seeps and disturbed open ground. Plants are generally small and delicate, with erect or ascending stems 10 to 35 centimeters tall arising from a slender taproot. The pinnately compound leaves are mostly cauline (stem-borne), with 5 to 15 narrow linear to oblong leaflets, the terminal leaflet usually similar to the laterals. Small white four-petaled flowers, only 2 to 4 millimeters across, are borne in short terminal racemes in spring. The fruit is a slender erect silique 1 to 2.5 centimeters long that splits explosively when ripe to scatter the small seeds. The plant is widely distributed in temperate climates but often overlooked because of its small stature and brief spring growth.