Lady’s Smock
Latin: Cardamine pratensis
Irish: Léine Mhuire
This is a native plant, belonging to the Cruciferous family. Called Cuckoo Flower in some areas. It is a hairless perennial that is frequent in wet habitats such as marshes and damp meadows.
Specimens were collected in late April when plants were flowering in the rough at the front-left of 17th tee box but it can be found in many other parts of the course where grass is not regularly and closely mowed.
It has lilac-pink or white 12-20mm flowers that have four petals and appear in April, lasting until June. Although leaves at the base of the stem are more-or-less round the leaves higher up are narrow with numerous leaflets. Seeds are produced in elongated, thin, pod-like structures (siliquas). When ripe, the pods burst open, ejecting seeds with such force that they may land more than 3 meters away.
It is a plant noted for attracting wildlife such as bees, flies and butterflies.
