Cutleaf Toothwort

Cardamine concatenata

Deeply divided & coarsely toothed, they say about its leaves, as if describing some barbarian horde. Even the rhizomes sport tooth- like projections, a root said to be peppery, good raw or boiled, pickled or fermented until sweet— in short, a toothsome thing. The mordellid beetle knows nothing of this, perched on a petal’s lip, drawn in by a fragrance like nothing from any fetid snaggle of teeth.