This native perennial plant is about 4-8' tall, producing from its rootstock both basal leaves and fertile shoots with cauline leaves. The basal leaves are separate from the fertile shoots; they help to store energy for next year's fertile shoots. A fertile shoot consists of a single flowering stalk with a whorl of 3 leaves. Each leaf is up to 3' long and across, but palmately cleft into 3-5 narrow lobes with dentate teeth along the margins. The basal leaves have a similar appearance to the cauline leaves; both types of leaves are largely hairless. The central stalk is glabrous or slightly pubescent and unbranched. It terminates into a cyme or short raceme of white flowers. This inflorescence is rather floppy; the flowers open up and become more erect in the presence of sunshine on warm spring days. Each flower is about ½' across when fully open, consisting of 4 white petals, 4 green or purplish green sepals, several stamens with conspicuous yellow anthers, and a single pistil. The petals are lanceolate-oblong and sometimes tinted with pink or light purple. The sepals are oblong and shorter than the petals. The slender pedicels are at least as long as the flowers. The blooming period occurs during mid-spring and lasts about 2 weeks. The flowers are quite fragrant. Each flower is replaced by an elongated seedpod that has a short beak (i.e., a silique); this seedpod is held more or less erect. The seeds are arranged in a single row within the seedpods; they are oval-shaped and somewhat flattened. The root system produces fleshy rhizomes that are jointed and knobby; they are parallel to the surface of the ground and fairly shallow. In addition to these rhizomes and their secondary roots, the root system produces small fleshy tubers. This plant often forms vegetative colonies from its spreading rhizomes; it also reproduces by seed.

Cutleaf Toothwort is a common plant that occurs in nearly every county of Illinois. Habitats include deciduous mesic woodlands, floodplain woodlands, and wooded bluffs. The presence of this species in a woodlands indicates that its soil has never been plowed under or subjected to heavy construction activities. However, this species can survive some disturbance caused by occasional grazing and less disruptive activities of human society. When the introduced Alliaria petiolata (Garlic Mustard) invades a woodlands, this is one of the spring wildflowers that declines in abundance.

Dentaria laciniata var. coalescens Fernald:
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Dentaria laciniata Muhl. ex Willd.:
Canada (North America)
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Cardamine concatenata (Michx.) O. Schwarz:
China (Asia)
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Cutleaf Toothwort is a common plant that occurs in nearly every county of Illinois. Habitats include deciduous mesic woodlands, floodplain woodlands, and wooded bluffs. The presence of this species in a woodlands indicates that its soil has never been plowed under or subjected to heavy construction activities. However, this species can survive some disturbance caused by occasional grazing and less disruptive activities of human society. When the introduced Alliaria petiolata (Garlic Mustard) invades a woodlands, this is one of the spring wildflowers that declines in abundance.

The nectar of the flowers attracts both long-tongued and short-tongued bees, including honey bees, bumblebees, Mason bees, Cuckoo bees (Nomadine), Miner bees, Halictid bees, and Andrenid bees. Less often, the nectar of the flowers attracts early spring butterflies and Bombylius major (Giant Bee Fly). Short-tongued bees also collect pollen from the flowers. The caterpillars of the butterfly Pieris napi oleraceae (Mustard White) feed on the foliage of Dentaria spp. (Toothworts); however, this butterfly has not been observed in Illinois since the late 19th century. However, it still exists in Wisconsin. The tubers of Toothworts were a minor food source of Ectopistes migratorius (Passenger Pigeon); this bird species became extinct during the early 20th century.

Dentaria laciniata (Cut-Leaved Toothwort)
(Bees suck nectar or collect pollen, while flies and beetles suck nectar or feed on pollen; other insects suck nectar; most observations are from Robertson, otherwise they are from Krombein et al., Schemske et al., and MacRae as indicated below)

Bees (long-tongued)
Apidae (Apinae): Apis mellifera sn cp fq (Rb, Shm); Apidae (Bombini): Bombus bimaculatus sn, Bombus griseocallis sn (Rb, Shm), Bombus impatiens, Bombus pensylvanica sn; Anthophoridae (Ceratinini): Ceratina dupla dupla sn; Anthophoridae (Eucerini): Synhalonia belfragii sn; Anthophoridae (Nomadini): Nomada cressonii sn, Nomada cuneatus sn, Nomada dentariae sn fq, Nomada illinoiensis sn, Nomada integerrima sn, Nomada luteola sn fq, Nomada ovatus sn, Nomada sayi sn fq, Nomada sulphurata sn fq; Megachilidae (Osmiini): Osmia bucephala bucephala sn, Osmia lignaria lignaria sn, Osmia pumila sn

Bees (short-tongued)
Halictidae (Halictinae): Agapostemon sericea sn, Halictus confusus (Shm), Halictus ligatus sn, Halictus rubicunda sn, Lasioglossum foxii sn, Lasioglossum imitatus sn cp, Lasioglossum pilosus pilosus sn cp, Lasioglossum versatus sn; Andrenidae (Andreninae): Andrena arabis (Kr), Andrena carlini sn fq (Rb, Shm), Andrena cressonii sn, Andrena erigeniae sn (Kr, Shm), Andrena forbesii (Kr), Andrena hippotes (Kr), Andrena imitatrix imitatrix (Kr), Andrena miserabilis bipunctata sn, Andrena pruni sn, Andrena rugosa sn (Rb, Kr, Shm), Andrena sayi sn fq, Andrena tridens sn

Flies
Syrphidae: Eristalis dimidiatus (Shm), Helophilus fasciatus (Shm), Melanostoma sp. (Shm), Sphaerophoria contiqua fp np, Syrphus sp. (Shm), Syrphus torvus (Shm); Bombyliidae: Bombylius major sn

Butterflies
Lycaenidae: Everes comyntas sn; Papilionidae: Papilio marcellus sn

Beetles
Brachypteridae: Boreades abdominalis fp fq np; Buprestidae: Acmaeodera neglecta (McR), Acmaeodera tubulus (McR)

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 0
Specimens with Barcodes: 1
Species With Barcodes: 1

The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.


No available public DNA sequences.

Download FASTA File

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 1
Specimens with Barcodes: 3
Species With Barcodes: 1

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: NNR - Unranked

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Its easiest to start plants from pieces of the rhizome. These should be planted a little below the surface of the ground in an area with sparse ground cover that receives shade during the summer. Cutleaf Toothwort develops quickly and is one of the earlier spring wildflowers of woodlands. The foliage turns yellow and fades away by the end of spring. This plant typically grows in dappled sunlight before the trees leaf out; it prefers moist to mesic conditions and a rich loamy soil with decaying leaves.