Cardamine elegantula J. D. Hooker & Thomson, J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 5: 146. 1861. TYPE: Bhutan, 6500 m, Griffith s.n. (holotype, K!; isotype, P!).

            Herbs, perennial, slender, pilose on leaves and stems with trichomes to 0.6 mm. Rhizomes slender, stoloniferous. Stems 8–30 cm, simple, flexuous. Basal leaves compound, rosulate, often present by fruiting; petiole 0.7–2 cm; terminal leaflet broadly ovate to obovate, petiolulate, sparsely pilose, base distinctly oblique, margin entire or obscurely 1-toothed on each side; lateral leaflets 2–4 on each side, with a petiolule 0.5–1.5 mm, ovate to elliptic, 2–5(–8) ´ 1–3.5(–5) mm, similar to terminal one or with a lateral lobe on abaxial margin, distinctly mucronate; cauline leaves compound, not auriculate at base; petiolule 0.5–3 mm; terminal leaflet elliptic to linear-elliptic, 3–6(–9) ´ 0.5–2 mm, base attenuate to cuneate and decurrent with adjacent lateral lobes, margin entire and scabrous with trichomes 0.05–0.1 mm, apex mucronate; lateral leaflets 5–8 on each side of rachis, petiolulate, similar to terminal leaflets. Racemes ebracteate, 2–5-flowered; rachis strongly flexuous; fruiting pedicels strongly reflexed, slender, straight, 4–6 mm, glabrous. Sepals ovate, 1.5–2 ´ 0.8–1 mm, glabrous, membranous at margin and apex; petals pink or white, broadly obovate, 6–7 ´ 3–4 mm; median filament pairs 2.5–3 mm, filiform; lateral pair 1.5–2 mm; anthers oblong, 0.4–0.5 mm; ovules 14–20 per ovary. Fruit linear, 1.2–1.5 cm ´ 0.7–1 mm; valves glabrous; style 1–2 mm. Seeds pale brown, oblong, ca. 1.8 ´ 0.8 mm, wingless.

Flowering: May–Jun.

Habitat: beneath wet rock overhang, damp rocks in forests, marshy area along streams.

Elevation: 3050–2400 m.

Distribution: Bhutan, India (Sikkim), Nepal.