Cardamine fulcrata Greene, Pittonia 3: 155 (1897). TYPE: Mexico, Pringle s.n. (holotype, ND-G). US has three sheets as Pringle 4989 marked as isotypes: check original publication.

Cardamine aschersoniana O. E. Schulz, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 32: 410. 1903. TYPE: Venezuela, Tovar, May 1836, Moritz 369 (lectotype, here designated, B!).

Cardamine bradeii O. E. Schulz, Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin-Dahlem 8: 328. 1923. TYPE: Costa Rica, Barba, 22 Jan. 1909, A. C. Brade 2305 (holotype, B?).

Cardamine fulcrata var. scabra O. E. Schulz, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 32: 411. 1903. TYPE: Venezuela, Tovar, 2340-2670 m, 1854-1855, A. Fendler 23 (holotype, GH!; isotypes, K!, NY!).

            Herbs, perennial. Rhizomes slender, not tuberous. Stems (1.5-)2.5-6(-8) dm, erect or decumbent, simple or branched above, glabrous or puberulent. Cauline leaves (lower and middle) 3.3-16(-23) cm, trifoliolate; petiole 2-8(-10) cm; terminal leaflet 2-8(-11) ´ (0.7-)1.5-3(-4) cm, lanceolate, oblong, elliptic, or ovate, sparsely hirsute or puberulent with trichomes to 0.5 mm, base cuneate to subobtuse, margin ciliolate with trichomes to 0.2 mm, serrate or crenate, teeth mucronate, apex acute to long acuminate, petiolule 0.5-1.5 cm; lateral leaflets smaller than terminal lobe, subsessile or with a petiolule to 5 mm, base oblique; uppermost leaves smaller, reduced into bracts. Racemes bracteate throughout or rarely only basally; bracts simple, linear to linear-oblanceolate; lowermost filiform to lanceolate and to 5 ´ 1.5 cm, subsessile or on petioles to 2 cm; fruiting pedicels (7-)10-20(-25) mm, divaricate to ascending, stout. Sepals oblong, 2-3.5 ´ 1-1.5 mm, not saccate; petals white, obovate to oblanceolate, 4.5-7 ´ 2-4 mm; filaments 2.5-4.5 mm; anthers oblong, 0.8-1.2 mm; ovules 12-20 per ovary. Fruits (2.8-)3.5-5(-5.8) cm ´ 1.5-2.2 mm; style 1-2.7(-4) mm. Seeds brown, oblong, 1.5-2.7(-3) ´ 0.8-1.2(-1.5) mm.

Flowering: sporadically throughout the year.

Habitats: Cloud or rain forests, shady hillsides, mossy stream banks, along trails, forest margins.

Elevation: 700–3300 m.

Distribution: Southern Mexico (Chiapas), Central America (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama) and northern South America [Colombia (Magdalena, Santeander), Venezuela (Lara, Merida, Monagas, Sucre, Tachira, Trujillo)].

Cloud forests, shady hillsides, mossy stream banks, along trails in forests, forest margins, 700–2800 m. Central Mexico south into Panama.

Note: Cardamine fulcata is often confused with C. africana, an African species naturalized in the Neotropics, but it is easily distinguished by having bracteate instead of ebracteate inflorescences.