Download cuckooflower fact sheet

Cuckooflower
Cardamine pratensis
What to look for
Pretty, white-pinkish, slightly cupped flowers
Long, elegant stems
Lower leaves with rounded leaflets
Upper leaves with narrow leaflets
Where found
Did you know?
Damp grassland, woods, roadsides, ditches, river
banks and pond edges
When to look
Other names include Lady’s smock (it is
one of the flowers associated with the
Virgin Mary) and milkmaids
Flowers April-June but sometimes earlier
The plant was said to be sacred to the
fairies, therefore unlucky to bring the
flowers indoors
Orange tip butterfly on cuckooflower:
Its leaves are rich in vitamin C and
were once used as a substitute for
watercress, to which it is closely related
One of the main food plants for the
orange -tip (Anthocharis cardamines)
and green-veined white (Artogeia napi)
butterflies
The meadow froghopper (Philaenus
spumarius) is attracted to the sap and
its larvae forms frothy blobs on the
stems known as ‘cuckoo spit’
The range of the cuckoo flower has
been reduced due to the drainage of
many of our wetlands
More great wildlife factsheets to download: www.naturescalendar.org.uk/factpacks
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Provided by the Woodland Trust, a charity registered in England & Wales (294344) and Scotland (SC038885) at Kempton Way, Grantham, NG31 6LL
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