Identification: What is this common springtime weed?

i have attached photos

I first notice this weed approx 20 yr ago and it is still common in those black pot container plants at the nursery

It self seeds freely

I don’t think I have noticed it in Okanagan — I see it at the Coast

Too freely if you don’t get a handle on it ASAP

Depending on growing conditions - it is between 3 inches and up to 8 inches tall

Small white flowers blooming now

It has an interesting leaf arrangement - they go around the Center upright stalk and then each leaf has little leaves (well clearly I butchered botany terminology here)

Hère are thé pix attached - taken on Hood of car hence reflection

 

Look at Cardamine

 

Ah, Snap Weed - many a gardener's nemesis! This one is most likely Cardamine hirsutus - there are other Caramine species and a few are native to BC. This one is not native but showed up on the Lower Mainland in the 1970s. It has more strategies for survival than any other weed I have ever encountered. At least it is easy to pull but, if not prevented from going to seed, can produce literally hundreds of seedlings in a relatively small area. Seed dispersal is explosive.

I have made eradicating Snap Weed in my garden my life's work :-) and am slowly succeeding but have to monitor constantly. One of their favourite strategies is to grow and bloom at even 1/2 an inch in height. Then, they are almost invisible - I swear it's true! The best time to see them is when the sun is low on the horizon so you can see their shadows. Then pounce.

For those who are not as paranoid as I have become, these members of the Brassica family are apparently tasty added to salad.

Cardamine hirsuta - Wikipedia

 

Reading up on bittercress « weed »

Yes, it says it’s edible by humans

I don’t use spray etc in the garden so I think I will taste a clean leaf of it

Weed of the Month: Hairy Bittercress - Brooklyn Botanic Garden