Perennial with a creeping rhizome, suberect or procumbent, 10-20 cm long, glabrous. Leaves pinnate, stalked, usually 4-7 jugate, very variable; pinnae sub-orbicular to linear-oblong, 5-15 (-20) mm long, 2-5 mm broad; terminal lobe scarcely different from the lateral ones, entire to 3-lobulate. Racemes 5-15-flowered, up to 10 cm long in fruit. Flowers 10-15 mm across, showy, usually lilac or pinkish; pedicels 10-20 mm long in fruit, ascending. Sepals c. 3.5 mm long. Petals c. 3 times as long as the sepals, 5-8 mm broad, obovate-oblong, hardly clawed, veined. Sta¬mens c. 4:5 mm long. Siliquae linear, compressed, 2.5-3 cm long, 1.5 mm broad, straight, glabrous; style 2-3 mm long with a capitate stigma; septum not veined; seeds many, c. 1.5 mm long.

Fl. Per.: June-July.

Syntypes: N.W. Himalayas, Kunawer, Nipchang valley, Duthie 2724 (K); Lebung pass, Duthie 5330 (BM).

Distribution: Endemic to Himalayas.

Differs from Cardamine pratensis L. by its lax, flexuose habit with a creeping rhizome, short aerial shoots with showy pinkish or lilac flowers. However, forms reaching very close to C. pratensis are not lacking. It grows among boulders and rock crevices and seems to be more common in E. Himalayas.