Cardamine hirsuta, commonly called hairy bittercress, is an annual or biennial species of plant in the family Brassicaceae, and is edible[2] as a salad green.

Plants of this species are usually erect and grow to no more than about 30 centimetres (12 in) from a stem which is either unbranched or branched near the base.

When the fruit is ripe the valves on the siliquae will coil tightly from the bottom to the top after being touched and burst explosively, sending the seeds flying far from the parent plant.

The tiny flowers are attractive to a few early butterflies, including (in the United States) spring azure (Celastrina ladon) and falcate orange-tip (Anthocharis midea).

Its range includes but is not limited to: Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Gabon, Great Britain, India, Japan, Laos, Madagascar, Mexico, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkmenistan, United States, Venezuela, and Vietnam.

[12][4][13] The 1889 book The Useful Native Plants of Australia records that it was also called "Lady's Smock" and that "This and other species afford excellent pot-herbs when luxuriant and flaccid.