Cardamine pratensis - Cuckoo Flower - (Brassicaceae)

Lady's Smock and Milkmaids are two other common names for this spring flower of meadows and riverbanks. The flowers droop and close up at night or during heavy rain.

Cuckoo Flower

This flower, like its namesake the cuckoo itself, comes in April, but May and June are the months when cuckoo flowers bloom in greatest profusion.

Cuckoo Flower

The Meadow Froghopper (Philaenus spumarius) attracted to the sap of these plants, and its larvae form frothy blobs on the stems; some people call this cuckoo spit.