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babyseed pepperweed, common pepperweed, miner's pepperweed, prairie peppergrass

Habit Plants annual or biennial, puberulent or glabrous.
Stems

(1)2.5–5(6.5) dm.

Basal leaves

rosulate, oblanceolate, spatulate, or oblong; (1.5)2.5–8(11) cm × 5–10(20) mm;

margins serrate or pinnatifid;

petioles 0.5–1.5(2) cm.

Cauline leaves

oblanceolate or linear; (0.7)1.3–6.2(8) cm × (0.5)1.5–10(18) mm, bases not auriculate;

margins entire, serrate, dentate, or rarely pinnatifid; short-petiolate.

Inflorescences

rachises puberulent with straight or rarely curved, usually subclavate trichomes, fruiting pedicels divaricate-ascending to horizontal; terete; straight or slightly recurved; (1.5)2–3.5(4) mm, puberulent adaxially.

Flowers

sepals caducous, 0.5–0.8(1) mm;

petals absent or rudimentary, filiform, 0.3–0.9 mm, white;

stamens 2; median;

styles 0.1–0.2 mm, included in apical notch.

Fruits

dehiscent, obovate to obovate-suborbicular; (2)2.5–3(3.5) × 1.5–2.5(3) mm; widest above middle; apical notch 0.2–0.4 mm deep;

valves smooth, glabrous or sometimes sparsely puberulent along margin, not veined, apically winged.

Seeds

ovate, 1.1–1.3(1.5) × 0.8–0.9 mm;

cotyledons incumbent.

2n

=32.

Lepidium densiflorum

Lepidium oxycarpum

Distribution
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Disturbed areas, pastures, grasslands, chaparral, sagebrush flats, gravelly hillsides, rock crevices. Flowering Apr–Aug. 0–1600 m. All ecoregions. CA, ID, WA; scattered throughout the US, Mexico; Asia, Europe. Native.

This is a highly variable species in which variation does not generally correlate with geography. Thus, recognition of varieties is neither practical nor useful.

Source Flora of Oregon, volume 2, page 493
Ihsan Al-Shehbaz
Sibling taxa
L. acutidens, L. appelianum, L. campestre, L. chalepense, L. davisii, L. dictyotum, L. didymum, L. draba, L. graminifolium, L. heterophyllum, L. latifolium, L. montanum, L. nitidum, L. oblongum, L. perfoliatum, L. pinnatifidum, L. ruderale, L. sativum, L. strictum, L. virginicum
L. acutidens, L. appelianum, L. campestre, L. chalepense, L. davisii, L. densiflorum, L. dictyotum, L. didymum, L. draba, L. graminifolium, L. heterophyllum, L. latifolium, L. montanum, L. nitidum, L. oblongum, L. perfoliatum, L. pinnatifidum, L. ruderale, L. sativum, L. strictum, L. virginicum
Synonyms Lepidium densiflorum var. bourgeaunum, Lepidium densiflorum var. densiflorum, Lepidium densiflorum var. elongatum, Lepidium densiflorum var. macrocarpum, Lepidium densiflorum var. pubicarpum, Lepidium densiflorum var. ramosum, Lepidium texanum
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