Lepidium oxycarpum |
Lepidium austrinum |
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fork pepper-grass, fork pepperweed, fork pepperwort, sharp pod pepper grass, sharp-fruit pepperweed, sharpfruit pepperwort |
southern pepperweed, southern pepperwort |
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Habit | Annuals; glabrous or puberulent. | Annuals or biennials; often densely hirsute, (trichomes cylindrical). |
Stems | several from base, usually erect to ascending, rarely decumbent, branched, 0.4–1.5(–2) dm. |
often simple from base, erect, branched distally, (1.5–)2–6.7(–9.4) dm. |
Basal leaves | (soon withered); not rosulate; petiole 0.5–1.5(–2) cm; blade margins entire or pinnatifid (lobes 2–5 pairs, linear to filiform), 1.5–5 cm × 0.5–2 mm. |
(later withered); rosulate; petiole (0.7–)1.5–4.5 cm; blade pinnatifid, 2–8.3 cm × 9–26 mm, margins (of lobes) entire or dentate. |
Cauline leaves | petiolate; blade linear, 0.1–0.3 cm × 0.5–2 mm, base attenuate, not auriculate, margins entire. |
shortly petiolate; blade oblanceolate to nearly linear, 1–4.5(–6.2) cm × 3–10(–17) mm, base attenuate to cuneate, not auriculate, margins entire or dentate. |
Racemes | considerably elongated, (lax) in fruit; rachis glabrous or puberulent, trichomes straight, cylindrical. |
much-elongated in fruit; rachis pubescent, trichomes curved, with fewer and longer, straight ones. |
Flowers | sepals oblong, 0.6–0.8 × 0.4–0.5 mm; petals absent; stamens 4, median; filaments 0.6–0.7; anthers ca. 0.1 mm. |
sepals oblong, 0.8–1 × 0.2–0.4 mm; petals (sometimes absent), white, oblanceolate, 0.4–1.6 × 0.1–0.8 mm, claw absent; stamens 2, median; filaments 0.8–1 mm; anthers 0.1–0.2 mm. |
Fruiting pedicels | divaricate to horizontal or descending, usually recurved, rarely straight, (terete or slightly flattened), 2–4(–6) × 0.2–0.3 mm, glabrous or puberulent adaxially. |
usually divaricate, rarely horizontal, straight or slightly recurved, (terete), (2.5–)3–4.1(–4.7) × 0.2 mm, puberulent adaxially. |
Fruit(s) | ovate, 2.4–3.6 × 1.8–2.5 mm, apically winged, apical notch (V-shaped), 0.3–0.8 mm deep; valves thin, smooth, strongly reticulate-veined, glabrous; style obsolete or to 0.1 mm, included in apical notch. |
elliptic-obovate to obovate-orbicular, 2.4–3.2 × 1.8–2.5 mm, apically winged, apical notch 0.2–0.5 mm deep; valves thin, smooth, not veined, sparsely puberulent, (trichomes often antrorsely appressed, sometimes restricted to margin); style 0.05–0.1 mm, included in apical notch. |
Seeds | oblong, 1.4–1.8 × 0.8–0.9 mm. |
ovate, 1.4–1.6 × 0.7–0.9 mm. |
Lepidium oxycarpum |
Lepidium austrinum |
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Phenology | Flowering Mar–May. | Flowering Mar–Jun. |
Habitat | Borders of vernal pools, grassy fields, roadsides ditches, alkaline flats, margins of salt marshes | Disturbed grounds, railroad tracks and embankments, fields, knolls, stream banks, waste areas, open banks, roadsides, sandy terraces |
Elevation | 0-400 m (0-1300 ft) | |
Distribution |
CA
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KS; LA; MS; NM; OK; TX; Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí)
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Discussion | Lepidium oxycarpum apparently did not persist in British Columbia following its introduction there over 110 years ago (G. A. Mulligan 2002b). That record is based on Macoun s.n. (GH, MO, NY, US), which was collected on 31 May 1893 from the vicinity of Victoria, Vancouver Island. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 7, p. 589. | FNA vol. 7, p. 576. |
Parent taxa | Brassicaceae > tribe Lepidieae > Lepidium | Brassicaceae > tribe Lepidieae > Lepidium |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Nasturtium oxycarpum | L. austrinum var. orbiculare, L. lasiocarpum var. orbiculare |
Name authority | Torrey & A. Gray: Fl. N. Amer. 1: 116. (1838) | Small: Fl. S.E. U.S., 468, 1331. (1903) |
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