Lepidium sativum |
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garden cress, garden cress pepperwort, garden pepper-grass, garden pepperweed, garden pepperwort, gardencress pepperweed, pepper cress |
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Habit | Annuals; (often glaucous), usually glabrous, rarely sparsely pilose. |
Stems | simple from base, erect, branched distally, (1–)2–8(–10) dm. |
Basal leaves | (withered by anthesis); not rosulate; petiole 1–4 cm; blade 1- or 2-pinnatifid or pinnatisect (lobes ovate to oblong), 2–8(–10) cm, margins (of lobes) entire or dentate. |
Cauline leaves | petiolate; blade similar to basal, usually less divided, rarely undivided, (distal) often linear, bases not auriculate, margins entire. |
Racemes | considerably elongated in fruit; rachis glabrous. |
Flowers | sepals oblong-obovate, 1–1.8 × 0.5–0.8 mm; petals white or lavender, spatulate to obovate, 2–3.5(–4) × 0.7–1.4 mm, claw 1–1.4 mm; stamens 6; filaments (median pairs) 1.5–2 mm, (glabrous); anthers 0.4–0.5 mm. |
Fruiting pedicels | suberect to ascending, appressed to rachis, straight, (terete or slightly flattened), 1.5–4(–6) × 0.4–0.6 mm, glabrous. |
Fruits | broadly ovate or ovate-oblong, (4–)5–6.4(–7) × 3–4.5(–5.6) mm, apically broadly winged, apical notch 0.2 0.8 mm deep; valves thin, smooth, not veined, glabrous; style 0.1–0.5(–0.8) mm, usually included in, rarely subequaling, apical notch. |
Seeds | (reddish brown), ovate-oblong, 2–2.7(–3) × 1–1.5 mm, (3-lobed). |
2n | = 16, 32. |
Lepidium sativum |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr–Aug. |
Habitat | Gardens, old fields, vacant lots, disturbed areas, railroad embankments, waste grounds, roadsides, cultivated areas |
Distribution |
CT; IA; ID; MA; MD; ME; MI; NH; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; TN; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; NF; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; Europe; sw Asia; perhaps ne Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also in South America (Argentina), Australia]
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Discussion | Lepidium sativum is cultivated as a salad green and is sporadically naturalized, though never as an aggressive weed. It is seldom collected; the above range may be incomplete. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 7, p. 592. |
Parent taxa | Brassicaceae > tribe Lepidieae > Lepidium |
Sibling taxa | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 644. (1753) |
Web links |