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fan weed, field penny-cress, penny-cress, stinkweed

Habit Plants (sometimes glaucous), glabrous throughout.
Stems

(0.9–)1.5–5.5(–8) dm.

Basal leaves

not rosulate;

petiole 0.5–3 cm;

blade oblanceolate, spatulate, or obovate, 1–5 cm × 4–23 mm, base attenuate or cuneate, margins entire, repand, or coarsely dentate, apex rounded.

Cauline leaves

blade oblong, (0.5–)1.5–4(–8) cm × (2–)5–15(–25) mm, apex rounded, obtuse, or subacute.

Flowers

sepals (1.5–)2–3(–3.3) × 1–1.5 mm;

petals (2.4–)3–4.5(–5) × (0.8–)1.1–1.7 mm, narrowed to clawlike base (ca. 1 mm), apex obtuse or emarginate;

filaments (1–)1.5–2.2 mm;

anthers 0.3–0.5 mm.

Fruiting pedicels

straight or slightly upcurved, (5–)9–13(–15) mm.

Fruits

obovate or suborbicular, (0.6–)0.9–2 cm × (5–)7–20 mm, base obtuse or rounded, apex deeply emarginate, notch ca. 5 mm deep;

wings broad throughout, 1–1.5 mm wide basally, 3.5–5 mm wide apically;

ovules 6–16 per ovary;

style 0.1–0.3 mm.

Seeds

(1.2–)1.6–2(–2.3) × 1.1–1.3 mm, concentrically striate.

2n

= 14.

Thlaspi arvense

Phenology Flowering Mar–Aug.
Habitat Roadsides, fields, waste places, lawns, gardens, railroad tracks, stream banks, bluffs, thickets, slopes, floodplains, woods
Elevation 0-2000 m (0-6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Europe; Asia [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Thlaspi arvense is a cosmopolitan weed of Eurasian origin. Cattle feeding on it develop tainted milk.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 7, p. 746.
Parent taxa Brassicaceae > tribe Thlaspideae > Thlaspi
Sibling taxa
T. alliaceum
Synonyms Teruncius arvensis
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 646. (1753)
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