Annual herb 5 - 20 cm tall Stem: occasionally short-hairy. Flowers: 2 mm wide, in small, branched clusters. Sepals four, ascending. Petals four, unequal, white. Stamens six. Fruit: a pod (silique), 3 - 3.5 mm long, broadly egg-shaped, keeled at the margins, narrowly winged. Basal leaves: pinnately divided (lyre-shaped) with rounded lobes, 2 - 5 cm long, spatula-shaped. Stem leaves none or much reduced.
Similar species: No information at this time.
Flowering: late April to mid-June
Habitat and ecology: Introduced from Europe. A weed rarely seen in the Chicago Region. Look for it in disturbed sandy areas.
Occurence in the Chicago region: non-native
Etymology: Nudicaulis means "with leafless stems."
Pls glabrous or occasionally short-hairy; basal lvs spatulate in outline, 2-5 cm, lyrate-pinnatifid with rounded or obtuse lobes; cauline lvs none or much reduced; stems 0.5-2 dm; fls 2 mm wide; pet unequal, the 2 outer (abaxial) ones well surpassing the sep, the 2 inner half or two-thirds as long, about equaling the sep; stamens 6; fr 3-3.5 mm; style ca 0.1-0.2 mm; 2n=36. Native of Europe, now found here and there in the U.S. as a casual weed. Apr.-June.
Iberis amara L. and I. umbellata L., spp. of Candytuft, occasionally escape. They would key to Teesdalia because of their dissimilar pet and short frs flattened contrary to the septum, but they have well developed cauline lvs, longer (5-9 mm) frs, and larger (5-10 mm wide) fls. In I. amara the lvs have a few large teeth and the infl elongates after anthesis; in I. umbellata the lvs are entire and the infl remains short, forming a dense, umbel-like cluster in fr.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.