• NSF NEON | Open Data to Understand our Ecosystems
  • Biorepository Data Portal

  • Home
  • Search
    • Sample search
    • Map search
    • Dynamic Species List
    • Taxonomic Explorer
  • Images
    • Image Browser
    • Image Search
  • Datasets
    • Research Datasets and Special Collections
    • Carabidae Checklists with Keys
    • Checklist: Research Sites - Invertebrates
    • Checklist: Research Sites - Plants
    • Checklist: Research Sites - Vertebrates
  • Sample Use
    • Sample Use Policy
    • Sample Request
    • Sample Archival Request
    • Data Usage Policy
    • Dataset Publishing
  • Additional Information
    • Tutorials and Help
    • Biorepository Staff
    • About NEON
    • NEON Data Portal
    • ASU Biocollections
    • About Symbiota
  • Getting Started
Login New Account Sitemap
Lepidium alyssoides A. Gray  

No occurrences found

Family: Brassicaceae
mesa pepperwort, more...mesa pepperwort, mesa pepperwort
[Lepidium alyssoides var. angustifolium (C.L. Hitchc.) Rollins, moreLepidium alyssoides var. junceum Rollins, Lepidium montanum var. alyssoides (A. Gray) M.E. Jones, Lepidium montanum var. angustifolium C.L. Hitchc.]
Lepidium alyssoides image
Max Licher
  • FNA
  • Field Guide
  • Resources
Ihsan A. Al-Shehbaz, John F. Gaskin in Flora of North America (vol. 7)
Perennials or subshrubs; (woody base often aboveground); glabrous or minutely puberulent. Stems few to several from base, erect to ascending, branched throughout, (0.7-)1-4.8(-6.1) dm. Basal leaves often not rosulate; petiole 1-6 cm; blade pinnately lobed, (1-)1.5-8(-11) cm × (5-)10-35 mm, margins (of lobes) entire or denticulate. Cauline leaves sessile; blade linear, (0.8-)1.3-7(-9.5) cm × (0.7-)1-2(-3) mm, base attenuate, not auriculate, margins entire. Racemes elongated in fruit; rachis puberulent or glabrous. Fruiting pedicels divaricate to horizontal, straight or recurved to somewhat sigmoid, (terete), 3.5-8(-11) × 0.2 mm, glabrous or puberulent adaxially. Flowers: sepals ovate to oblong, 1-2 × 0.8-1 mm; petals white, suborbicular, 2-3 × 1-2 mm, claw 0.5-1.5 mm; stamens 6; filaments 1.5-2 mm, (glabrous); anthers 0.2-0.4 mm. Fruits broadly ovate, 2-3.7(-4.3) × (1.5-)1.8-2.9(-3.4) mm, apically winged, apical notch 0.1-0.3(-0.4) mm deep; valves thin, smooth, not veined, glabrous; style 0.2-0.6 mm, exserted beyond apical notch. Seeds ovate, 1.5-1.8 (-2) × 0.9-1.2(-1.5) mm. 2n = 32. Flowering May-Jul. Pinyon-juniper or sagebrush communities, prairies, grasslands, sandstone outcrops, gypsum flats, sand dunes, dry flats and river bottoms, gravelly roadsides; 1200-2800 m; Ariz., Colo., Nev., N.Mex., Tex., Utah, Wyo.; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí). Of the five varieties of Lepidium alyssoides recognized by R. C. Rollins (1993), one (var. mexicanum Rollins) is a short-tufted form of the species restricted to Mexico that does not seem to merit recognition, another (var. junceum) is a glabrescent form of the type variety, a third (var. eastwoodiae) is treated below as a distinct species, and the fourth (var. angustifolium) is included here within L. alyssoides.

FNA 2010, Kearney and Peebles 1969, Heil et al. 2013, Allred and Ivey 2012
Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Subshrub General: perennial Leaves: Basal leaves persistent (not early-withering), not necessarily clustered in a rosette, on 1-6 cm petioles; stem leaves alternate, sessile; blades leaves pinnately lobed (lower) to linear (upper), 1-11 cm long and up to 3.5 cm wide, with entire to slightly toothed margins. Flowers: Small and white, in dense racemes at branch tips; on pedicels 3-11 mm long, ascending in flower and horizontal when in fruit; sepals 4, ovate, 1-2 mm long, deciduous; petals 4 in a cross formation, 2-3 mm long, suborbocular, white. Fruits: Capsules strongly flattened, oval shaped to round, 2-4 mm long and 2-3 mm wide, with a shallow notch and persistent style at the tip; seeds 1 per locule, brown, ovate, 1.5 mm long. Ecology: Found on gypsum flats, sandstone outcrops, dry flats, river bottoms, and gravelly roadsides, in sand dune, prairie, grassland, piyon-juniper, and sagebrush communities, from 4,000-9,000 ft (1219-2743 m); flowers May-July. Distribution: AZ, CO, NV, NM, TX, UT, WY; south to MEX. Notes: Lepidium is a genus in the mustard family with distinctive small, round, flat seed pods and small white flowers. L. alyssoides distinguished based on this combination of traits: perennial with a stout woody base (not rhizomatous); upper stem leaves sessile but not clasping the stem; racemes of flowers located at the tips of branches; fruit not wrinkled; lower leaves pinnately lobed and stem leaves entire or slightly toothed; middle stem leaves 1-3 mm wide; seed pods broadly ovate. Ethnobotany: Unknown, but other species in the genus have uses. Editor: LCrumbacher2012, AHazelton 2017 Etymology: Lepidium comes from the Greek lepidion, meaning "a little scale," in reference to the flattened shape of the seed pods; alyssoides means like genus Alyssum, because of the dense showy clusters of white flowers.
Lepidium alyssoides image
Max Licher
Lepidium alyssoides image
Max Licher
Click to Display
3 Total Images
NSF NEON | Open Data to Understand our Ecosystems The National Ecological Observatory Network is a major facility fully funded by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.