• 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
    • Dataset Publishing
  • How to Cite
  • Additional Information
    • Tutorials and Help
    • Biorepository Staff
    • About NEON
    • NEON Data Portal
    • ASU Biocollections
    • About Symbiota
  • Getting Started
Login New Account Sitemap
Lepidium sativum L.  

No occurrences found

Family: Brassicaceae
gardencress pepperweed
Images
not available
  • FNA
  • vPlants
  • Gleason & Cronquist
  • Resources
Ihsan A. Al-Shehbaz, John F. Gaskin in Flora of North America (vol. 7)
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. Fruiting pedicels suberect to ascending, appressed to rachis, straight, (terete or slightly flattened), 1.5-4(-6) × 0.4-0.6 mm, 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. 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. Flowering Apr-Aug. Gardens, old fields, vacant lots, disturbed areas, railroad embankments, waste grounds, roadsides, cultivated areas; introduced; Alta., B.C., Man., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), N.W.T., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask.; Conn., Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., N.H., N.Y., Ohio, Oreg., Pa., R.I., Tenn., Wash., Wyo.; Europe; sw Asia; perhaps ne Africa; introduced also in South America (Argentina), Australia. 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.

The Morton Arboretum
Annual herb 20 - 40 cm tall Stem: slender, upright, branched, with a more or less waxy coating (glaucous). Flowers: 2 mm wide, in branched clusters (raceme). Petals four, white to reddish white, twice as long as the sepals. Stamens six. Fruit: a pod, 5 - 7 mm long, two-thirds as wide, elliptic-oval, tips deeply notched. Basal leaves: once or twice pinnately divided, long-stalked. They wilt soon after flowering. Upper leaves: alternate, pinnately divided, stalkless or nearly so, smaller than basal leaves, with a more or less waxy coating (glaucous). The leaf segments are linear, oblong, or reverse lance-shaped.

Similar species: Lepidium sativum is the only Lepidium species with pinnately divided upper stem leaves and 5 - 7 mm long fruit.

Flowering: mid-June

Habitat and ecology: Introduced from Europe. A rare escape from cultivation. Check for it in disturbed areas or waste ground.

Occurence in the Chicago region: non-native

Etymology: Lepidium comes from the Greek word lepis, meaning scale, which refers to the shape of the silicles. Sativum means cultivated.

Author: The Morton Arboretum

Vascular plants of NE US and adjacent Canada
. Glabrous, ±glaucous annual 2-4 dm; lvs pinnately dissected into a few linear, oblong, or oblanceolate segments; fls 2 mm wide; stamens 6; fr elliptic-oval, 5-7 mm, two-thirds as wide, deeply notched; style half as long to nearly as long as the notch; mature pedicels erect or closely ascending, 2-4 mm; 2n=16, 24. Native probably of w. Asia, escaped from cult. especially in the ne. part of our range.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Click to Display
0 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.