LEAST PEPPERWORT
Lepidium virginicum
Cabbage Family [Brassicaceae] 
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Cabbage Family [Brassicaceae]
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status
flower
inner
morph
petals
stem
sex
| 22nd May 2007, unknown place | Photo: © Bastiaan Brak |
| Least Pepperwort is an erect biennial to annual growing up to 50cm high |
| 22nd May 2007, unknown place | Photo: © Bastiaan Brak |
| This speciemen is in fruit. On the upper parts it has narrow leaves which are simple or dentate; lower down these leaves are slightly wider and have notches. |
| 22nd May 2007, unknown place | Photo: © Bastiaan Brak |
| 22nd May 2007, unknown place | Photo: © Bastiaan Brak |
| The identifying feature of Least Pepperwort are the oval fruits with 2 seeds slightly bulging inside either side of the centre-line forming what looks like a circle, but which stop slightly short of the notch at the top almost reaching that notch. In that notch at the top is a very short style, which has hardly any length at all. These features are best seen in the lower fruits, unfortunately none are oriented face-on. |
| 22nd May 2007, unknown place | Photo: © Bastiaan Brak |
| The lower leaves are cut into irregular teeth. Stace says that the leaves do not clasp the stem, but how much land area is allowed the leaf for it not to be described as clasping(?). That is the question. Whether it is knobblier in the mind of the beholder... |
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Easily mis-identified as : several other Pepperworts, such as
No relation to :
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 Lepidium
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virginicum
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⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ |
Brassicaceae
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 Lepidium (Pepperworts) |
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Cabbage Family [Brassicaceae]
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BSBI maps