Lens-Podded Hoary Cress

Lens-Podded Hoary Cress

Cardaria chalepensis (L.) Hand.-Maz.

Brassicaceae (Mustard Family)

▲ new shoots emerging in spring

▲ flowering plants

▲ flowers and fruit

▲ ▼ stem and leaves

▲ dried plants, after flowering

▲ dried fruit

▲ creeping roots

Lens-Podded Hoary Cress, Lens-Pod Whitetop:

a creeping perennial weed that produces creeping roots
produces colonies of mostly unbranched stems
leaves are lanceolate, with toothed margins; base of leaves wrap partially around stem
produces clusters of terminal racemes with showy white flowers in mid to late spring
silique is a small, flattened, semi-inflated, lens-shaped capsule
has irritating sap, if livestock graze it
can be very difficult to control, due to lack of susceptibility to many herbicides and its underground structures
more common north or west of here, but could potentially become established here
two other similar creeping perennial species---hoary cress and hairy whitetop also more common further west--distinguished only by silique shapes