Perennial Pepperweed

Perennial Pepperweed, Broadleaved Pepperweed

Lepidium latifolium L.

Brassicaceae - The Mustard Family

▲ ▼ mature flowering plants in Wyoming (above) and New Mexico (below)

▲ mature plant showing growth from older clump after mowing

▲ ▼ flowers

▲ inflorescence with silicles (seed pods)

▲ ▼ new shoots emerging from creeping roots

▲ very large, semi-woody creeping root (New Mexico)

▲ seedlings

Perennial Pepperweed:

a creeping perennial weed that can produce deep and thick creeping roots
produces clumped colonies of clusters of stems that arise from creeping roots
leaves are oval to oval-lanceolate, with pointed tips and hairless without petioles
produces terminal panicles of showy white flowers, followed by tan silicles
prefers moist, well-drained soils--often found along waterways, stream and river banks, ponds
more common west of Missouri, but has been found along Missouri River in several locations
very difficult to control once established