Lepidium didymum
lesser swinecress
Brassicaceae (Mustard family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
lesser swinecress
Brassicaceae (Mustard family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Annual herb from a taproot; stems many-branched, prostrate to decumbent, 20-50 cm long; glabrous to scurfy-hairy or lightly stiff-hairy.
Leaves:
Basal leaves few; stem leaves many, egg-shaped-oblong, very deeply pinnately lobed, 1.5-3 cm long, the lobes narrow, entire to toothed or dissected, stalked below, becoming shortly-stalked above.
Flowers:
In numerous axillary racemes; flower stalks slender, 1.5-2.5 mm long; petals white, linear, 0.5 mm long; sepals deciduous, about 0.5 mm long.
Fruits:
Silicles, inflated, wrinkled, about 2 mm wide, 1.5 mm long.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Habitat and Range
Mesic fields and waste places in the lowland zone; infrequent in SW BC, known only from SE Vancouver Island and Vancouver; introduced from S America.Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Coronopus didymus (L.) Sm.