Lepidium draba
heart-podded hoarycress
Brassicaceae (Mustard family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
heart-podded hoarycress
Brassicaceae (Mustard family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Species Information
General:
Perennial herb from a large, white rhizome; stems stout, somewhat white-hairy, 10-50 cm tall, branched above.
Leaves:
Basal leaves simple, toothed to entire, widely oblanceolate to egg-shaped, short-hairy, short- stalked; stem leaves similar, unstalked, clasping.
Flowers:
Racemes in a flat-topped group, bractless with many small flowers; petals white, 3-4 mm long; sepals early deciduous, glabrous, margins white.
Fruits:
Silicles, glabrous, 2.5-6.0 mm long, 3-5 mm wide, round to widely egg-shaped or heart-shaped, inflated, somewhat compressed.
Notes:
Two subspecies occur in BC:
1. Silicles heart-shaped.................. ssp. draba
1. Silicles not heart-shaped..................... ssp. chalapensis (L.) O.E. Schulz
Habitat and Range
Dry roadsides, fields and waste places in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; infrequent in S BC (ssp. draba) or rare in SC BC (ssp. chalapensis); introduced from Eurasia.Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Cardaria draba (L.) Desv.