''Lepidium oblongum'' is a widespread North American species of flowering plant in the

mustard family Brassicaceae () or (the older) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, while some are shrubs. The le ...

known by the common name veiny pepperweed. It is native to Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and the western and south-central United States (from California and Oregon east as far as Mississippi). It is present as an

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. It can grow in many types of habitats.

Description

''Lepidium oblongum'' is an annual herb with a small, branching stem up to 20 or 30 centimeters (8-12 inches) long and coated with hairs. The well-spaced leaves are divided into narrow lobes. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

of tiny flowers made up just of

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s; there is occasionally a

vestigial Vestigiality is the retention, during the process of evolution, of genetically determined structures or attributes that have lost some or all of the ancestral function in a given species. Assessment of the vestigiality must generally rely on co ...

petal mixed in. The flowers yield fruits which are notched capsules 2 or 3 millimeters long. Flowers bloom March to August. There are two varieties of this plant; one, var. ''insulare'', is known only from coastal

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

. It grows in pastures, prairies, floodplains, roadsides, and alluvial terraces.

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentCalphotos Photo gallery, University of Californiaphoto of herbarium specimen at Missouri Botanical Garden, collected in Puebla in 1097
oblongum Flora of Central America Flora of Mexico Flora of the United States Flora of the South-Central United States Flora of the Great Plains (North America) Flora of California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Plants described in 1903 Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Brassicales-stub