''Thelypodium laciniatum'' is a 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 cutleaf thelypody. It is native to western North America, particularly the

Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...

and surrounding plateau and foothill habitat, where it grows on dry rocky cliffs and hillsides in

sagebrush Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus ''Artemisia''. The best known sagebrush is the shrub ''Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrushes are native to the North American west. Following is an alph ...

and scrub, usually below elevation.

Description

''Thelypodium laciniatum'' is a biennial herb which grows from a

taproot A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproo ...

resembling a radish. It produces many erect stems, sometimes exceeding one meter in height. The stems are hairless, solid, and often waxy in texture. The thick green basal leaves have blades divided into several lance-shaped lobes or segments; leaves higher on the plant are smaller and less divided. The large

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 dense, spikelike

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 mustardlike flowers with four sepals and four petals, which are both whitish or pale lavender; they bloom in early summer. The fruit is a narrow, cylindrical

silique A silique or siliqua (plural ''siliques'' or ''siliquae'') is a type of fruit (seed capsule) having two fused carpels with the length being more than three times the width. When the length is less than three times the width of the dried fruit i ...

up to 10 to 14 centimeters long. In fruit the raceme is covered in the siliques, which curve or stick straight out like whiskers.

References

External links

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''Thelypodium laciniatum'' - U.C. Photo gallery
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7781145 laciniatum Flora of British Columbia Flora of the Northwestern United States Flora of California Flora of the Great Basin Flora without expected TNC conservation status