Lepidium draba L.
Family: Brassicaceae
Pertinent Synonyms & Notes (particularly those used in California; go to GRIN for other synonyms)
Cardaria draba (L.) Desv.
Pertinent Common Names (particularly those used in California; go to GRIN for other common names)
whitetop, hoary cress
Primary Disseminule Type
fruit, sometimes seed
Description (diagnostics are in brown)
Fruit an indehiscent, inflated, 2-chambered silicle with 1–2 seeds per chamber, cordate to broadly ovate in outline, compressed, (2)3–4(6) mm long x (3)4–6 mm wide, glabrous, with faint or conspicuous reticulate veins. Stylar remnant (when present) (0.6)1–1.8(2) mm long. Fruit sometimes eventually releases seeds.
Seed elliptic to obovate with a notched, bluntly pointed base, compressed, cotyledon edge thicker than radicle edge, cross-section ovate, 1.2–2.2(3) mm long x 1–1.5(1.7) mm wide x (0.5)1–1.25 mm thick. Surface dull, minutely granular, dark reddish-brown or deep purplish-red, sometimes with yellowish tinge, with a faint longitudinal groove outlining the position of the radicle on each side of the seed (a second groove, when present, delineates the individual cotyledons).
Hilum in basal notch, inconspicuous, often hidden beneath funicular remnant.
Embryo bent, cotyledons incumbent, endosperm lacking.
Similar Species
Similar Species Comparison Chart
Risk Assessment (codes in yellow or red indicate cause for concern; assessments are current as of mid-2011; click AUQP, NZBORIC, or NZBPI for access to the most recent versions of these databases and possible assessment changes)
AUQP, NZBORIC, NZBPI