Lepidium appelianum Al-Shehbaz
Family: Brassicaceae

Pertinent Synonyms & Notes (particularly those used in California; go to GRIN for other synonyms)

Cardaria pubescens (C. Meyer) Jarmol.

Pertinent Common Names (particularly those used in California; go to GRIN for other common names)

hairy whitetop

Primary Disseminule Type

fruit, sometimes seed

Description (diagnostics are in brown)

Fruit an indehiscent, strongly inflated, 2-chambered silicle with 1–2 seeds per chamber, globose to ovoid, (2)3–4.4(5) mm diameter, covered with short hairs. Stylar remnant (when present) 0.5–1.5 mm long. Fruit sometimes eventually releases seeds.

Seed elliptic to slightly obovate, with a notched, bluntly pointed base, compressed, thickness ± uniform, cross-section oblong, (1.1)1.5–2 mm long x 1–1.5 mm wide x 0.5–0.7 mm thick. Surface dull, minutely granular, reddish-brown or purplish-red, sometimes with yellowish tinge, with a faint longitudinal groove outlining the position of the radicle on each side of the seed.

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