Lepidium latifolium L.
Family: Brassicaceae

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

Cardaria latifolium (L.) Spach

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

perennial pepperweed

Primary Disseminule Types

fruit, fruit segment, seed

Description (diagnostics are in brown)

Fruit a tardily dehiscent, 2-chambered silicle with 1 seed per chamber, sub-globose to ovoid or broadly elliptical in outline, compressed, (1.5)1.8–2.4(2.7) mm long x (1.3)1.5–2.2 mm wide x 0.6–0.8 mm thick, not apically winged, glabrous or sparsely pilose. Stylar/stigma remnant (when present) 0.05–0.15 mm long.

Seed oblong, slightly compressed, (0.8)1–1.2 mm long x 0.5–0.9 mm wide x 0.2–0.5 mm thick, unwinged. Surface dull to sparkly (the latter under magnification), rough (granular), dark orangish-brown with a darker hilar end, with a faint longitudinal groove outlining the position of the radicle on each side of the seed.

Hilum in strongly flattened basal notch filled with yellowish funicular remnant.

Embryo bent, cotyledons incumbent, endosperm lacking.

Similar Species

See Similar Species Comparison Chart and compare to similar Brassicaceae seeds.

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