Online Virtual Flora of Wisconsin

Lepidium virginicum

Family: Brassicaceae

common peppergrass, poor-man's-pepper, Virginia pepper-weed

Gary Fewless

Botanical Illustration

University of Wisconsin - Madison (WIS-VP)

Open Interactive Map

Etymology: Lepidium: from the Greek lepidion, meaning "a little scale," in reference to the shape of the fruit pods
Plants: erect, annual/biennial, 4"-20" tall forb
Leaves: lower leaves sharply toothed to pinnately-divided; upper leaves not clasping
Flowers: white, 4-parted, petals about twice as long as the sepals; inflorescence many, to 4" long clusters (racemes) of stalked flowers; blooms May-July
Fruits: broadly-elliptical pod widest below the middle and notched at the tip fruit drawing

Habitat: dry to moist; fields, roadsides, disturbed areas
Conservation Status: Native

Our only native species in the genus, but just as weedy as the others. Dry prairies, rock outcrops, cliffs, cedar glades, sand blows, dry woods of Jack pine or oak, wooded hillsides and bluffs, sandy river flats and sandbars, pine relicts, fields, sandy lawns, along roadsides and railroads, old quarries, sand pits, dumps, gardens. Mature fruit is the best character to use for telling apart this species and L. densiflorum but the presence of petals in the former is also useful. These two species are suspected to hybridize and there are a handful of specimens with fruits that appear intermediate in shape. The shape of the cotyledons can be fairly easily seen with a cross section of a seed. In L. virginicum, the round embryo will be at the end of the flattened, parallel cotyledons. Lepidium densiflorum will have 3 round structures in a row in cross section. Voss & Reznicek (2012) diagrammatically explain this as looking like =0 in L. virginicum and 000 in L. densiflorum. Our only native species in the genus, but just as weedy as the others. Dry prairies, rock outcrops, cliffs, cedar glades, sand blows, dry woods of Jack pine or oak, wooded hillsides and bluffs, sandy river flats and sandbars, pine relicts, fields, sandy lawns, along roadsides and railroads, old quarries, sand pits, dumps, gardens. Mature fruit is the best character to use for telling apart this species and L. densiflorum but the presence of petals in the former is also useful. These two species are suspected to hybridize and there are a handful of specimens with fruits that appear intermediate in shape. The shape of the cotyledons can be fairly easily seen with a cross section of a seed. In L. virginicum, the round embryo will be at the end of the flattened, parallel cotyledons. Lepidium densiflorum will have 3 round structures in a row in cross section. Voss & Reznicek (2012) diagrammatically explain this as looking like =0 in L. virginicum and 000 in L. densiflorum.