Lepidium draba
| Whitetop | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Brassicales |
| Family: | Brassicaceae |
| Genus: | Lepidium |
| Species: | L. draba |
| Binomial name | |
| Lepidium draba L. | |
| Subspecies | |
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| Synonyms | |
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Cardaria draba (L.) Desv. | |
Lepidium draba (whitetop or hoary cress) is native to western Asia and eastern Europe and is an invasive species in North America, introduced by contaminated seeds in the early 1900s.
Whitetop is a perennial herb that reproduces by seeds and by horizontal creeping roots. The stem is stoutish, erect or spreading, 10 to 80 cm tall, branched, covered sparsely with ash-colored soft hairs to heavily covered. The leaves are alternating, simple, and mostly toothed. The basal leaves are 4 to 10 cm, have a slight stem (petiole), and are long and flat, lance-shaped to egg-shaped, with the narrow end attached to the stalk. On the upper part of the stem the leaves are attached directly to the stalk (sessile), are 2 to 6.5 cm long, and are oblong or tapering the point, with broad bases that clasp the stalk. Whitetop has slightly domed flower clusters in which the individual flower stalks grow upward from various points off the branch to approximately the same height (corymb-like). The petals are white, clawed, and 3 to 5 mm long, about twice the length of the sepals.
Distribution in United States
References
Agriculture Research Service (1970) "Cardaria draba (L.) Deav." Selected Weeds of the United States Agriculture Research Service United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, p. 200
External links
- Species Profile- Whitetop (Lepidium draba), National Invasive Species Information Center, United States National Agricultural Library. Lists general information and resources for Whitetop.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cardaria draba. |