Lepidium Explained

Lepidium is a genus of plants in the mustard/cabbage family, Brassicaceae. The genus is widely distributed in the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Australia.^[1] It includes familiar species such as garden cress, maca, and dittander. General common names include peppercress, peppergrass, pepperweed, and pepperwort. Some species form tumbleweeds.^[2] The genus name Lepidium is a Greek word meaning 'small scale', which is thought to be derived from a folk medicine usage of the plant to treat leprosy, which cause small scales on the skin. Another meaning is related to the small scale-like fruit.^[3]

Species

See main article: List of ''Lepidium'' species. Plants of the World Online accepts 265 species in the genus. 10 species are found in California.^[3]

Species include:

• Lepidium africanum
• Lepidium amelum
• Lepidium aretioides
• Lepidium armoracia
• Lepidium apetalum – du xing cai (Pinyin, China)^[4]
• Lepidium arbuscula
• Lepidium aschersonii – spiny peppercress
• Lepidium banksii
• Lepidium barnebyanum
• Lepidium biplicatum
• Lepidium bonariense – peppercress
• Lepidium campestre – field pepperwort, field cress
• Lepidium catapycnon
• Lepidium coronopus – swine cress
• Lepidium davisii – Davis' peppergrass^[5]
• Lepidium densiflorum – common pepperweed
• Lepidium desvauxii – bushy peppercress
• Lepidium dictyotum
• Lepidium didymum
• Lepidium draba – hoary cress
• Lepidium drummondii
• Lepidium echinatum
• Lepidium ecuadoriense
• Lepidium englerianum
• Lepidium fasciculatum – bundled peppercress
• Lepidium flavum
• Lepidium flexicaule
• Lepidium foliosum – leafy peppercress
• Lepidium fremontii – desert pepperweed
• Lepidium genistoides
• Lepidium ginninderrense
• Lepidium graminifolium
• Lepidium howei-insulae – mustard & cress
• Lepidium hypenantion
• Lepidium hyssopifolium
• Lepidium heterophyllum – Smith's pepperwort, Smith's cress
• Lepidium jaredii – Jared's pepperweed
• Lepidium lasiocarpum
• Lepidium latifolium – pepperweed, dittander
• Lepidium latipes
• Lepidium lyratogynum
• Lepidium merrallii
• Lepidium medocinense
• Lepidium meyenii (syn. L. peruvianum) – maca
• Lepidium monoplocoides – winged peppercress
• Lepidium montanum – western pepperweed, mountain pepperweed
• Lepidium nanum – dwarf pepperweed
• Lepidium nesophilum
• Lepidium nitidum – shining pepperweed
• Lepidium oblongum
• Lepidium oleraceum – Cook's scurvy grass (near extinct)
• Lepidium oxycarpum – forked pepperweed
• Lepidium oxytrichum
• Lepidium papilliferum – slickspot peppergrass
• Lepidium papillosum – warty peppercress
• Lepidium pedicellosum
• Lepidium peregrinum
• Lepidium perfoliatum
• Lepidium peruvianum
• Lepidium phlebopetalum
• Lepidium pholidogynum
• Lepidium pinnatifidum
• Lepidium platypetalum – slender peppercress
• Lepidium pseudohyssopifolium
• Lepidium pseudoruderale
• Lepidium pseudotasmanicum
• Lepidium puberulum
• Lepidium quitense
• Lepidium rotundum – veined peppercress
• Lepidium ruderale – narrow-leaved pepperwort
• Lepidium sagittulatum
• Lepidium sativum – garden cress
• Lepidium scandens
• Lepidium squamatum
• Lepidium strictum
• Lepidium thurberi – Thurber's peppergrass, Thurber's pepperweed
• Lepidium virginicum – Virginia peppercress
• Lepidium xylodes

See also

• Book: Everitt . J.H. . Lonard . R.L. . Little . C.R. . Weeds in South Texas and Northern Mexico . Texas Tech University Press . Lubbock . 2007.
• Web site: Lepidium . Australian Plant Name Index (APNI) . . 15 March 2023.

External links

• Web site: Inland Lepidium recovery plan 2000-2010 . 2000 . Department of Conservation, Wellington, New Zealand . 2007-10-04.
• Web site: Coastal Cresses (Nau) Recovery Plan . D.A. Norton . P.J. de Lange . 1999 . Department of Conservation, Wellington, New Zealand . 2007-04-19.
• Species Profile: Hairy Whitetop (Lepidium appelianum). National Invasive Species Information Center, United States National Agricultural Library.

Notes and References

1. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=118034 Lepidium.
2. Book: The Mysteries of the Flowers . Faulkner, H. W. . Frederick A. Stokes company . 1917 . 238. page 210
3. Sia Morhardt and Emil Morhardt
4. http://www.tropicos.org/Name/4105246 Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. 20 Dec 2011
5. Web site: Hagwood . Sheri . Sensitive Plants of the JRA . Idaho BLM . 2 May 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140503002232/http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/id/publications/technical_bulletins.Par.98306.File.dat/tb06-01.pdf . 3 May 2014.