''Lepidium flavum'' is a species of flowering plant in the

mustard family Brassicaceae () or (the older but equally valid) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, while some ar ...

known by the common name yellow pepperweed. It is native to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, and

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

, where it grows in the Sonoran and

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...

s. The species

epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

''flavum'' is Latin for yellow and indicates its flower colour.Sia Morhardt and Emil Morhardt

Description

''Lepidium flavum'' is a short, mostly prostrate annual herb producing a branching stem up to about 40 centimeters tall when growing upright. The fleshy lobed or toothed leaves grow in a basal rosette at ground level and along the stem, the lowest and longest reaching a few centimeters long. The plant blooms in

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

s of many small flowers, each with yellow petals just a few millimeters long and six

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s at the center. The fruit is a rounded, winged, flattened capsule containing tiny seeds.

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment — ''Lepidium flavum''''Lepidium flavum'' — Photo gallery
flavum Flora of Baja California Flora of California Flora of Nevada Flora of the Sonoran Deserts Flora of the California desert regions Natural history of the Colorado Desert Natural history of the Mojave Desert Plants described in 1857 Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Brassicales-stub