''Rorippa sphaerocarpa'' is a species of
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
in the family
Brassicaceae known by the common name roundfruit yellowcress.
It is native to North America, including the western United States and northern Mexico, where it grows in moist habitat, such as riverbanks and
mudflat
Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal fl ...
s. It is an
annual herb
In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...
producing decumbent or erect stems up to 40 centimeters long. The leaves are up to 10 centimeters long and have blades are deeply divided into toothed lobes. The
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...
is a
raceme
A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...
of mustardlike flowers with yellow petals each no more than a millimeter long. The fruit is a round
silique 1 or 2 millimeters wide.
References
External links
Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfileFlora of North AmericaPhoto gallery
sphaerocarpa
{{Brassicales-stub