Lepidium nitidum var. nitidum Torrey & A. Gray                               Brassicaceae (Mustard Family)   Native     Common Peppercress    Shining Peppercress

                               March Photo

Plant Characteristics:  Annual, usually erect and simple at base sometimes spreading branches from base; stems glabrous to moderately pubescent, .5-4 dm. long; lower leaves 3-10 cm. long, pinnately parted into narrow segments, the cauline smaller, pinnatifid to entire; racemes rather lax in fruit; pedicels densely puberulent, very much flattened; sepals ovate, ca. 1 mm. long; petals spatulate .5-l.5 mm. long, white; silicles ovate to suborbicular, convex below, somewhat concave above, glabrous, 3.5-6 mm. long, without divergent apices, the margins upturned, notched at apex, the notch 0.2-0.5 mm. deep.

Habitat:  Common on open places below 3300 feet throughout the state except for the desert.  Feb.-May.

Name:  Greek, lepidion, a little scale, from the shape of pods.  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 291).  Nitidum is from the Latin, meaning shining, also referring to the pods.  (Dale 84).

General:  Common in the study area.  Photographed on the North Star Bluffs.  (my comments).     The Cahuillas, Indians of the Colorado Desert, the San Jacinto and San Bernardino Mountains, used L. nitidum for a hair treatment.  The leaves were boiled and allowed to steep until a brown-colored water was obtained.  This was used to wash the hair and was said to keep the scalp clean and prevent baldness.  (Bean and Saubel 85).      The small seeds of this and other species were gathered by many Indian tribes and parched by stirring in a basket with live coals.  They were then ground to a flour and made into mush with other seeds.  Mexicans use the seeds of one species as a poultice for wounds.  (Clarke 205-206).    The most common peppergrass in Calif.  (Robbins et al. 230).        The 1993 Jepson Manual lists three varieties of L. nitidum while Munz, Flora So. Calif. lists only L. nitidum.  In the spring of 1994 I identified var. nitidum as being the local variety.  (my comment).

Text Ref:  Hickman, Ed. 429; Munz, Calif. Flora 228; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 294; Roberts 16.

Photo Ref:  Feb 1 85 # 10.

Identity: by R. De Ruff.  

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 9.

Have plant specimen.

Last edit 10/23/02.

                                February Photo