Hoary cress
Lepidium draba
Family · Brassicaceae · Harmless
The crucifer that paints whole verges white in April, with dense flat corymbs of minute flowers. It spreads by roots, and a patch of it is nearly always a single plant.
Roadsides and waste ground · Fields and pasture · Town and roadside
Also known aswhitetop, heart-podded hoary cress
How to tell it
A greyish green plant covered in short hair. Stem leaves without stalks, clasping the stem with two ears. Minute white four-petalled flowers, gathered in dense flat corymbs at the top. Fruits inverted heart-shaped, flattened, with a style in the middle of the notch.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
No use to recommend
The leaves are pungent like watercress and were used as seasoning, but the plant accumulates glucosinolates in amounts that irritate the stomach. It is a serious invader in North American pastures.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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