Lepidium campestre

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Lepidium campestre
Lepidium campestre2 W.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Brassicales
Family: Brassicaceae
Genus: Lepidium
Species:
L. campestre
Binomial name
Lepidium campestre

Lepidium campestre, the field pepperwort, [1] field peppercress, field peppergrass, field pepperweed or field cress, is usually a biennial with some form of annual plant in the Brassicaceae or mustard family, native to Europe, but commonly found in North America as an invasive weed.

Contents

Description

The most notable characteristic of field pepperweed is the raceme of flowers which forks off of the stem. These racemes are made up of first small white flowers and later green, flat and oval seedpods each about 6 mm long and 4 mm wide. [2] Each seedpod contains two brown, 2.5 mm long seeds.

The stem of field pepperweed comes out of a basal rosette of toothed leaves. The stem is covered in leaves, which are sessile, alternate and arrow-shaped. [2] The entire plant is generally between 20 and 60 cm tall and covered in small hairs. [2]

Cultivation and uses

Field pepperweed grows in disturbed land, crops, and waste places. [2] It can tolerate most soils.

The plant is edible. The young leaves can be eaten as greens, added raw to salads or boiled for ten minutes. [3] The young fruits and seeds can be used as a spice, with a taste between black pepper and mustard. The leaves contain protein, vitamin A and vitamin C. [3]

Domestication

Field cress has been targeted for domestication at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), because it holds high agronomic promise as a biennial/perennial oilseed crop as it has many good characteristics of a high-yielding winter-hardy crop. [4] [5] Unlike any other oilseed crop, field cress can be highly productive in the northern parts of temperate regions and has been successfully grown in Umeå, Sweden (40 km south of the Arctic circle) where it can yield correspondingly 3.3 tons/ha. In addition, field cress provides important ecosystem services as it functions as a cover crop during winter and can be undersown a spring cereal. [6] The oil of field cress is suitable for different industrial applications such as production of hydrotreated vegetable oil diesel (HVO). The researchers at SLU have identified and mapped several genes in field cress that are known to be important for domestication related traits such as flowering time, pod shattering and seed dormancy. [7]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turnip</span> Type of root vegetable

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leaf vegetable</span> Plant leaves eaten as a vegetable

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<i>Brassica rapa</i> Species of flowering plant

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mustard plant</span> Flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae used for mustard

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<i>Lepidium latifolium</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Lepidium</i> Genus of flowering plants in the cabbage family Brassicaceae

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. It includes familiar species such as garden cress, maca, and dittander. General common names include peppercress, peppergrass, pepperweed, and pepperwort. Some species form tumbleweeds. 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.

<i>Lepidium virginicum</i> Species of flowering plant

Lepidium virginicum, also known as least pepperwort or Virginia pepperweed, is an herbaceous plant in the mustard family (Brassicaceae). It is native to much of North America, including most of the United States and Mexico and southern regions of Canada, as well as most of Central America. It can be found elsewhere as an introduced species.

<i>Cardamine hirsuta</i> Species of flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae

Cardamine hirsuta, commonly called hairy bittercress, is an annual or biennial species of plant in the family Brassicaceae, and is edible as a salad green. It is common in moist areas around the world.

<i>Thlaspi arvense</i> Species of flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae

Thlaspi arvense, known by the common name field pennycress, is a flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae. It is native to Eurasia, and is a common weed throughout much of North America and its home.

<i>Lepidium densiflorum</i> Species of flowering plant

Lepidium densiflorum is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common names common pepperweed, prairie peppergrass, elongate peppergrass, hairy-fruited peppergrass, and large-fruited peppergrass.

<i>Lepidium perfoliatum</i> Species of flowering plant

Lepidium perfoliatum is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common names clasping pepperweed and perfoliate pepperwort. It is native to Europe and Asia and it can be found in other parts of the world as an introduced species.

<i>Lepidium didymum</i> Species of flowering plant

Lepidium didymum, the lesser swine-cress, is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae.

<i>Lepidium dictyotum</i> Species of flowering plant

Lepidium dictyotum is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common names alkali pepperweed and alkali pepperwort.

<i>Lepidium barnebyanum</i> Species of flowering plant

Lepidium barnebyanum is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common names Barneby's pepperweed, Barneby's pepper-grass, and Barneby's ridge-cress. It is endemic to Utah, where there is a single population in Duchesne County. It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.

<i>Lepidium papilliferum</i> Species of flowering plant

Lepidium papilliferum is a rare species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common names Idaho pepperweed and slickspot peppergrass. It is endemic to Idaho in the United States, where it is mostly limited to a specific habitat type in the southwestern part of the state. It was federally listed as a threatened species in 2009.

<i>Lepidium heterophyllum</i> Species of plant

Lepidium heterophyllum,, is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family which is native to parts of western Europe, growing in shingle banks, wasteland or cultivated fields.

<i>Lepidium coronopus</i> Species of flowering plant

Lepidium coronopus,, is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family which is native to parts of Africa, western Asia and Europe, growing in shingle banks, wasteland or cultivated fields.

References

  1. BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Richard H. Uva, Joseph C. Neal and Joseph M. Ditomaso, Weeds of The Northeast, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997), Pp. 176-177.
  3. 1 2 Lee Allen Peterson, Edible Wild Plants, (New York City: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977), p. 26.
  4. Eriksson, Dennis (2009). "Towards the domestication of Lepidium campestre as an undersown oilseed crop". Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae. 2009 (65).
  5. Merker, Arnuf; Nilsson, Peter (1995). "Some oil crop properties in wild Barbarea and Lepidium species". Swedish Journal of Agricultural Research. 48: 159–164. doi: 10.1080/09064719809362493 .
  6. Merker, Arnulf; Eriksson, Dennis; Bertholdsson, Nils-Ove (2010). "Barley yield increases with undersownLepidium campestre". Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section B. 60 (3): 269–273. doi: 10.1080/09064710902903747 . S2CID   84293246.
  7. Gustafsson, Cecilia; Willforss, Jakob; Lopes-Pinto, Fernando; Ortiz, Rodomiro; Geleta, Mulatu (2018). "Identification of genes regulating traits targeted for domestication of field cress (Lepidium campestre) as a biennial and perennial oilseed crop". BMC Genetics. 19 (1): 36. doi: 10.1186/s12863-018-0624-9 . PMC   5975587 . PMID   29843613.