Lepidium virginicum

Last updated

Lepidium virginicum
Lepidium virginicum ssp virginicum.jpg
subspecies virginicum
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe) [1]
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. virginicum
Binomial name
Lepidium virginicum
L.

Lepidium virginicum, also known as least pepperwort [2] or Virginia pepperweed, [3] 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.

Contents

Virginia pepperweed grows as a weed in most crops and is found in roadsides, landscapes and waste areas. [4] It prefers sunny locales with dry soil.

Description

Lepidium virginicum is an herbaceous annual or biennial. The entire plant is generally between 10 and 50 centimeters tall. [5] The leaves on the stems of Virginia pepperweed are sessile, linear to lanceolate and get larger as they approach the base. [4]

As with Lepidium campestre , Virginia pepperweed's most identifiable characteristic is its raceme, which comes from the plant's highly branched stem. [4] The racemes give Virginia pepperweed the appearance of a bottlebrush. [4] On the racemes are first small white flowers, and later greenish fruits.

All parts of the plant have a peppery taste.

Uses

The plant is edible. The young leaves can be used as a potherb, sautéed or used raw, such as in salads. [6] The young seedpods can be used as a substitute for black pepper. The leaves contain protein, vitamin A and vitamin C. [6]

Flowers Lepidium virginicum flowers.jpg
Flowers
Lepidium virginicum leaves.jpg

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garden cress</span> Species of edible herb

Cress, sometimes referred to as garden cress to distinguish it from similar plants also referred to as cress, is a rather fast-growing, edible herb.

<i>Rumex crispus</i> Species of flowering plant

Rumex crispus, the curly dock, curled dock or yellow dock, is a perennial flowering plant in the family Polygonaceae, native to Europe and Western Asia.

<i>Chamaenerion angustifolium</i> Species of flowering plant in the willowherb family Onagraceae

Chamaenerion angustifolium is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the willowherb family Onagraceae. It is known in North America as fireweed, in some parts of Canada as great willowherb, in Britain and Ireland as rosebay willowherb. In the United Kingdom it is also known as bombweed, as a result of its rapid appearance on city bomb sites during the Blitz of World War II; the plant is also traditionally known as Saint Anthony's laurel. It is also known by the synonyms Chamerion angustifolium and Epilobium angustifolium. It is native throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere, including large parts of the boreal forests.

<i>Hesperis matronalis</i> Species of flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae

Hesperis matronalis is an herbaceous flowering plant species in the family Brassicaceae. It has numerous common names, including dame's rocket, damask-violet, dame's-violet, dames-wort, dame's gilliflower, night-scented gilliflower, queen's gilliflower, rogue's gilliflower, summer lilac, sweet rocket, mother-of-the-evening, Good & Plenties, and winter gilliflower.

<i>Rubus phoenicolasius</i> Berry and plant

Rubus phoenicolasius is an Asian species of raspberry in the rose family, native to China, Japan, and Korea.

<i>Hypochaeris radicata</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae

Hypochaeris radicata – also known as catsear, flatweed, cat's-ear, hairy cat's ear, or false dandelion – is a perennial, low-lying edible herb often found in lawns. The plant is native to Europe, but has also been introduced to the Americas, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, where it can be an invasive weed. It is listed as a noxious weed in the northwestern U.S. state of Washington.

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

Leaf vegetables, also called leafy greens, pot herbs, vegetable greens, or simply greens, are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots. Leaf vegetables eaten raw in a salad can be called salad greens.

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

Lepidium latifolium, known by several common names including perennial pepperweed, broadleaved pepperweed, pepperwort, or peppergrass, dittander, dittany, and tall whitetop, is a perennial plant that is a member of the mustard and cabbage family.

<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 campestre</i> Species of flowering plant

Lepidium campestre, the field pepperwort, 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. 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. Each seedpod contains two brown, 2.5 mm long seeds.

<i>Tetragonia tetragonioides</i> Species of plant

Tetragonia tetragonioides, commonly called New Zealand spinach, Warrigal greens and other local names, is a flowering plant in the fig-marigold family (Aizoaceae). It is often cultivated as a leafy vegetable.

<i>Viola sororia</i> Species of flowering plant in family Violaceae

Viola sororia, known commonly as the common blue violet, is a short-stemmed herbaceous perennial plant native to eastern North America. It is known by a number of common names, including common meadow violet, purple violet, woolly blue violet, hooded violet, and wood violet.

<i>Hemerocallis fulva</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Asphodelaceae

Hemerocallis fulva, the orange day-lily, tawny daylily, corn lily, tiger daylily, fulvous daylily, ditch lily or Fourth of July lily, is a species of daylily native to Asia. It is very widely grown as an ornamental plant in temperate climates for its showy flowers and ease of cultivation. It is not a true lily in the genus Lilium, but gets its common name from the superficial similarity of its flowers to Lilium and from the fact that each flower lasts only one day.

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

Veronicastrum virginicum, or Culver's root, is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family, Plantaginaceae. It is native to the eastern United States and south-eastern Canada. Growing to 200 cm (79 in) tall by 45 cm (18 in) broad, it is an erect herbaceous perennial with slender racemes of white or occasionally pink or purple flowers in summer.

<i>Typha angustifolia</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Typhaceae

Typha angustifolia L. is a perennial herbaceous plant of genus Typha. This cattail is an "obligate wetland" species that is commonly found in the northern hemisphere in brackish locations.

<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 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>Ligusticum scoticum</i> Species of flowering plant in the celery family Apiaceae

Ligusticum scoticum, known as Scots lovage, or Scottish licorice-root, is a perennial flowering plant in the celery family Apiaceae found near the coasts of northern Europe and north-eastern North America. It grows up to 60 centimetres (24 in) tall and is found in rock crevices and cliff-top grassland. It is closely related to, and possibly conspecific with, Ligusticum hultenii from the coast of the northern Pacific Ocean. The plant is edible and contains the compound sotolon, which is also present in fenugreek. The leaves have a flavour similar to parsley or celery, while the seeds taste similar to fenugreek or cumin.

<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.

References

  1. NatureServe (2023). "Lepidium virginicum". Arlington, Virginia. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  2. BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  3. USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Lepidium virginicum". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  4. 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. 178–79.
  5. Elias, Thomas S.; Dykeman, Peter A. (2009) [1982]. Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide to Over 200 Natural Foods. New York: Sterling. p. 82. ISBN   978-1-4027-6715-9. OCLC   244766414.
  6. 1 2 Allen Peterson, Edible Wild Plants, (New York City: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977), p. 26.