Lepidium coronopus

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Lepidium coronopus
Coronopus squamatus inflorescens (09).jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Brassicales
Family: Brassicaceae
Genus: Lepidium
Species:
L. coronopus
Binomial name
Lepidium coronopus
(L.) Al-Shehbaz
Synonyms [1]
Synonyms
  • Carara coronopus (L.) Medik.
  • Cochlearia coronopus L.
  • Cochlearia repens Lam.
  • Cochlearia tenuifolia Salisb.
  • Coronopus coadunatus Stokes
  • Coronopus coronopus (L.) H.Karst. [Invalid]
  • Coronopus cristatus Clairv.
  • Coronopus depressus Moench
  • Coronopus procumbens Gilib. ex Ces., Pass. & Gibelli
  • Coronopus procumbens Gilib.
  • Coronopus ruellii All.
  • Coronopus squamatus (Forssk.) Asch.
  • Coronopus squamatus subsp. conradi Muschl.
  • Coronopus squamatus subsp. verrucarius Muschl.
  • Coronopus verrucarius Muschl. & Thell.
  • Coronopus verrucarius var. procumbens Muschl.
  • Coronopus vulgaris Desf.
  • Crucifera ruellii E.H.L.Krause
  • Lepidium squamatum Forssk.
  • Myagrum coronopus (L.) Crantz
  • Nasturtium verrucarium Garsault [Invalid]
  • Senebiera coronopus (L.) Cav.
  • Senebiera coronopus (L.) Poir.

Lepidium coronopus, (swine cress, creeping wart cress, or greater swine cress), 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.

Contents

Description

Seed specimens from Museum de Toulouse, France Lepidium coronopus MHNT.BOT.2011.3.84.jpg
Seed specimens from Muséum de Toulouse, France

Lepidium coronopus is a robust herb, grown as an annual, [2] and rarely as a biennial. [3] It is a low, [4] to short prostrate plant, [5] with often several from base, [6] stems that sprawl, [7] trail or spread, [3] and very rarely ascending. [6] It can reach between 5–12 cm (2.0 in – 4.7 in) tall, [4] with the more or less hairless, [7] and branched distally, [6] stems reaching 5–30 cm (2.0 in – 11.8 in) long. [3] [7]

It has two types of leaves, basal and cauline (along the stem), [6] the basal leaves are rosulate (form a rosette), with a petiole (leaf stalk) 2–5 cm (0.79 in – 1.97 in) long. [6] They are pinnatisect (having lobes with incisions that extend almost, or up to midrib), [6] [7] the lobes are dark green and strap like. [5] [3] The cauline leaves are shortly petiolate, [6] or stalkless, [3] they are also pinnatisect, [6] or more or less unlobed. [7] The leaves are dull blue-green, [7] or greyish green. [4]

Although Swine Cress (Lepidium coronopus) is very similar in form to Lesser Swine Cress (Lepidium didymum) but the leaves of Lesser Swine cress are edible. [8] Other differences between the two plants include; l. didymum has 2 stamens while L. coronopus has 6 and the fruits are very different. [9]

Lepidium coronopus begins blooming between May and August, [6] or between June and September. [4] [5] The small flowers, [7] are about 0.2–0.4 cm (0.079 in – 0.157 in) wide. [5] [10] They are white, [6] [5] [4] or purplish, [3] growing in clusters opposite a leaf, [6] [4] [7] on short racemes. [6] [3] [5] The rachis is glabrous (hairy). [6] The flowers have 4 petals which are obovate to oblong shaped, [6] that are longer than the sepals, [3] [7] which are oblong shaped. [6] It has 6 stamens, [7] [9] [11] small anthers. [7] [6]

After flowering it produces fruits (or seed capsules). They are small 0.3–0.47 cm (0.12 in – 0.19 in) across, [6] [7] reniform (kidney shaped), [5] [7] to ovate-cordate shaped. [6] They have a wart-like surface, [4] and irregularly wrinkled, [7] or has pointed bumps. [11] The fruit only contains 1 or 2 seeds, [4] the dirty yellowish, [12] seeds are small, [4] 1.1-1.5 by 1.3-1.7 mm, [6] [12] elliptic and flattish, [12] and pear shaped, [4] or ovate-oblong. [6] They are curved but not winged. [6]

Phytochemistry

The chemotaxonomy of the plant was completed in 2008. [13] It's chromosome count is 2n = 32. [2]

Taxonomy

Illustration from Deutschlands Flora in Abbildungen painted by Johann Georg Sturm in 1796 Coronopus ruellii Sturm29.jpg
Illustration from Deutschlands Flora in Abbildungen painted by Johann Georg Sturm in 1796

It has a few common names including 'creeping wart cress', [14] 'warty swine-cress', which is derived from the distinctive fruits, [10] 'crowfoot' (it's leaf shape [15] ), 'greater swine cress', [3] [16] and 'swine cress'. [5] [17] The name 'swine cress' comes from its use as a poor quality salad alternative and thought only suitable for eating by pigs. [4]

It was originally described and published as Cochlearia coronopus by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in his seminal publication 'Species Plantarum' Vol.2 in 1753, on page 648. Later as the Lepidium species was formed, Ihsan Ali Al-Shehbaz then published the plant as Lepidium coronopus in 'Novon' Vol.14 on page 152 in 2004. [1]

The specific epithet coronopus, refers to Theophrastus (c. 371 – c. 287 BC, Greek philosopher and author) whose name in Greek is κορωνοπους, meaning 'crowfoot' (or κορωνηπους ) about a leaf's shape. [15] [18]

Distribution and habitat

Lepidium coronopus is native to temperate areas of Africa, western Asia and Europe. [3] [17] [19]

Range

It is found in Africa, within Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. It is also found in western Asia, within Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Caucasus, Dagestan (in Russia), Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey. In middle Europe, it is found within Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland and Ukraine. In northern Europe, within Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. [17] In southern England, around the coasts of Wales and on the southern coasts in Ireland, it is common. [10] In south-eastern Europe, within Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia. In southwestern Europe within France, Portugal and Spain. [17]

It has also widely naturalised in other places, such as Norway in Europe. In Africa, within the Azores, the Madeira Islands, the Canary Islands and South Africa. [19] [2] In Australia, [19] [2] within the state of South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and in New Zealand. [17] In America, has widely naturalised in North America, from the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec in Canada. Also in the American states of Missouri, New Jersey, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee and California. [2] [3] Lastly in South America, within Chile. [19] [17] [6]

Habitat

It is found growing in waste grounds, [4] [5] [8] pathways, [5] arable fields, [7] [8] abandoned fields, pastures, disturbed sites and along roadsides. [2] [8] It also likes well trodden places, [4] or compacted soils, [7] such as field gateways, [5] or field entrances. [7]

Uses

It was previously used as an alternative to watercress (in salads), but it was deemed such poor quality and only suitable for pigs to eat. [4] It is thought to be slightly tasting of mustard. [8]

Related Research Articles

Cress may refer to:

<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 or 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>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>Lepidium draba</i> Species of flowering plant

Lepidium draba, the whitetop or hoary cress, or Thanet cress, is a rhizomatous perennial flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. It is native to western Asia and southeastern Europe and widely introduced elsewhere.

<i>Hakea pachyphylla</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to New South Wales in Australia

Hakea pachyphylla is a flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the upper Blue Mountains in New South Wales. It is a small shrub with stiff, needle-shaped leaves and clusters of yellow flowers. Formerly thought to be a Blue Mountains form of Hakea propinqua.

<i>Banksia dallanneyi</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to Western Australia

Banksia dallanneyi, commonly known as couch honeypot, is a species of prostrate shrub that is endemic to Western Australia. It only has a short above-ground stem, pinnatipartite or pinnatisect leaves, between thirty and seventy variously coloured flowers and glabrous, egg-shaped fruit.

<i>Coronopus</i> Synonym for Lepidium, a genus of plants in the family Brassicaceae

Coronopus is a synonym for the accepted genus name Lepidium. It was applied to some species of flowering plants in the cabbage and mustard family Brassicaceae known commonly as swinecress or wartcress. These are generally low spreading annual herbaceous plants with many long stems, deeply lobed leaves and small white flowers. They have a strong scent, smelling like garden cress, Lepidium sativum, when crushed. Lepidium squamatus may be native to the Mediterranean but Lepidium didymum may be native to South America. Both species are widespread weedy introduced species in other areas.

<i>Peltaria alliacea</i> Species of plant

Peltaria alliacea, or garlic cress, is a perennial plant in the family Brassicaceae, endemic to Southeastern Europe. The plant grows up to 60 cm (24 in) and flowers white from May to July. The plant is glabrous (hairless) with simple, entire leaves. The leaves are ovate, sessile and amplexicaule. When crushed they smell of garlic, hence the common name. The 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) long white petals are shortly clawed. The orbicular, very flat silicula or seed, is pendent and has a size of about 6 by 6 mm. Its chromosome number is 2n=14.

<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>Hakea trifurcata</i> Species of shrub in the family Proteaceae endemic to the south-west of Western Australia

Hakea trifurcata, commonly known as two-leaf, two-leaved hakea, or kerosene bush, is a shrub, endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. The species has two leaf forms, needle-like or oblong egg-shaped. Unlike most hakea species the fruit remain green at maturity and resemble the broader leaf form. The mimicry creates a camouflage, reducing predation of the seed by granivores in particular cockatoos.

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

Lepidium nanum, the dwarf pepperweed, is a plant species native to the US states of Nevada and Utah. It is known from four counties in Nevada but only one in Utah. It occurs in open, sunlit areas in the desert, often with gypsum, limestone, quartzite or chalky soils.

Iris falcifolia is a plant species in the genus Iris, it is also in the subgenus Iris and in the section Hexapogon. It is a rhizomatous perennial, from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. It is a small plant, with sickle-shaped greyish-green leaves, lilac-violet flowers and darker veining, and a white or yellow beard. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant in dry, temperate regions.

<i>Iris arenaria</i> Species of plant

Sandy iris is a species in the genus Iris; it is also in the subgenus of Iris and in the Psammiris section. It is a rhizomatous perennial, from Central Europe, found in Hungary, Austria, Romania, Czech Republic and Ukraine. It has grass-like leaves, a short stem and pale yellow flowers. It has had a mixed origin and was once Iris humilis subsp. arenaria, a subspecies of Iris humilis, until it was reclassified as a separate species. But many sources still state that it is either a synonym or subspecies of Iris humilis. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant in temperate regions.

<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.

Goodenia coronopifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Goodeniaceae and is endemic to north-western Australia. It is a herb with mostly linear leaves, those at the base of the plant divided with narrow segments, racemes of yellow flowers with brownish-purple markings, and more or less spherical fruit.

Hedinia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Brassicaceae. It only contains one known species, Hedinia tibetica.

<i>Hewittia malabarica</i> Species of flowering plant

Hewittia malabarica is a flowering plant in the monotypic genus HewittiaWight & Arn., belonging to the family Convolvulaceae and widespread throughout tropical Africa, Asia, and Polynesia. It is a climbing or prostrate perennial herb with slender stems and flowers that are pale yellow, cream, or white with a purple center, and large leaves that can be used as a cooked vegetable or used in folk medicine with the roots. The stems can be used to make ropes.

<i>Sandbergia</i> Genus of flowering plant

Sandbergia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Brassicaceae. They are also in the Boechereae Tribe.

References

  1. 1 2 "Lepidium coronopus (L.) Al-Shehbaz is an accepted name". 23 March 2012. theplantlist.org. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "FNA Vol. 7 Page 572, 578". Flora of North America. efloras.org. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Richard Dickinson and France Royer Weeds of North America (2014) , p. 215, at Google Books
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Reader's Digest Field Guide to the Wild Flowers of Britain. Reader's Digest. 1981. p. 51. ISBN   9780276002175.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Swine-cress - Lepidium coronopus". naturespot.org.uk. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Flora of North America Editorial Committee Flora of North America: Volume 7: Magnoliophyta: Dilleniidae, Part 2 (1993) , p. 578, at Google Books
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Simon Harrap Harrap's Wild Flowers (2013) , p. 131, at Google Books
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "Lesser Swine Cress". wildfooduk.com. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  9. 1 2 Yüzbaşıoğlu, Sırrı; Keskin, Mustafa (January 2013). "A new record for the flora of Turkey: Lepidium didymum L. (Brassicaceae)". Biological Diversity and Conservation. 6 (3): 46–48. doi:10.13140/2.1.4460.0003.
  10. 1 2 3 "Lepidium coronopus Swine-cress". ukwildflowers.com. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  11. 1 2 Linda H. Beidleman and Eugene N. Kozloff Plants of the San Francisco Bay Region: Mendocino to Monterey (2003) , p. 139, at Google Books
  12. 1 2 3 Vít Bojnanský and Agáta Fargašová Atlas of Seeds and Fruits of Central and East-European Flora: The Carpathian Mountains Region (2007) , p. 185, at Google Books
  13. ↑ Radulović, Niko; Zlatković, Bojan; Skropeta, Danielle; Palić, Radosav (October 2008). "Chemotaxonomy of the peppergrass Lepidium coronopus (L.) Al-Shehbaz (syn. Coronopus squamatus) based on its volatile glucosinolate autolysis products". Biochemical Systematics and Ecology. 36 (10): 807–811. doi:10.1016/j.bse.2008.07.006 . Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  14. ↑ John H. Wiersema and Blanca León World Economic Plants: A Standard Reference, Second Edition (2013) , p. 855, at Google Books
  15. 1 2 D. Gledhill The Names of Plants , p. 122, at Google Books
  16. ↑ Arthur Haines New England Wild Flower Society's Flora Novae Angliae: A Manual for the identification of Native and Naturalized higher vascular plants of New England (2011) , p. 488, at Google Books
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Taxon: Lepidium coronopus (L.) Al-Shehbaz". npgsweb.ars-grin.gov. Retrieved 2 December 2017.
  18. ↑ Archibald William Smith A Gardener's Handbook of Plant Names: Their Meanings and Origins , p. 319, at Google Books
  19. 1 2 3 4 Al-Shehbaz, Ihsan A. (2010). "A Synopsis Of The South American Lepidum (Brassicaceae)" (PDF). Darwiniana. 48 (2): 141–167. Retrieved 5 December 2017.

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