Participant Info

Species

Lepidium densiflorum [Lepidium apetalum] [Lepidium ramosum] [Lepidium elongatum] etc.

Family

Brassicaceae

CommonName

prairie pepperweed, common pepperweed

Presence

YES

Status

native

EarliestDate

1935

LatestDate

2022

Ecosystem

shrubland, foothill, montane, ruderal, urban

Geobotanical

SSawatch, Garitas, SSanjuans, NCristos, UBasin, LBasin

Counties

Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Hinsdale, Rio Grande, Saguache

Passes

WildlifePreserves

San Luis Lakes

Other Localities

Del Norte

PhotoRecords

YES Rich Haswell: Alamosa Co, Great Sand Dunes NP, Pinyon Flats cpgd 26 Juine 2016; Rio Grande Co, Del Norte flower garden 29 June 2022

Comments

Along with Lepidium ramosissimum, L. densiflorum is the most common of the pepperweeds in the Watershed, found along road sides and streets, by irrigation ditches, in campgrounds, in gardens—from shrubland up to the montane. Quite variable, it is native to the USA west of the Mississippi and adventive eastward, present in all states. There are scattered locations all the way down the Rio Grande drainage to the Gulf of Mexico. Note that L. densiflorum and L. virginicum can be hard to tell apart; the surest character is the shape of the trichomes on the rachis.

Annotation