MUSTARD FAMILY 



CRUCIFER^E MUSTARD FAMILY 



Lepidium virginicum, L. 



White Wild Peppergrass, 



Tongue Grass, 

 June-November Bird's Pepper. 



Lepidium: from Greek, meaning a small scale, in allusion 



to the resemblance of the seed-pod to a scale. 

 Virginicum: Latin for Virginian. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: gardens, neglected fields, 

 roadsides. 



THE PLANT: erect, six inches to fifteen inches high; the 

 stem branched, hairless. 



THE LEAVES: basal or those of the stem alternate; obovate, 

 lanceolate and oblong-linear; without hairs or with a few, 

 short, soft hairs; obtusish or blunt at the apex; narrowed 

 at the base; with a very short stem or sessile; somewhat 

 pinnatifid (generally with a large lobe and numerous 

 small ones at the sides); dentate or round-toothed. 



THE FLOWERS: very small, on very slender stems; four 

 petals; four sepals which fall early; six stamens of irregular 

 length. 



THE FRUIT: a flat, orbicular pod. 



Another unwelcome invader of the gardens or neglected 

 fields, from which it often escapes to the roadsides. In 

 general appearance, it is similar to the Capsella Bursa- 

 pastoris (Shepherd's Purse), but may be distinguished 

 from that in two ways: first by the leaves, which are 

 narrower and more nearly entire, and, secondly, by the 

 seed-vessels, which are round and unscalloped. 



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