Lepidium appelianum

White-top, White-Top

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

White-top is a naturalized perennial herb found in California in saline soils and fields at elevations of 400 to 2,400 meters. Flowering from April to September, this plant produces small white flowers in 2.8 to 4 millimeters wide, widely obovate clusters. Growing with erect or ascending stems 15 to 35 centimeters tall that are densely stiff-hairy and branched toward the top, it emerges with multiple stems from its base. Its leaves vary from obovate to oblanceolate at the base, transitioning to oblong or lanceolate along the stem, with bases that are sometimes lobed or clasping. The fruit is spheric and inflated, measuring 3 to 4.4 millimeters wide with thin, puberulent valve walls.

Habitat: Saline soils, fields

Bloom period: Apr-Sep

Elevation: 400-2400 m

Bioregions: CA

California counties: Kern, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Tulare, San Bernardino, Inyo, Sierra, Nevada, Butte, Yolo, San Diego, Lassen, Stanislaus, Plumas, Mono, Placer, Solano, Modoc, Alpine, Sonoma, Shasta, Contra Costa, San Luis Obispo, Napa, Siskiyou, Orange

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.