Lepidium dictyotum

Alkali pepperweed

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: annual · Native

Alkali pepperweed is a California native annual found in the Great Basin, northern Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada foothills, Central Valley, and eastern Mojave Desert in saline soils, dry stream beds, and sandy flats at elevations below 1,600 meters. Flowering from March to June, this delicate plant produces small white flowers in slender, elongate clusters. Growing with erect or ascending stems 2 to 13 centimeters tall, it emerges with multiple stems spreading from the base, some lying close to the ground. Its basal leaves are pinnately lobed with narrow, linear segments, while stem leaves are thin and linear, typically 1 to 5 centimeters long and less than 2 millimeters wide. The fruit is a small, flattened ovate pod with a distinctive winged tip and net-veined surface.

Habitat: Saline soils, dry stream beds, roadsides, sandy flats, fields, meadows, dried pools

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 1600 m

Bioregions: NCoRI, SNF, GV, SCoRI, e SCo, n WTR, GB, w DMoj

California counties: Kern, Inyo, Kings, Lassen, Los Angeles, Monterey, San Benito, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Tulare, Riverside, San Bernardino, Fresno, Contra Costa, Imperial, Merced, Madera, Alameda, San Diego, Solano, Stanislaus, Glenn, Butte, Lake, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Yolo

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