Lepidium didymum

Lesser swine cress

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Lesser swine cress is a naturalized annual found throughout California in disturbed areas, fields, and pastures at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from March to July, this plant produces small white flowers in delicate clusters with petals less than 0.5 millimeters long. Growing with erect to decumbent stems 10 to 45 centimeters tall that branch extensively near the top, it can form dense clusters from multiple stems emerging at the base. Its leaves are distinctively divided, with basal leaves 1 to 6 centimeters long that are 1 to 2-pinnately dissected and gradually becoming smaller and less complex toward the stem tips. The fruit is a unique spectacle-shaped pod, flattened and about 1.5 millimeters long with thick, strongly veined walls.

Habitat: Common. Disturbed areas, fields, pastures

Bloom period: Mar-Jul

Elevation: < 1000 m

Bioregions: CA

California counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Humboldt, Los Angeles, Mendocino, Orange, Riverside, San Mateo, Sonoma, San Francisco, Butte, Marin, Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Diego, Ventura, Yolo, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Solano, Nevada, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Kern, Santa Clara, El Dorado, Amador, San Luis Obispo, Yuba, Glenn, Merced, Napa

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