Lepidium latipes

Dwarf pepper grass

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.2

Dwarf pepper grass is a rare (CNPS 1B.2) California native annual found in northern coastal, northern coastal ranges, Central Valley, central coastal, San Francisco Bay, southern coastal ranges, and southern coastal regions in alkaline soils, vernal pool margins, salt marsh edges, and pastures at elevations below 700 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces small green-white flowers in compact, cylindric clusters. Growing with erect or decumbent stems 2 to 15 centimeters tall, it emerges with one or several stems from the base, which may be simple or branched. Its basal leaves are linear, early-deciduous, 2 to 10 centimeters long, and can be entire, dentate, or pinnately divided into 2 to 10 lobe pairs. The fruit is an oblong-ovate structure 5 to 7 millimeters long with winged tips and thick, net-veined valve walls.

Habitat: Alkaline soils, vernal pool margins, salt marsh edges, pastures

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 700 m

Bioregions: NCo, NCoR, GV, CCo, SnFrB, SCoRI, SCo

California counties: Butte, Colusa, Contra Costa, Monterey, San Benito, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Yolo, Santa Clara, Mendocino, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Lake, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Tulare, Tuolumne, Marin, San Diego, Glenn, Napa, Alameda, Tehama, Humboldt, Solano, Merced, Sonoma, Stanislaus

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