Rorippa sphaerocarpa

Round fruit yellow cress

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS PPD

Round fruit yellow cress is a California native annual found in the San Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountains in lake margins, muddy streambanks, and moist ground at elevations of 1,200 to 3,300 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces small yellow flowers in elongated clusters. Growing with decumbent or erect stems 15 to 55 centimeters tall, it has a base that can be few- to many-branched and covered in stiff hairs. Its leaves are pinnately lobed, with basal rosettes that are early-deciduous and mid-stem leaves 4.5 to 9 centimeters long, featuring oblong to oblanceolate shapes with lateral lobes that are crenate to nearly entire. The fruit is a nearly spherical silicle 1.2 to 2.5 millimeters wide, containing 20 to 42 small, broadly kidney-shaped seeds.

Habitat: Uncommon. Lake margins, muddy streambanks, moist ground

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: 1200-3300 m

Bioregions: SnBr, SnJt

California counties: Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Mono, Riverside, Lassen, Plumas, San Luis Obispo, Tehama, Tuolumne

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