Thelypodium crispum

Crisped thelypody

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: biennial · Native

Crisped thelypody is a California native biennial found in the Sierra Nevada and Great Basin in alkaline or sandy soils, lake margins, and scrub at elevations of 1,200 to 3,000 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces white to pale lavender flowers 6 to 11 millimeters long, delicately crinkled and linear in dense inflorescences. Growing 1 to 7 decimeters tall with glaucous stems that are hairless or minimally hairy toward the base, it develops distinctive leaves with basal blades that are dentate or pinnately lobed and mid-cauline leaves with lobed or sagittate bases. Its basal leaves are typically 2 to 15 centimeters long and wither by fruit time, with ciliate petioles. The plant produces cylindric fruits 1 to 2.5 centimeters long with 22 to 50 plump seeds, each about 1 to 1.5 millimeters in size.

Habitat: Alkaline or sandy soils, lake margins, scrub

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: 1200-3000 m

Bioregions: SNH, GB

California counties: Inyo, Lassen, Mono, Sierra, Plumas, Alpine, Placer

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