Pronunciation: leh-PID-ee-um kam-PES-tree
Field Pepperweed flowers and hairy stalks. Select a photo to enlarge.
Family Brassicaceae
Life cycle Annual or biennial, often a winter annual
Native status Non-native to North America; introduced from Eurasia
Blooms Mainly late spring to early summer
Height Usually 8–24 inches
Habitat Fields, roadsides, disturbed ground and open grassy areas
Common names Field Pepperweed; Field Cress; Field Peppergrass
Observation maps show reported sightings, not a complete distribution.
Check several features together: short hairs on stems and flower stalks, alternate stem leaves with pointed basal lobes that clasp the stem, and small white flowers with four petals.
Fruiting clusters become long and open. Their oval, flattened pods have a winged upper margin and a shallow notch at the tip. Mature pods contain two seeds, one in each half.
Look in sunny fields, roadsides, waste ground and other disturbed grassy places. Plants often begin as a basal rosette, overwinter, and send up flowering stems in spring.
Late spring and early summer are useful times to photograph flowers and developing pods on the same stem. Bloom timing varies with location and growing conditions.
Introduced and widely established in North America. Sightings maps show reported observations, not a complete distribution, and individual identifications may need checking.
Small four-petaled flowers are crowded at the tip of the flowering stem. Older flowers below them develop into pods as the cluster lengthens.
The pods are only about ¼ inch long. Photograph their face, notch and stalk hairs; these are more useful for identification than flower color alone.
Field Pennycress (Thlaspi arvense) is hairless and has larger, broadly winged, coinlike pods with a deeper notch. Its pods contain several seeds per half.
Virginia Pepperweed (Lepidium virginicum) has stem leaves that do not clasp the stem and smaller, rounder fruits. Check leaf attachment as well as the seedpods.
Lepidium virginicum, shown for comparison. Rounded, flat fruits and noticeable white petals contrast with Field Pepperweed’s more oval fruits and densely hairy flower stalks.
Lepidium virginicum, shown for comparison. Narrow upper leaves do not clasp the stem. The white strands around the fruits are webbing and trapped material.
This introduced mustard reproduces by seed and readily occupies disturbed ground. Small insects visit its flowers. Its persistent seed production helps it establish in fields and other open sites.
Campestre means “of fields,” referring to the open places where this plant commonly grows. Field Cress and Field Peppergrass are other common names for the same species.
Compare other mustards in the Wildflower Guide, then practice recognizing wildflowers in the quiz.
