Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Lepidium draba
Common name
Hoary Cress, White Weed
Family
Brassicaceae
Where found
Pastures, crops, gardens, roadsides, and neglected areas. Tablelands, ACT, and Western Slopes.
Notes
Introduced perennial herb to 0.9 m tall or sprawling, hairy. The well developed lateral roots produce new shoots from buds that occur along their length. The woody taproot reaches to about 2 m deep. Stems ribbed. Leaves basal and alternating up the stems, greyish green or bluish green, oblong to wedge-shaped, margins toothed, scalloped, or entire. Basal leaves to 10 cm long. Stem leaves to 7.5 cm long, margins toothed, often wavy, bases stem clasping. Flowers fragrant, with 4 white petals each 3–4 mm long. Flowers in dense clusters at the tops of the stems. Flowers mostly spring. Seed cases cordate, 2–5 mm long, 3.5–5 mm wide, inflated, tips blunt to rounded, with a network of veins on the surface, separating into 1- or 2-seeded portions. (needs a hand lens or a macro app on your phone/tablet to see.) Stalks of seed cases 4–15 mm long.
General Biosecurity Duty all NSW. Noxious weed Vic.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Lepidium~draba (accessed 22 January, 2021)
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