Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Lepidium campestre
Common name
Field Cress
Family
Brassicaceae
Where found
Weed. Roadsides and crops. North from Campbelltown. Kosciuszko National Park. Occasionally elsewhere. Doubtfully naturalised in the ACT.
Notes
Introduced annual or biennial herb to 0.6 m high, densely covered with spreading hairs. Leaves basal and alternating up the stems. Basal leaves to 7 cm long, margins entire or toothed to slightly lobed, withering early. Stem leaves 3–6 cm long, 3–7 mm wide, more or less narrow-triangular, margins entire to toothed, bases stem clasping, basal auricles prominent and pointed. Flowers with 4 sepals about 1.5 mm long, and 4 white petals about 2 mm long. Flowers in an unbranched cluster up the stem which elongates in seed. Flowers spring–summer. Seed cases broadly oval, 5–6 mm long, 4–5 mm wide, broadly winged, notched at the tips. (needs a hand lens or a macro app on your phone/tablet to see.) Stalks of seed cases 5–6 mm long, hairy.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Lepidium~campestre (accessed 17 January, 2021)
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