Lepidium densiflorum.USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. 3 vols. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. Vol 2. (Accessed 4/2014).

Lepidium densiflorum is an annual or biennial herb, 20-50 cm tall. 

Leaves alternate, initially in a basal rosette, 4-7 cm long, coarsely toothed to pinnately lobed, margins toothed, stem leaves 1-3 cm long, linear, usually entire (USDA Forest Service 2006). 

Flowers white, tiny, petals 4, shorter than sepals or none, stamens 2; inflorescence of crowded racemes 5-10 cm long at maturity, held erect, ca 0.4 cm wide; self-fertile (autogamous), (Mulligan and Kevan 1973); blooms May-June. 

Fruit dry, each 0.2-0.3 cm long and almost as wide, flat 2-seeded, almost round; 9-15 per cm of infructescence; fruits July-Sept. (Hough 1983). 

Wetland status: FAC. 

Frequency in NYC: Very infrequent. 

Origin: Native 

Habitat: Open areas, bare soil. 

Notes: Seeds and plants eaten by birds and small mammals (Martin et al. 1951).