SPREADING YELLOWCRESS
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Rorippa sinuata   (Nutt. ) Hitchc.
Ellsworth County, Kansas
Perennial
Height: 6 to 20 inches
Family: Brassicaceae - Mustard Family
Flowering Period:   April, May, June, July, August
Stems: Decumbent to prostrate or ascending, much-branched above, sparsely to moderately pubescent.
Leaves: Basal and/or cauline, alternate; basal leaves simple, usually sessile, sometimes short-petiolate; blade oblanceolate to spatulate in outline, .8 to 4 inches long, .2 to 1.4 inch wide, margins pinnatifid, under surfaces pubescent with simple hairs, upper surfaces glabrous; cauline leaves sessile; blade oblanceolate to oblong or lanceolate, .8 to 3.6 inches long, .2 to .8 inch wide; base auricled or not, sometimes clasping stem, margins coarsely serrate to pinnatifid.
Inflorescences: Racemose, terminal; fruiting pedicels widely spreading, often with sigmoid curve, .3 to .5 inch.
Flowers: Sepals 4, distinct, ascending, ovate to lanceolate or oblong, .1 to .16 inch; petals 4, yellow, oblong to oblanceolate or narrowly spatulate, .12 to .2 inch, longer than sepals; stamens 6, 4 long stamens barely exserted, 2 short stamens included.
Fruits: Siliques, cylindric, ascending, .16 to .6 inch long, .04 to .1 inch wide; seeds yellowish brown, heart-shaped, less than .04 inch, minutely papillose.
Habitat: Muddy to sandy shores of rivers, streams, and ponds, marshes, ditches, and wet depressions
Distribution: Throughout Kansas
Origin: Native
Uses: The Zuni used smoke from the flowers to alleviate inflamed eyes.
Comments: Rorippa, a Saxon name, and sinuata, wavy, alluding to the leaf margins.

Spreading yellowcress inflorescence
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Ellsworth County, Kansas
Spreading yellowcress leaves
81 KB
Ellsworth County, Kansas
Spreading yellowcress leaf
89 KB
Ellsworth County, Kansas