Prairie pepper-grass

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Prairie pepper-grass

Prairie pepper-grass

Prairie pepper-grass

Prairie pepper-grass silicles

Prairie pepper-grass inflorescence

Prairie pepper-grass inflorescence

Prairie pepper-grass silicles

Morphology

Stem

Erect, branched above. Plants glabrous or finely pubescent.

Leaves

Basal leaves withering early; petiole 1/5 to 4/5 inch; blade spatulate to oblanceolate or oblong, 3/5 to 4 inches long, 1/5 to 4/5 inch wide, margins serrate to pinnately lobed. Cauline leaves: petiole absent or short; blade oblanceolate to linear, 2/5 to 3 inches long, 1/12 to 7/10 inch wide, base wedge-shaped to attenuate, not auriculate, margins entire to serrate or dentate, rarely pinnately lobed.

Inflorescence

Racemes, terminal: rachis finely pubescent.

Flower

Sepals 4, oblong to elliptic, tiny; petals absent or if present white, linear, shorter than sepals; stamens 2.

Fruit

Silicles, obovoid to suborbicular, 1/7 to 1/4 inch, nearly as wide, narrowly winged distally, apical notched; seeds orange, 1/24 to 1/16 inch.

Ecology

Habitat

Rocky to sandy roadsides, pastures, prairies, disturbed sites, and waste places

Distribution

Occurs statewide

Additional Notes