BRASSICACEAE

MUSTARD FAMILY

Reed C. Rollins, except as specified

Annual to subshrub
Leaves generally basal and cauline, alternate, generally simple; stipules 0
Inflorescence: generally raceme
Flower bisexual; sepals 4, free; petals (0)4, free, generally white or yellow, often clawed; stamens generally (2,4)6, generally 4 long, 2 short; ovary 1, superior, chambers generally 2, septum membranous, connecting 2 parietal placentas, style 1, stigma simple or 2-lobed
Fruit: generally capsule ("silique") with 2 deciduous valves, sometimes breaking transversely or indehiscent
Seeds 1–many per chamber
Genera in family: 300+ genera, 3000+ species: worldwide, especially cool regions; some cultivated for food (especially Brassica, Raphanus ) and ornamental
Recent taxonomic note: Recently treated to include Capparaceae [Rodman et al. 1993 Ann Missouri Bot Gard 80:686–699; Rollins 1993 Cruciferae of Continental North America. Stanford Univ Press]
Family description, key to genera by Robert A. Price.

CARDARIA

WHITE-TOP, HOARY CRESS

Perennial, generally strongly rhizomed; hairs 0 to dense, simple, fine
Stems 1–several, generally erect
Leaves simple, toothed; base often lobed, clasping stem
Inflorescence ± flat-topped, wider than long, generally dense
Flower: petals white
Fruit cordate or ovate to ± round to obovate, indehiscent or tardily dehiscent, partly inflated or flattened perpendicular to septum; style 1–2 mm, slender
Seeds 1–2 per chamber, ovate, ± flat; wing 0; embryonic root at back of 1 cotyledon
Species in genus: 5 species: Eurasia
Etymology: (Greek: heart-shaped, from fruit of C. draba )
Reference: [Mulligan & Findley 1974 Canad J Plant Sci 54:149–160]

Introduced

C. chalepensis (L.) Hand.-Mazz.

LENS-PODDED HOARY CRESS

Stem 2–4 dm; hairs below, sparse to ± 0 above
Leaves widely oblanceolate to obovate; basal short-petioled, ± toothed to entire; middle and upper cauline sessile, base lobed, clasping stem
Flower: sepals glabrous; petals 3–4 mm
Fruit 2.5–6(8) mm, ± round to widely ovate or widely obovate, inflated, not narrowed at septum, glabrous
Chromosomes: 2n=80
Ecology: Disturbed, generally saline soils, fields
Elevation: < 1500 m.
Bioregional distribution: California Floristic Province, Great Basin Floristic Province
Distribution outside California: to Canada, c US; native to e Asia
Weedy.

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N.B. The distribution depicted here differs from that given in The Jepson Manual (1993)

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