Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria

View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora

Lepidium fremontii (desert pepperweed) is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family which is native to the southwestern United States, where it grows on sandy desert flats and the rocky slopes of nearby hills and mountains. It takes its scientific name from John C. Frmont. L. fremontii is a robust perennial herb producing a branching, tangled gray stem to about a meter in height. The many sprawling stems are foliated in linear leaves up to about 10 centimeters long which may have several fingerlike lobes. The plant produces thick racemes of many small flowers. Each flower has spoon-shaped white petals just a few millimeters long. The fruit is a mostly flattened oblong to rounded capsule under a centimeter long.

Plant type

Perennial herb

Size

3 - 6 ft Tall

Calscape icon
Color

White

Sun

Full Sun

Soil drainage

Fast

Site type

Sandy desert flats and rocky desert slopes

Plant communities

Creosote Bush Scrub, Joshua Tree Woodland

Caterpillars
Butterflies

Butterflies and moths supported

3 confirmed and 6 likely

Confirmed Likely

Pearly Marble

Euchloe hyantis

Western White

Pontia occidentalis

Checkered White

Pontia protodice

Gray Marble

Anthocharis lanceolata