Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria

View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora

Lepidium montanum is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common name mountain pepperweed. It is native to western North America from Oregon to Montana to northern Mexico, where it can be found in a number of habitats, often on salty or gravelly soils. There are several varieties, many of which are difficult to distinguish. This is a short, spreading, shrublike biennial herb producing a rounded form up to about 40 centimeters tall and greater in width. The leaves near the base of the plant are up to 15 centimeters long and are divided into several toothed lobes; those further up on the stem are shorter and often undivided. The plant flowers abundantly in rounded to cylindrical flower clusters a few centimeters wide. Each small flower has white to cream-colored petals about 2 millimeters long and two to six stamens. The fruit is an oval-shaped capsule a few millimeters long. Varieties of the species include:

Plant type

Perennial herb

Size

10 - 16 in Tall

Form

Mounding

Growth rate

Fast

Calscape icon
Color

Yellow, White, Cream

Flowering season

Spring

Sun

Full Sun

Soil description

Adaptable, tolerant of sand, loam and clay.

Plant communities

Creosote Bush Scrub, Pinyon-Juniper Woodland, Sagebrush Scrub

Caterpillars
Butterflies

Butterflies and moths supported

0 confirmed and 7 likely

Confirmed Likely

Gray Marble

Anthocharis lanceolata

Large Marble

Euchloe ausonides

Pearly Marble

Euchloe hyantis

Desert Marble

Euchloe lotta