17.
Lepidium fremontii
S. Watson, Botany (Fortieth Parallel). 30, plate 4, figs. 3, 4. 1871.
Lepidium fremontii
var.
stipitatum
Rollins;
Nasturtium fremontii
(S. Watson) Kuntze
Perennials or subshrubs;
(woody base aboveground); (glaucous), glabrous throughout.
Stems
several from base, erect or ascending, branched (several) distally, 2-5.5(-10) dm.
Basal leaves
absent.
Cauline leaves
sessile; blade linear and undivided or pinnately lobed (lobes 3-7(-9), linear), (1.5-)2.2-8.4(-10.2) cm × (0.7-)1-2.8(-4.2) mm, base attenuate, not auriculate, margins entire, (similar, smaller distally).
Racemes
(panicles), elongated in fruit.
Fruiting pedicels
divaricate-ascending to horizontal, usually straight, rarely slightly curved, (terete), (3.5-)4.3-7.6 (-8.5) × 0.15-0.2 mm.
Flowers:
sepals obovate, 1.5-2.5 (-3) × 1-1.6 mm; petals white, spatulate, 2.5-4.2 × 1.5-2.2 mm, claw 1-2 mm; stamens 6; filaments 1.8-3 mm; anthers 0.4-0.7 mm.
Fruits
obovate to orbicular, (4-)4.5-7(-8) × 4.2-7(-8) mm, apically winged, apical notch (0.1-)0.2-0.5 mm deep; valves thin, smooth, not veined; style 0.2-0.8(-1) mm, exserted beyond apical notch.
Seeds
ovate, 1.6-2.1 × 0.9-1.1 mm.
2
n
= 32.
Flowering Mar-Jun. Desert shrub communities, pinyon-juniper woodlands, sandy washes, gravelly deserts, barren knolls, bluffs, roadsides, steep limestone outcrops, rocky ledges and slopes; 400-2100 m; Ariz., Calif., Nev., Utah.
Rollins established var.
stipitatum
on the basis of fruits obovate with gynophores 0.5-0.75 mm versus (var.
fremontii
) fruits orbicular to ovate and sessile. These two characters often do not covary and stipitate fruits occur sporadically throughout the species range, including Arizona (
Lemmon s.n.
, GH), California (
Morefield 3427
, GH), and Nevada (
Comanor 18,
GH;
Hitchcock 3078
, GH).
