White Crucifers

Mustard Family - Brassicaceae

Common Whitlowgrass Draba verna

Native throughout Europe and western Asia.


Habit	Flowers	Basal leaves	Seed capsules

Hairy Bittercress Cardamine hirsuta

Native throughout Europe, much of Africa and east into South-east Asia.


Flowers with only four stamens	Basal leaf	Bristly leaf petiole	Long, upright capsules

Greek Bittercress Cardamine graeca

Native to the central and eastern Mediterranean Region.


Flowers	Leaf	Seed capsules	Seed capsule

Hutchinsia Hornungia petraea

Native throughout most of Europe to Turkey and the Middle East. Typically found on stoney ground, often at altitude.


Flowers	Flowers	Leaves	Seed capsules

Thale Cress Arabidopsis thaliana

Native throughout Eurasia and much of Africa. Often common as an urban weed.


Habit	Flowers	Basal leaves	Seed capsules held away from stem

Common Shepherd's-purse Capsella bursa-pastoris

Native throughout Eurasia.


Flowers	Basal leaves	Leaves	Leaves

Seed capsule	Seed capsules

Sweet Alison Lobularia maritima

Native throughout the Mediterranean Region but popular as a garden plant and widely introduced elsewhere. As a wild plant, most often found on beaches or near the coast. Forms low-growing mounds with flowers lasting well through the season. Leaves narrow, greyish-hairy.


Habit	Habit	Flowers	Leaves

Southern Shepherd's-cress Teesdalia coronopifolia

Native to the Mediterranean Region and Madeira.


Flowers	Leaves

Perfoliate Penny-cress Noccaea perfoliata

Native throughout most of Europe, the Mediterranean Region and eastwards into Central Asia.


Habit	Flowers	Stem leaf	Stem leaf

Flowers and seed capsules	Seed capsules	Seed capsules	Seed capsules

White Ball-mustard Calepina irregularis

Native to the Mediterranean Region and eastward through the Middle East to the Caucasus. Often a plant of disturbed ground in urban areas.


Habit	Flowers	Flowers	Flowers

Basal leaf	Basal leaf	Stem leaf	Seed capsules

Spiny Pepperwort Lepidium spinosum

Native to the eastern Mediterranean region. Older flowering stems harden and become spiny at the tips.


Flowers	Leaf	Seed capsules

Leaves	Young seed capsules

Narrow-leaved Pepperwort Lepidium ruderale

Native throughout Europe and the mediterranean Region to northern and Central Asia. Flowers with small, often uneven or misshapen, cream-coloured petals. Often a very small species with fine leaves and thus easily missed, but may grow to around 30cm in height and become bushy with branched flower spikes. Seed capsules disc-shaped.


Habit	Flowers	Stem leaves	Seed capsules

Dittander Lepidium latifolium

Native throughout most of the temperate Old World. Flowers are tiny but carried in large, frothy masses. Petals often purplish on the back. A tall and striking species, often growing to a metre or more high. Leaves broad, greyish green and waxy.


Habit	Habit	Flowers	Leaf

Hoary Cress Lepidium draba

Native to the mediterranean Region and eastwards through eastern Europe to Central Asia and China. A plant of disturbed ground and roadsides, often on heavier soils.


Habit	Flowers	Leaf	Seed capsule

Common Swine-cress Lepidium coronopus

Native throughout Europe and the Mediterranean Region and widely introduced elsewhere. A low, rosette-forming species with coarsely-cut, compound leaves and tight clusters of tiny flowers. Seed capsules are rounded and carried in pairs. Flowers with more obvious white petals than those of Lesser Swine-cress and leaves larger and more coarsely lobed.


Habit	Early leaves	Flowers	Leaf close-up

Garlic Mustard Alliaria petiolata

Native throughout Europe, eastwards to the Himalayan Region. Often grows in large, extensive stands, setting large quantities of seed. Young plants germinate in late summer or autumn and produce a few basal leaves, then gain height and flower the following spring. The whole plant has a garlic smell and taste. Leaves broadly triangular with coarsely toothed edges, the overwintering leaves being rather dull, but fresh spring leaves are bright, shining green; seed capsules long and linear.


Habit	Flowers	Early leaves	Seed capsules

Wild Radish Raphanus raphanistrum subsp. raphanistrum

Native throughout Europe and the Mediterranean Basin to western Asia. Once known, this is an easy plant to recognise, with its coarse, bristly leaves and stems and its seed pods that have faint ribbing between the developing seeds. Flowers usually have dark veins and populations usually have a mix of both white and pale yellow flowered plants among them. The petals have long bases to them, forming a distinct cross shape.


Flower	Flower	Basal leaves	Seed capsule

Common Water-cress Nasturtium officinale

Native throughout Europe and northern Africa to western Asia. Forms low mats of full, leafy vegetation in usually flowing water, with clustered heads of white flowers. The seeds are in a double row within the seed capsule.


Habit	Habit	Flowers	Leaves

Flora of Lesvos An Identification Guide

White Crucifers

Mustard Family - Brassicaceae

Species List

Flora of Lesvos
An Identification Guide