Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Account for Field Pennycress - Thlaspi arvense   L.
Members of Brassicaceae:
Only member of Thlaspi in NC.
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Section 6 » Order Capparales » Family Brassicaceae
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AuthorL.
DistributionMountains to the middle Coastal Plain; absent from the Sandhills and nearly all of the outer Coastal Plain.

Native to Eurasia; in N.A. throughout.
AbundanceFairly common in the Mountains, but uncommon in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain. Apparently absent from the Sandhills and southern Piedmont, and the outer Coastal Plain except for Currituck County.
HabitatFields, cropfields, roadsides, railroad margins, barnyards, disturbed soil.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting March-July.
IdentificationField Pennycress usually grows 1-2 feet tall and is a rather "leafy" mustard species. There are many stem leaves; they are sessile and with backward pointing lobes that clasp the stem; lance-shaped to elliptical and with low teeth. The flowers are small and white, and occur on long racemes; the pods are large, obovate or suborbicular, and broadly winged.
Taxonomic Comments
Other Common Name(s)
State RankSE
Global RankGNR
State Status
US Status
USACE-agcpUPL link
USACE-empUPL link
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