{"id":1075,"date":"2011-06-09T08:58:55","date_gmt":"2011-06-09T12:58:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/?p=1075"},"modified":"2011-06-13T09:02:20","modified_gmt":"2011-06-13T13:02:20","slug":"peppergrass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/2011\/06\/peppergrass\/","title":{"rendered":"Peppergrass"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div id=\"attachment_18821\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/?attachment_id=18821\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-18821\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18821\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/peppergrass-seed-capsules1.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"peppergrass-seed-capsules1\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18821\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-18821\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">PHOTO BY KEN MOORE. Peppergrass has flat, rounded seed capsules. <\/p><\/div><br \/>\n<strong>By Ken Moore<br \/>\n<em>Flora Columnist<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This week, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m spicing up my yucca flower dishes (see last week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Flora) with peppergrass harvested from the edge of the drive.<\/p>\n<p>I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve recognized peppergrass for years, but only this year have I taken a close-enough look to really value it. As long as I can remember, whenever I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen the 1- to 2-foot-high stems with flat, round seed pods, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve remembered the plant and, though I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve tasted its spicy flavor numerous times, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve just not given it serious consideration.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the long, cool spring made me more observant this year. Several weeks ago, my eye was caught by tiny white flowers at the tops of rather nondescript weedy green plants growing along the drive. They had just begun flowering, and the characteristic flat, round seed capsules were not evident.<\/p>\n<p>This time, I needed my trusty hand lens, which of course I always have in my pocket, to take a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153closer look.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d When I discerned four separate petals and six stamens, two of which were shorter than the other four, I immediately thought of the mustard family, the <em>Cruciferae<\/em> or <em>Brassicaceae<\/em>, depending on the botanical reference you may have at hand.<\/p>\n<p>To verify my hunch, I reached down to taste a couple of leaves from the stem. The spicy, peppery taste is characteristic of the many native and exotic mustards we have so casually scattered throughout our yards and gardens. <\/p>\n<p>It was easy to flip through images of the mustard family to identify this peppergrass, <em>Lepidium virginicum<\/em>, also called pepperweed. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s definitely not a grass, though some may consider it a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153weed.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I suspect earlier folks adopted these names because it tastes like pepper and is commonly found growing in fields with grasses and so-called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153weeds.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Another name is poor man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pepper, which makes sense if you consider relying on it in place of the store-bought spice. <\/p>\n<p>Ethnobotanist Jim Duke enjoys nibbling the stem tops, including young leaves, fruit and flowers. I suggested this to a friend last week, and the surprise response was, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sorta tastes like horseradish!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve enjoyed adding the spicy plant tips fresh on salads and during the last stages of making omelets, sauces and soups. <\/p>\n<p>Peppergrass is a natural source of protein and vitamins A and C and, if you do a little herbal sleuthing, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll find past and present medical uses.<\/p>\n<p>This has been a most productive peppergrass season, and where there may be ample moisture, it will carry on through the fall. Look for it along walkways and edges of fields and forests in and around town. You probably have some savvy friends who may share some from their yards and gardens. If you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care to harvest any, pause in watchful contemplation. Peppergrass is a larval host plant for the checkered white butterfly, among others.<\/p>\n<p><em>Email Ken Moore at flora@carrborocitizen.com.<br \/>\n<\/em><br \/>\nFind previous Ken Moore Citizen columns at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\">The Annotated Flora<\/a>.<br \/>\n<div id=\"attachment_18822\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/?attachment_id=18822\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-18822\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18822\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/peppergrass-plant1.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"peppergrass-plant1\" width=\"400\" height=\"533\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18822\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-18822\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">PHOTO BY KEN MOORE. Peppergrass is common now along walkways and edges of fields and forests.<\/p><\/div><br \/>\n<div id=\"attachment_18823\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/?attachment_id=18823\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-18823\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18823\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/peppergrass-flower1.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"peppergrass-flower1\" width=\"400\" height=\"533\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18823\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-18823\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">PHOTO BY KEN MOORE. Tiny four-petaled flowers are characteristic of the mustard family. <\/p><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Ken Moore Flora Columnist This week, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m spicing up my yucca flower dishes (see last week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Flora) with peppergrass harvested from the edge of the drive. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve recognized peppergrass for years, but only this year have I taken a close-enough look to really value it. As long as I can remember, whenever I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,22],"tags":[724,794,793,795,792],"class_list":["post-1075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ken-moores-flora","category-summer","tag-brassicaceae","tag-cruciferae","tag-lepidium-virginicum","tag-peppergrass","tag-yucca"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1075"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1077,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1075\/revisions\/1077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/flora\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}