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Lepidium intermedium

Common name:		Family:	Cruciferae
Author:	A.Gray.	Botanical references:	60, 204
Synonyms:	Lepidium virginicum medium ((Greene)C.L.Hitchc.)
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Western N. America.
Habitat:	Dry open soil, roadsides and waste places[204].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	1	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	L. idahoense[B,P] L. medium[B,G,P] L. virginicum var. medium[B,C,CAL,G,P]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Medium Pepperweed [P],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	intermedium = intermediate medium = intermediate
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Capparales. Renamed to Brassicaceae -- Mustard family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Mexico

Physical Characteristics

Annual/Biennial growing to 0.3m. . The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Insects. We rate it 1/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Condiment Leaves Seed.

Young leaves - raw or cooked. A hot cress-like flavour.
Seed - dried and ground into a powder which can be used as a mush or mixed with cereal flours to make bread[161]. The seed can also be used as a flavouring[105, 161].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

We have almost no information on this species and do not know if it will be hardy in Britain, though judging by its native range it should succeed outdoors in most parts of the country. This species is almost certainly a synonym for L. virginianum[60]. The following notes are based on the general needs of the genus.
Succeeds in most soils.

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in a cold frame. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in the summer.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Lepidium virginicum var. medium (a possible synonym).

[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[C] Taxon data. from the CalFlora database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[60] Hitchcock. C. L. Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press 1955
A standard flora for Western N. America with lots of information on habitat etc. Five large volumes, it is not for the casual reader.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[161] Yanovsky. E. Food Plants of the N. American Indians. Publication no. 237. U.S. Depf of Agriculture.
A comprehensive but very terse guide. Not for the casual reader.

[204] Livingstone. B. Flora of Canada National Museums of Canada 1978 ISBN 0-660-00025-3
In 4 volumes, it does not deal with plant uses but gives descriptions and habitats.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Lepidium+intermedium
This page (US) http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Lepidium+intermedium

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We make no claims of magical effects or supernatural powers for any item in this catalog. In spite of legendary attributes or occult and craft tradition, such items are offered as curios only and beliefs concerning their magical effectiveness are related only for historical interest.