Field Pennycress
Scientific Name: Thlaspi arvense L.
Other Names: Penny-cress and stink-weed.
Life Cycle: winter annual
General Description: Plant with a rosette of leaves and erect flowering stems. Fruits are winged pods.
Seedlings: Cotyledons
are bluish green, and oval to elliptical on long petioles. Young leaves
are smooth, round to oval on petioles and arranged in a basal rosette.
True Leaves and Stem: Leaves
are lanceolate to ovate, with a wavy or toothed margin. Basal leaves do
not persist until maturity. Stems are smooth, erect and have very few
leaves. Stems leaves are sessile and have auricles where the leaf
attaches to the stem.
Roots: Taproot with secondary fiberous roots.
Flower and Fruit: White,
four-petaled flowers are produced in dense racemes. The racemes
elongate with age. Fruits are flat, winged, circular (penny-shaped),
with a notch at the apex. There are approximately 4-16 seeds in each
fruit.