Lepidium capitatum

Lepidium capitatum Hook. f. & Thomson, J. Proc. Linn. Soc., Bot. 5: 175 1861. (syn: Lepidium kunlunshanicum G.L. Zhou & Z.X. An);

Annual or biennial herbs, glabrous or sparsely pubescent with simple or branched capitate hairs, about 10-30 cm tall, not scapose. Rootstocks slender, taproot. Stem erect, ascending, leafy, profusely branched from the base, also above, densely pubescent with grandular capitate hairs. Basal radical leaves simple, rosulate or not, tubercled, oblong-lanceolate to spathulate, about 3-6 x 1-2 cm across, base attenuate, margins deeply pinnatifid, lobes acute, apex acute to subacute, glabrous or sparsely minutely capitate hairy on margins and midrib beneath, petiole about 0.5-3.5 cm long, cauline leaves gradually smaller towards the shoot, oblong-lanceolate, margins coarsely laciniate denticulate becoming entire towards shoot, apex acute to subobtuse, petiole short to subsessile towards the shoot. Inflorescence compact racemes forming a capitulum, both terminal and axillary, many flowered, slightly elongated in fruit, minutely capitate hairy, ebracteate. Flowers bisexual, cream white, pedicel slightly curved or erect, divaricate, slender, ascending, minutely capitate hairy above, about 2-5 mm long, sepals 4, ovate-oblong, caducous, usually deciduous, margins white, lateral pair base not saccate, apex obtuse, glabrous, about 0.8 x 0.4 mm long, petals 4, broader and shorter than sepals, broadly-obovate, base narrowed, margins entire, apex subemarginate or subtruncate, about 0.6-1 x 0.2-0.4 mm across. Stamens 4, about 1 mm long, 2 lateral stamens rudimentary or absent, filaments not dilated near the base, anthers ovate about 0.1-0.2 mm long. Ovary superior, sessile, ellipsoid-cylindrical, bicarpellary, ovules 2. Fruit silicula, dehiscent, broadly ovate, terete, angustiseptate, about 2-2.5 x 1.75-2 mm across, compressed, keeled or rounded at the back, apex notched and narrowly winged, glabrous or puberulent, replum rounded, septum complete, style obsolete, stigma included with the apical notch. Seeds 2, each in a locule, pale brown, slightly compressed or flattened, ovate-oblong, winged, about 1-1.2 x 0.7 mm across, smooth minutely reticulate, nicely mucilaginous when soaked, and cotyledons incumbent.

Waste places, hill slopes, altitude 3200-4000 m.
Asia: Bhutan, China, India, Nepal; Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal.
(Attributions- Ganeshaiah, K. N., UAS, Bangalore, India.; Kailash, B. R., ATREE, Bangalore, India.; Royal Norwegian Embassy grants. Indian Bioresource Information Network (IBIN), Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi, India from India Biodiversity Portal)      
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ID Request- Herb at Pangong Lake -Ladakh – July- PKA-09 : 6 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (5)

Small herb (around 10cm tall) with white coloured flowers approx. 3 to 4 mm in size.
Location: Near Pangong lake, Ladakh,
Altitude: Approx. 14200ft.

… indicated that this plant could be “Lepidium capitatum Hook. f. & Thomson”…(family: Brassicaceae)..

 

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Ladakh flora 6-UP : 7 posts by 3 authors. Attachments (3)
id pl-prostrate plant in Ladakh

No immediate idea of this. Looks distinctive enough. Would have helped to have close-ups of flowers/fruit.
Always useful to have an approximate altitude and rough location – as this information helps narrow down possibilities
and with confirming identification. So please send. Perhaps someone else can suggest a genus or recognises what it is? 

This plant was seen on the way to changthang valley from pangang tso lake.

no other photos pl.

This is Lepidium capitatum Hook.f. & Thomson.

Thanks …  Saved me a lot of time and effort trying to work out what it was!
Stewart records this from Ladakh only incl. Lachalung La (a pass on the route between Manali and Leh after Baralacha La) and Zanskar – noting the prostrate branches, which they certainly are.
3000-4500m (I think Lachalung La is over 5000m though perhaps collection was made below the pass itself and as Stewart collected it there himself, he probably recorded the details correctly).

Thanks a lot … I am so happy and thrilled that an experts like you and … on the Ladakh flora, have taken troubles in identifying the plant and replying.