Perfoliate penny-cress
Scientific name: Microthlaspi perfoliatum (L.) F.K.Mey.
Family name: Brassicaceae
MORPHOLOGY
Habit and dimensions: annual herbaceous plant without hairs. It reaches up to 20 centimeters in height.
Stem: green in color, simple, and flexuous. It may have small lateral branches.
Leaves: entire or toothed margins, with an obovate or lanceolate shape.
Flowers: clustered in elongated inflorescences, with small white-petaled flowers.
Fruits and seeds: silicles with valves and narrow wings that widen towards the apex. They contain oval and smooth seeds.
DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT
Native to Eurasia, reaching the coasts of North Africa. Found in all Italian regions up to 2,000 meters in altitude, often occurring in fallow lands, along the edges of cultivated fields, and road margins.
USE
The young leaves are edible.
INTERESTING FACTS
The genus name comes from the Greek “thalein” (= to compress), referring to the shape of the silicles. The specific epithet refers instead to the leaves that completely surround the stem.
Photo: Under the free license of Saxifraga – Peter Meininger and Willem van Kruijsbergen.
