An official website of the United States government.

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Hairy Whitetop

Scientific Name

Lepidium appelianum Al-Shehbaz (formerly known as Cardaria pubescens) (ITIS)

Common Name

Hairy Whitetop, Hoary Cress, Globe-podded Hoary Cress, Ball Cress, White-top lens, Peppergrass

Native To
Date of U.S. Introduction

First discovered in 1919 (Mulligan and Findlay 1974)

Means of Introduction

Introduced accidentally with contaminated alfalfa seed (Mulligan and Findlay 1974)

Impact

Crowds out native species and crops (Zouhar 2004)

Hairy whitetop

Hairy whitetop, plants in late season in fruit

Credit

Photo by Joseph DiTomaso; University of California - Davis

Find more images

Distribution / Maps / Survey Status

Selected Resources

The section below contains highly relevant resources for this species, organized by source.

Council or Task Force
  • Fact Sheet: Hoary Cress [PDF, 983 KB]

    • Jan 2014
    • Alberta Invasive Species Council (Canada).

    • See also: Fact Sheets for more information about individual invasive species, including those listed as "Prohibited Noxious" and "Noxious" under the Alberta Weed Control Act

Partnership
Federal Government
State and Local Government
Academic
Citations