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Lepidium latifolium
Also called Dittander, Perennial Peppergrass, Perennial Pepperweed, Tall Whitetop, Virginia Pepperweed, Broad Leaved Peppergrass, Broadleaf Peppergrass
Broadleaved pepperweed is a tough, deep-rooted perennial in the cabbage family, grown mainly as a wild or invasive plant rather than a garden ornamental. Its extensive roots make it very hard to remove once established.
Lepidium latifolium, known by several common names including perennial pepperweed, broadleaved pepperweed, pepperwort, peppergrass, dittander, dittany, and tall whitetop, is a perennial plant that is a member of the mustard and cabbage family.
This plant is native to southern Europe, Mediterranean countries and Asia as far east as the Himalayas. It is an introduced species in Australia and North America, growing throughout the United States and Mexico. It may have been introduced to the U.S. when its seed got into a shipment of sugar beet seeds.
The leaves, shoots, and fruits of this plant are all edible. In Ladakh in the Himalayas, the spring leaves are prized as a vegetable. The peppery edge or bitterness is removed by first boiling the young shoots and leaves, and then soaking in water for two days. Cooked like spinach, it makes a nutritious vegetable.
African pepperwort · Waitakere Scurvy Grass · Waianae Range pepperwort · Lepidium aschersonii · Southern pepperwort · Coastal peppercress · Barneby's pepperweed · Field pepperweed · Creeping Watercress · Common pepperweed · Alkali pepperweed · Wartcress
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Lepidium latifolium by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
