Plant Species: Athysanus pusillus, common sandweed
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicots
Family: Brassicaceae (Cruciferae) -- mustard
Genus: Athysanus
Species: pusillus
Variety:
Common Name: common sandweed
Species Code: ATPU
Origin: Native to dry, often lithosolic soils of the western US and Canada.
Rare: no
Form: forb, annual, 4-30 cm tall, taprooted, stems branched from a leafy base, forked hispid throughout.
Duration: annual
Longevity: annual
Habitat Type: lithosolic prairie
Wetland Indicator Status: not listed
Leaves: forked hispid, basal leaves 2-15 (6-30) cm long, 10 mm wide, oblanceolate to ovate, margins entire to scarcely toothed, petiolate; cauline leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute, usually dentate, sessile, reduced upward.
Mature height: 2-12 inches
Flowers: perfect, inconspicuous, petals 1-2 mm, white or absent, borne in loose, one-sided racemes; pedicles 1-4 mm, sepals often purple tinged, soon deciduous.
Flower color: white (petals may be lacking)
Bloom: April
Bloom starts on: April
Bloom ends on: April
Fruit: silicle, 2-2.5 mm wide, oval, flattened, indehiscent, covered with hooked hairs, yellow, containing a single seed; pedicle recurved, 1-4 mm long.
Vegetation type:
Characteristics:
Reproduces by seed.
Flowers are perfect.
Fruit is a silicle.
Butterfly larva of Stella’s orangetip (Anthocharis stella), cabbage white (Pieris rapae), Becker’s white (Pontia beckerii), western white (Pontia occidentalis), and the large marble (Euchloe ausonides) feed on many species of Brassicaceae (Pocewicz 2005).
Comments:
Sun requirement: full
Soil moisture: dry
Precipitation:
Fire:
Hazards:
Sowing time: No information is available
Transplant time: not recommended
Stratification: No information is available
Seed yield: No information is available
Seed harvest:
Seed first harvest: first year
Seed cleaning: No information is available
Planting duration: annual
Seed insect problem:
Seed shatter:
Seed size: medium
Seed harvest date: No information is available
Seed comments:
Key words:
Alternate Genus:
Alternate Species:
Alternate Variety:
Propagation:
No information is available. Seed is probably best sown in place in the fall.
Notes:
References:
Pocewicz, Amy. 2005. Host Plants of Palouse Butterfly Species. 2 page handout to accompany the April 2005 presentation to the Palouse Prairie Foundation.