Introductory
SPECIES: Cardaria draba | Heart-Podded Hoary Cress 



ABBREVIATION : 
CARDRA

SYNONYMS : 
   Lepidium draba L. [25,31]


SCS PLANT CODE : 
   CADR


COMMON NAMES : 
   heart-podded hoary cress
   hoary cress
   whitetop
   pepperweed


TAXONOMY : 
The currently accepted scientific name of heart-podded hoary cress is
Cardaria draba (L.) Desv. [8,12,17,23].  It is a member of the
Cruciferae family.  Heart-podded hoary cress was originally placed in
the genus Lepidium [34].  There are two recognized varieties of
heart-podded hoary cress [9,23,31]:

C. d. var. draba
C. d. var. repens (Schrenk) O. E. Schulz

According to Hickman [12], C. d. var. repens is a hybrid of C. draba and
C. chalepensis (lens-podded hoary cress) (L.) Hand.  

It was originally thought that there was only one species of Cardaria in
North America.  In 1933, Bellue reported three distinct species.  Some
taxonomists still do not distinguish between the three hoary cresses
[22].
 


LIFE FORM : 
Forb

FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS : 
No special status

OTHER STATUS : 
NO-ENTRY


COMPILED BY AND DATE : 
Lora L. Esser, August 1994


LAST REVISED BY AND DATE : 
NO-ENTRY


AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION : 
Esser, Lora L. 1994. Cardaria draba. In: Remainder of Citation

DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Cardaria draba | Heart-Podded Hoary Cress 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Heart-podded hoary cress is a weed of Eurasian origin that is invading
rangelands throughout North America [8,18,35].  It is widespread in the
United States except along the southern boundary of the western and
south-central states [30].  It has been collected in every province of
Canada except Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland [22].  


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   Heart-podded hoary cress is found in nearly all FRES ecosytems.  


STATES : 
     AL  AK  AZ  AR  CA  CO  CT  DE  FL  GA
     ID  IL  IN  IA  KS  KY  LA  ME  MD  MA
     MI  MN  MS  MO  MT  NE  NV  NH  NJ  NM
     NY  NC  ND  OH  OK  OR  PA  RI  SC  SD
     TN  TX  UT  VT  VA  WA  WV  WI  WY  AB
     BC  MB  NT  NS  ON  PQ  SK  YT


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     CARE  COLM  DEWA  JODA  MEVE  NOCA
     OLYM  SAMO  TICA  YELL


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    1  Northern Pacific Border
    2  Cascade Mountains
    3  Southern Pacific Border
    4  Sierra Mountains
    5  Columbia Plateau
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont
   14  Great Plains
   15  Black Hills Uplift
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
NO-ENTRY


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   Heart-podded hoary cress is found in nearly all SAF cover types.  


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Heart-podded hoary cress is found in saltcedar (Tamarix ramosissima)
communities in Utah; in a study relating plant cover to saltcedar age,
heart-podded hoary cress occurred only in stands 6.0 to 9.6 years old,
with average cover of 25 percent [4].  It occurs in antelope
bitterbrush/rough fescue (Purshia tridentata/Festuca scabrella) and
antelope bitterbrush/bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata)
habitat types in southwestern Montana [10].  In Oregon, heart-podded
hoary cress occurs in basin big sagebrush (Artemesia tridentata ssp.
tridentata) and Wyoming big sagebrush (A. tridentata ssp. wyomingensis)
communities [18,27].

VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Cardaria draba | Heart-Podded Hoary Cress 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Heart-podded hoary cress is generally considered unpalatable to
livestock.  However, sheep eat plants in early growth stages, and cattle
ingest seedheads [18,25].


PALATABILITY : 
NO-ENTRY


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
Although heart-podded hoary cress contains glucosinolates and is
potentially mildly toxic [18], nutritional levels are adequate to meet
the requirements of most classes of livestock, especially in the early
growth stages.  Foliage becomes coarse and bitter as it matures [18,25].
Mean nutrient composition of whole heart-podded hoary cress plants
collected at five dates from eight sites in eastern Oregon, 1988 is as
follows [18]:
                                        
                                    Phenology
                                             
                   rosette  bolting  early bloom  full bloom  full seed
% dry weight       (4-12)   (4-24)     (5-12)       (6-10)      (7-7)
                      
dry matter          22.6     22.6       27.6         33.4        95.9
crude protein       28.8     29.5       20.3         11.3         7.9
ndf *               13.1     16.0       23.9         34.9        52.8
adf **              12.0     13.4       21.6         28.8        41.8
cellulose            9.9     11.2       17.0         22.0        32.1
lignin               1.9      2.3        4.4          5.9         9.4
ether extract        1.6      1.5        1.9          2.2         2.4
in-vitro ***        77.3     74.7       69.8         64.9        49.1

* neutral detergent fiber
** acid detergent fiber
*** in-vitro organic matter digestibility
 


COVER VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
NO-ENTRY


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
Heart-podded hoary cress seed may be used as a substitute for pepper
[22].  


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Heart-podded hoary cress is classified as a noxious weed in 24 states
and 4 provinces [22,36].  Control is difficult because of the perennial
root system, abundant seed production, and diverse habitat of the plant.
In the absence of a competitor, a single plant spread over an area 12
feet (3.6 m) in diameter in 1 year [20].  Irrigation facilitates the
spread and establishment of heart-podded hoary cress by transporting
root material from neglected ditch banks [22].  

Control Methods - Mechanical:  Cultivation alone will control
heart-podded hoary cress when tillage begins at flowerbud time and is
repeated every 10 days throughout the growing season [19].  In Manitoba
and Alberta, it takes 3 years of intensive tillage to kill the root
system of heart-podded hoary cress [22].  Flooding can kill heart-podded
hoary cress.  Seeds buried in moist compacted manure for 1 month lose
their viability [22].  Early spring plowing and planting to a cereal
crop can control heart-podded hoary cress [25].

Biological:  Dense stands of established perennial grasses provide some
resistance to invasion and spread of heart-podded hoary cress if grazing
is not excessive [19].

Chemical:  Several herbicides can control heart-podded hoary cress.
They are most effective if applied during the early bud stage or late
fall rosette stage [16,19,32].  Spraying followed by spring mowing can
control up to 90 percent of heart-podded hoary cress [25].  Dense stands
of grass, mowed only when necessary and treated with a selective
herbicide, are best for controlling heart-podded hoary cress.  Refer to
publication [32] for information on effective herbicides and application
procedures.

Heart-podded hoary cress has some forage value, but until research
better evaluates its toxicity, McInnis [18] recommends the following
cautionary measures when allowing livestock to graze infested
rangelands:  provide supplemental iodine, graze mature and nonlactating
animals, and provide alternate grazing areas.

BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Cardaria draba | Heart-Podded Hoary Cress 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Heart-podded hoary cress is a rhizomatous perennial herb with numerous,
erect or ascending stems.  It grows from 8 to 20 inches (20-50 cm) tall
[16,17].  Leaves are elliptic to oblong, and 1.6 to 4 inches (4-10 cm)
long [17,30].  The fruit is an indehiscent, glabrous, heart-shaped to
oval silicle. It is 0.14 to 0.18 inch (3.5-4.5 mm) long and wide, with
two seeds [19,22,30].  Roots usually occur at depths of 29-32 inches
(74-81 cm) [22], but have penetrated to a depth of 30 feet (9 m) in the
Pacific Northwest [25].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Hemicryptophyte
   Geophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Sexual:  Heart-podded hoary cress reproduces by seed.  It is
self-incompatible and is pollinated by insects [16,22].  One plant can
produce from 1,200 to 4,800 seeds.  There is no mechanism for seed
dispersal.  Seed viability the first season may be as high as 84
percent, but can drop to 31 percent by the second year and 0 percent by
the third year [18,20].

Cotyledons appear aboveground 5 to 6 weeks after planting and grow to
maximum size in about 3 weeks.  During this period, the first leaves
emerge and form a loose rosette.  Stems arise from the center of each
rosette in late April [19,22].  

Vegetative:  Heart-podded hoary chess spreads vigorously by creeping
roots.  Lateral perennial roots spread and produce new rosettes and
flowering shoots.  One plant can eventually result in a large colony
[2,20].  Within 3 weeks of germination, a seedling root can begin
producing buds; if these are at or near the soil surface they may
produce new rosettes [18,22].  Buds borne at deeper levels may develop
as rhizomes.  In the absence of competition, one plant can produce 455
shoots the first year [18].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Heart-podded hoary cress is widespread in fields, waste places, meadows,
pastures, and along roadsides [14,16,22,30].  It also invades cropland
[9].  It is most often found in open, unshaded areas on disturbed,
generally saline soils [12,17,22], but can grow on almost any soil [25].
In Canada, heart-podded hoary cress, like other Cardaria species, may
grow better in moist than dry conditions [22].

Elevation:  Heart-podded hoary cress is found from 4,224 to 8,857 feet
(1,280-2,684 m) in Utah, 5,214 to 6,402 feet (1,580-1,940 m) in Montana,
2,310 to 3,960 feet (700-1,200 m) in Oregon, 3,500 to 8,500 feet
(1,050-2,550 m) in Colorado, and at less than 3,960 feet (1,200 m) in
California [10,11,12,18,27,35].  

 


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Facultative Seral Species

Heart-podded hoary cress invades disturbed sites and may move into
productive sites when growing conditions are ideal [12,17].  It does
best in open, unshaded areas and can replace fields of alfalfa (Medicago
sativa) if not controlled [22,25].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Heart-podded hoary cress flowering dates for several states are as follows:

California     Mar-June  [23]
Kansas         May-June  [2]
Illinois       Apr-June  [21]
Nebraska       May-July  [8]
Great Plains   Apr-Aug   [9]

In Oregon, heart-podded hoary cress seed matures in late July and early
August [22].  

FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Cardaria draba | Heart-Podded Hoary Cress 



FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS : 
Heart-podded hoary cress probably survives fire due to the presence of
perennating buds located on an extensive underground root system.
Because of high germination in new seed, it may colonize from new
soil-stored seed after fire.


POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY : 
   Rhizomatous herb, rhizome in soil
   Geophyte, growing points deep in soil

FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Cardaria draba | Heart-Podded Hoary Cress 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Heart-podded hoary cress is probably top-killed by fire.  


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Heart-podded hoary cress probably sprouts from rhizomes and establishes
from seed after fire.  At the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in
Oregon, prescribed fires were conducted in the fall of 1987 and the
spring of 1988 in basin big sagebrush-bluebunch wheatgrass communities.
Heart-podded hoary cress was not present in the prefire communities, but
appeared in trace amounts on the fall burn and at 2 percent in 1989 on
spring burn [27].  Because of its rapid growth, heart-podded hoary cress
may be favored by severe fires that temporarily reduce competition from
native species.


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
If soils are disturbed by severe fire or by fire suppression activities,
heart-podded hoary cress may be favored.  

REFERENCES
SPECIES: Cardaria draba | Heart-Podded Hoary Cress 



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Related categories for Species: Cardaria draba | Heart-Podded Hoary Cress