Thysanocarpus curvipes – Sand Fringepod

Thysanocarpus curvipes - Sand Fringepod, Sand Lacepod, Lacepod Mustard (flowers)

Thysanocarpus curvipes - Sand Fringepod, Sand Lacepod, Lacepod Mustard (fruit)

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Thysanocarpus curvipes

Synonyms: Thysanocarpus amplectens, T. elegans

Common Names: Sand Fringepod, Sand Lacepod, Lacepod Mustard

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Annual

Growth Habit: Herb/Forb

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Desert, Upland

Flower Color: White to tinged purple

Flowering Season: Winter, Spring

Height: To 30 inches (76 cm) tall

Description: The flowers are 1/4 inch (6 mm) wide and have 4 petals and 4 sepals. The flowers are followed by very distinctive, flat, disk-shaped, green seedpods with pinkish, scalloped, perforated edges. The leaves are green, narrowly lanceolate to oblanceolate in shape, and most are either basal or clasp the lower stems. The plants are slender and rather inconspicuous despite their unusual fringed seedpods.

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Dilleniidae
Order: Capparales
Family: Brassicaceae – Mustard family
Genus: Thysanocarpus Hook. – fringepod
Species: Thysanocarpus curvipes Hook. – sand fringepod

More About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map