Slender Mouse-ear Cress
Slender Mouse-ear-cress is a biennial species that belongs to the Brassicaceae, or mustard family. The plant can have one to several stems. The stems often branch and grow between 10 and 35 centimetres tall. They have a grayish appearance due to a covering of simple and branched hairs. Slender Mouse-ear-cress has many leaves at the base of the stem that are three to six centimetres long and five to 15 millimetres wide. They taper to a slender basal stalk and may be pointed or blunt at the tip. The leaf edges may be smooth or wavy-toothed. The several leaves on the stem decrease in size going up the stem, but are widest at the base where they clasp the stem. The many flowers open as they develop at the tip of the stem. The flowers are on slender stalks seven to 11 millimetres long. The main stem continues to grow, causing the bunched flowers to become widely spaced fruits. The four outer flower parts (sepals) are purplish and the inner four (petals) are white with pink or lavender veins. Petals are only four millimetres long. The fruiting pods are cylindrical and upright at the ends of their stalks, 1.5 to four centimetres long and only 0.1 centimetre wide. The numerous seeds are crowded, mostly visible, in two rows on the pod which fits closely enough to make the seeds visible. Similar species: Slender Mouse-ear-cress can be distinguished from other members of the mustard family (Rock Cress, Arabis species) by its white flowers opening while still on the stem tip, by the presence of the many-branched hairs and by the fruit which is round in cross-section. Some Rock Cress may have white flowers but only flower buds are found at the stem tips. The flowers do not open until the stem has grown longer. Hairs are absent or unbranched on stems and leaves. Fruits of Rock Cress are usually somewhat flattened with smooth surfaces, which do not show the seeds inside.
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