Field Pennycress (Thlaspi arvense)
Description
“Pet poisonous” – Toxic parts: seeds Thlaspi arvense, known by the common name field pennycress, is a flowering plant in the cabbage family Brassicaceae. A foetid, hairless annual plant, growing up to 60 cm (24 in) tall,:421 with upright branches. The stem leaves are arrow-shaped, narrow and toothed. It blooms between May and July, with clusters of small white flowers. They have 4 sepals and 4 longer petals. Later it has round, flat, winged pods with a deep apical notch,:421 measuring 1–1 cm (0.39–0.39 in)across. They contain small brown-black seeds. The common name 'penny cress' is derived from the shape of the seeds looking like an old English penny. It is native to temperate regions of Eurasia, but is a naturalized introduced species throughout temperate North America and therefore has a circumpolar distribution. In the British Isles it is regarded as an archaeophyte (an ancient introduction). Field pennycress is a weed of cultivated land and wasteland. The field pennycress has a bitter taste; it is usually parboiled to remove the bitter taste. This is mostly used in salads, sometimes in sandwich spreads. It is said to have a distinctive flavour. Pennycress is being developed as an oilseed crop for production of renewable fuels. The species can be planted in the fall, will germinate and form a vegetative mass which can overwinter. In the spring, the oil-rich seed can be harvested and used as a biodiesel feedstock. Pennycress is related to the model plant species Arabidopsis thaliana. Researchers have begun studying the genetics of pennycress in order to improve its potential use as a biofuel crop. For example, the transcriptome of pennycress has been sequenced.
Taxonomic tree
-
Domain: Eukarya
-
-
Kingdom: Plantae
-
-
Phylum: Magnoliophyta
-
-
Class: Magnoliopsida
-
-
Order: Brassicales
-
-
Family: Brassicaceae
-
-
Genus: Thlaspi
-
-
-
-
-
-
