Lepidium chinense Franchet, Pl. David. 1: 39. 1883, not Stokes (1812); L. capitatum J. D. Hooker var. chinense Thellung.

Herbs biennial, (8-)20-45(-60) cm tall, puberulent with clavate to subcapitate papillate trichomes. Stems erect, simple or branched. Basal and lowermost cauline leaves with petioles 5-10 mm; leaf blade spatulate or oblanceolate, 1-5 × 0.4-1.6 cm, base attenuate or cuneate, margin pinnatifid or irregularly crenulate, apex obtuse to subacute. Upper cauline leaves usually sessile; leaf blade obovate or oblanceolate, (0.6-)1-3(-3.8) cm × (2-)5-10(-12) mm, base subauriculate or cuneate, margin serrate along distal half, apex acute or obtuse. Fruiting pedicels slender, divaricate, recurved, 3-6 mm, puberulent adaxially with clavate trichomes. Sepals oblong, 0.7-1 × 0.4-0.6 mm, white at margin and apex, glabrous or with crisped trichomes. Petals white, obovate or suboblong, 0.5-0.7 × 0.2-0.3 mm, claw indistinct, apex rounded to obtuse. Stamens 4; filaments 0.9-1 mm; anthers ca. 0.1-0.3 mm. Fruit broadly elliptic, rarely ovate or suborbicular, 2.9-3.4 × 2.4-2.8 mm, glabrous; wing apical, 0.1-0.2 mm; apical notch 0.05-0.1 mm; style 0.1-0.3 mm, usually exserted from apical notch. Seeds brown, oblong-ovate, 1.4-1.5 × ca. 0.8 mm, pitted; cotyledons incumbent. Fl. and fr. Mar-Aug.

* Mountain slopes, roadsides, river beaches; 600-2700 m. Gansu, Guizhou, Jiangxi, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan.