Pennycress

Biological Name:

Thlaspi arvense (Pennycress)

Natural Habitat:

Pennycress is likely found in temperate regions, growing in a variety of habitats such as fields, roadsides, and wetlands.

Description:

Pennycress is a type of flowering plant that is commonly found in fields and other grassy areas. It is a member of the Brassicaceae family which also includes plants such as cabbage and mustard. Pennycress is an annual or perennial plant that produces small white or yellow flowers and clusters of seeds. The plant is often used as a cover crop to improve soil health and suppress weeds. It is also known for its ability to tolerate a wide range of growing conditions including wet or dry soils. In some areas pennycress is considered a weed because of its ability to invade cultivated areas and cause allergies and other health problems.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: Is field pennycress invasive?
A: Field penny-cress is an alien (non-native) invasive plant, meaning it out-competes crowds-out and displaces beneficial native plants that have been naturally growing in Ireland for centuries.
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Q: Is field pennycress toxic to horses?
A: Toxic components All parts of T. arvense contain varying levels of glucosinolates, which can be toxic if consumed in large quantities. The amount of this chemical varies with the stage of maturity of the plant; the highest amount is in the seeds.
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Q: How do you control pennycress?
A: Field pennycress can be easily controlled mechanically with tillage or with herbicides. Herbicide treatments will provide best control when plants are in the early stages of development, preferably in the rosette stage when growth is active and before plants start shedding seed.
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Q: Is pennycress a winter annual?
A: Field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense) is a winter annual oilseed showing great promise as a new crop for growers to adopt that will keep the soil in continuous living cover, protect water quality and increase profitability.
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Q: What does pennycress taste like?
A: This plant is sometimes cultivated as a food crop in Europe. The leaves of field pennycress are edible raw or cooked, with a bitter mustard-garlic-onion taste that can be removed by parboiling. They are best harvested before the plant begins to flower.
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Q: What herbicide kills field pennycress?
A: Certainty Herbicide – 1.25 oz.
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Q: Do bees like pennycress?
A: Pennycress’ small, open-type flowers with easily accessible nectar droplets suggest that it is visited by generalist pollinators, which is indeed what has been recently reported [11, 25]. The primary visitors to pennycress flowers include small bees, flies, and butterflies [11, 25].
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Q: Is pennycress a mustard?
A: Pennycress is a small mustard, no more than 10 inches tall. Small whiteSmall whiteNoun. cabbage white (plural cabbage whites) (entomology) Any of various largely white butterflies with dark markings in the family Pieridae, especially the species Pieris brassicae, Pieris canidia, and Pieris rapae.en.wiktionary.org › wiki › cabbage_whitecabbage white – Wiktionary flowers form clusters along branches. The plant makes flat seed pods that can be carried by the wind. This plant is a nonnative mustard, but it does not pose a threat to native wildflower communities.
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Q: Is pennycress garlic edible?
A: Edible Parts They can be added in small quantities to salads and other foods such as in lasagna. They can also be cooked in soups or used as a potherb. For a leaf, it is very rich in protein. The seed is ground into a powder and used as a mustard substitute.
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Q: Are pennycress flowers edible?
A: Is Field Pennycress Edible? You can eat it, but it doesn’t taste very good. Seriously, like most wild greens in the mustard family, it has a very pronounced flavor. The bigger the plants get, the stronger the flavor, and once they’ve bloomed, you’d have to be really hungry.
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Q: Where does pennycress grow?
A: A member of the mustard family (Brassicaceae), field pennycress could have been introduced into the United States as early as the 1700s1 and now it is found in almost every state, from Florida and Texas to as far north as Alaska.
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Q: Is field pennycress toxic to cows?
A: If eaten by cattle, field pennycress can produce an off taste in meat and milk products, and can cause poisoning of cattle and pigs if eaten in large quantities, from increased sensitivity of skin to sun exposure to mild digestive issues to colic and abortion.
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Q: What does pennycress smell like?
A: In field pennycress, this arrangement of the petals and sepals is the opposite. In addition, the leaves of field pennycress, when crushed, have a rank, garlic-like odor, hence the alternate name “Stinkweed.”” Field pennycress can be easily controlled mechanically with tillage or with herbicides.”
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Q: Is field pennycress toxic to dogs?
A: The pet (dogs and cats) will more than likely start vomiting spontaneously without the help of an emetic, as their body tries to expel this non digestible material. The universal antidote, activated medical charcoal may also prove to be of some use in absorbing the toxins.
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Q: What weeds should cows not eat?
A: Moist areas along creeks or ditch banks are favorable for growth of water and poison hemlock, black nightshade and horsetail. Poisonous plants found in cultivated fields include cocklebur, jimsonweed, milkweed, pigweed and johnsongrass. Wild cherry, milkweed and pokeweed are found along fence and hedge rows.
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Q: Is pennycress toxic to horses?
A: Toxic components All parts of T. arvense contain varying levels of glucosinolates, which can be toxic if consumed in large quantities. The amount of this chemical varies with the stage of maturity of the plant; the highest amount is in the seeds.
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Q: Is pennycress a perennial?
A: Pennycress species can be annuals or perennials and produce spikes of small white, lavender, or pink flowers with four petals.
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Q: What is pennycress good for?
A: The seeds of field pennycress are oil-rich (>30%) and contain specific fatty acids that can be used for select purposes such as healthy edible oils, biodegradable plastic packaging materials, lubricants, and biofuels.
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Q: Do Surfinas come back every year?
A: Petunias are perennial, although most bedding types are grown as annuals from seed each year. The trailing varieties, such as Surfinias, are perennial and are grown from cuttings or new plants.
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Q: Is pennycress an annual?
A: Pennycress can be both a winter or summer annual. Plants that are winter annuals form a rosette of leaves up to 6″ across. Summer annuals and 2nd-year winter annuals develop a central stem and several side stems. The central stem and upper side stems terminate in erect racemes of small white flowers.”
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About the author

Samuel is a gardening professional and enthusiast who has spent over 20 years advising homeowners and farm owners on weed identification, prevention and removal. He has an undergraduate degree in plant and soil science from Michigan State University.