| Author | L. | |
| Distribution | Throughout the Mountains, Piedmont, and northwestern Coastal Plain. Scarce in the Sandhills and much of the Coastal Plain. Also collected from Ocracoke Island (Hyde County) on the Outer Banks.
Native of Eurasia and northwestern Africa; in N.A. much of the U.S. and southern Canada, except the Midwestern plains and prairies, the Southwest, LA, and FL. | |
| Abundance | Common to very common, except uncommon to rare in the Sandhills and most of the Coastal Plain. | |
| Habitat | Fields, fallow fields, roadsides, lawns, barnyards, disturbed ground, campuses. | |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting February-April. | |
| Identification | This very familiar low-growing, early-flowering cress is readily identified by its dense basal rosette of lance-shaped to narrowly elliptical, small leaves usually less than 1.8 cm long. The flowering stems may be curved or straight, skinny, leafless, mostly only 2-6 inches long. Tiny white flowers grow on skinny stalks from the upper portion of the stem. The leafless stems help distinguish it from other early flowering members of the family. The fruits are flattened, elliptical-shaped pods. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | | |
| Other Common Name(s) | Spring Whitlow-grass | |
| State Rank | SE | |
| Global Rank | GNR | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
