This annual plant with a mainly Mediterranean distribution is of ancient introduction along the northern edges of its present distributionals range as a result of the expansion of crops (archaeophyte), being present in Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, Calabria, Sardinia and Sicily. It grows in cereal fields and on uncultivated ground, on soils that are dry in summer, from sea level to about 1300 m. The species is very rare along the edges of the Sardinian temporary ponds. The genus is dedicated to the English botanist Robert Teesdale (1740-1804); the species name alludes to the resemblance of the leaves to those of species of the genus Coronopus (now included in the genus Lepidium). Flowering period: February to April. |
