Slick spot peppergrass

Slick spot peppergrass (Lepidium papilliferum)

This small member of the mustard family was discovered in Canyon County at the turn of the century. It was thought to have gone extinct, however, until its rediscovery in the Boise Foothills in 1972 (Packard and Ertter n.d.). It is now known to be largely restricted to the western Snake River Plain. Our knowledge of its abundance and distribution is still sketchy, but much of its native habitat has been destroyed by agricultural conversions, housing developments, weed invasions, unnatural fire frequencies, and pasture seedings.