Field Pennycress
Thlaspi arvense
Found in fields, disturbed areas. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Not native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 71%
- Height
- 4–20 inches
- Light
- Full sun, Partial shade
- Soil moisture
- Usually moist
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Annual
Not yet recorded · Spread · Leaves · Bloom
Bloom: recorded only in the FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team) phone app (app page).
Spread and leaves: no source found yet.
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 8 Florida counties.
Habitats
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there. All habitats
Who uses this plant?
3CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Thlaspi
- Eustixia pupulaSpotted Peppergrass Moth
- Euxoa auxiliarisArmy Cut-Worm, Army Cutworm
- Pontia protodiceCheckered White
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
—Specialist beesPollen specialists
2BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Thlaspi
- Centrocercus urophasianusGreater Sage-Grouse
- Pooecetes gramineusVesper Sparrow
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
Plant details
- Family
- Brassicaceae
- Soil pH
- Acidic
- Flower color
- White
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Flower color · “White” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Height · “4–20 inches” · Minnesota Wildflowers
- Life cycle · “Annual” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day); Partial shade (direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- primary_flower_color · “white” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil · “Moist” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil pH · “Acidic” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Also known as
Field Penny Cress
Conservation status
| Florida rank | SNA |
|---|---|
| Global rank | GNR |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Native alternatives
Find natives for your gardenSources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- USDA PLANTS
- FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: Florida (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications