Hoary alyssum (Berteroa incana)

Synonyms: Alyssum incanum

Common Names: Hoary false alyssum

Description: This species is listed under Regulation No. 715 - Seed Law Implementation as a restricted noxious weed by the Michigan Department of Agriculture.

Habit: Annual; biennial or perennial; ranges from 1-3 ft tall. "Hoary" indicates many rough hairs on stems, leaves and seed pods.

Leaves: Alternate, gray-green; hairy; oblong; narrow; 1/2-3 in long; smooth edges.

Stems: Gray-green and hairy with many branches near the top.

Flowers: White in color, 4 deeply divided petals.

Fruit and seeds: Hairy, swollen, oblong with short beaks on end, seeds are oblong, rough, dull gray-brown.

Habitat: Native to Europe. Grows well in sandy soils and found along roadsides, railroad tracks, disturbed lands, waste areas, meadows and pastures.

Reproduction: By seed.

Similar species: Pale madwort (Alyssum alyssoides); Desert madwort (Alyssum desertorum); Yellowtuft (Alyssum murale).

Monitoring and rapid response: Small infestations can be hand pulled or dug up; effectively controlled using herbicides such as glyphosate.

Credits: The information provided in this factsheet was gathered from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the USDA PLANTS Database and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service.

Individual species images that appear with a number in a black box are courtesy of the Bugwood.org network (http://www.invasive.org).Individual photo author credits may not be included due to the small display size of the images and subsequent difficulty of reading the provided text. All other images appear courtesy of Google (http://images.google.com).

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