

d 



Senebiera,] viii, crucifer^e. 83 



very rarely with 1 or 2 small teeth. Plowers very small and numerous, in 

 terminal or leaf-opposed racemes usually much longer than the leaves ; pedi- 

 cels slender, rarely exceeding 1 line. Pods like those of S. didtjma, of tlie 

 same size, and reticulate when young, hecoming often warted or even corky 

 ^vhen old.— ;^. llnoideB, DC. ; llarv. and Sond. Fl. Cap. i. 27. 



Queensland, Bird Islaud, Wreck reef, Denliam. 



ilie species has a wide range on the scacoasts of S. Africa and Madagascar, and we have 

 it also from Pratas and other islands of the "Chinese seas, S. mexicam, Ilook. and Arn. 

 -Dot Beech, 276, is the same jdant, but was probably gathered in the islands of Loo Choo 

 or Benin, and not in Mexico. 



". S. didyma, Per%, Spi. ii. 185. A much-branched, prostrate annual, 

 spreading on the ground from 6 in. to T ft, or more, glabrous, or with a few 

 long loose hairs. Leaves pinnately divided into 7 to 11 narrow segments, 

 J^lnch are usually again cut into 2 to 4 unequal linear or lanceolate lobes, the 

 lower leaves often once pinnate, with oblong or obovate, entii'e or shortly 

 Jobed segments. Flowers very small and numerous, in leaf-opposed racemes, 

 j^hich seldom, even in fruit, exceed the leaves, the pedicels slender, 1 to 3 

 hues long. Pods about f line long and 1 line broad, wrinkled, formed of 3 

 ovoid distinct lobes, which separate into 1 -seeded nuts when ripe. — Keichb. 

 ^c. Fh Germ. ii. t. 9 ; S. pinnatifida, DC. Syst. Veg. ii. 523; Trod. i. 203. 



. ^ ^^on^nion weed in sandy soil, especially near the sea, in all warm countries, perhaps in- 

 tiigenous to N. Australia, and now established in the nei^hbourhoud of towns in almost all 

 the Colonies. 



^: ^o^onopus, Poir., DC. Prod. i. 203, with ratlier coarser foliage, the flowers and fruits 

 essUe Qj. nearly so along the rhachis of the raceme, and pods about 2 lines diameter, nearly 

 y ^*^idar, very much wrinkled and indehiscent, a very common European weed, is men- 

 oned by F. Mueller as introduced into Victoria, but I have not seen Australian specimens. 



14. LEPIDIUM, Linn. 



(Monoploca, Bnn^e.) 



Sepals sbort, eqnal at the base. Petals short, eqnal, sometimes wanting, 

 -tod ovate or sliortly oblong, rarely orbicular, usually much compressed late- 

 ^% and notched at the top, the valves boat-shaped, keeled or winged, the 

 septum narrow ; style filiform or stigma sessile. Seeds solitary in each cell, 

 suspended from the top of the septum with a free funicle ; cotyledons incum- 

 ^^^t m all except one species not Australian.— Herbs, underslu-ubs, or even 

 small shrubs, veiy variable in habit. Leaves in the Australian species narrow 

 or entire. Flowers small, white, the racemes without bracts. 



a^ f ^^'gc genns, spread over the temperate and warmer regions of the glohe, hut not alpioe 

 J? scarcely Arctic. Of the following species, one has a very wide geographical range, the 

 'n\l^^^ c^iifitied to Australia, althoagh one has nearly allied representatives in the Pacific 

 DvZ T ^^^ opportunity of inspecting original specimens of the Lepidia published by 

 his hTb ■ ^^ ^^'^'^^^cd ^« tlie kindness of M. La VaUee, of Paris, the present possessor of 



^avcs all qnitc entire. Pod nsually conspicuously winged. ^ ^ „ 



Y'^Vi^s broadly ovate or orbicular . 1- ^' drongyhpliyllum. 



leaves linear or lanceolate. 



J^eaves linear-lanceolate. Sepals fully 2| lines long. Pod 



with 2 acute lobes . , . , . . 2. Z. hnifolium. 



Leaves naiiow-linear. Sepals 2 lines or less. Pod-lobes 



obtuse or verj- small. 



G 2 



