PLATE 10.—LEPIDIUM OLERACEUM. 
Famity CRUCIFER/i. | [Genus LEPIDIUM, Linn. 
Lepidium oleraceum, Forst. Prodr. n. 248; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 38. 
This plant, which has long been known as “ Captain Cook’s scurvy grass,” 
was first discovered during that illustrious navigator’s first visit to New Zealand 
in 1769. In Dr. Solander’s “‘ Primitive Flore Nove Zelandiz,’’ which contains 
manuscript descriptions of the plants collected by Banks and Solander during the 
voyage, it is described with considerable detail, and an excellent plate was prepared 
for the series of illustrations intended to accompany the work. At that time it must 
have been much more plentiful than is now the case, for Dr. Solander speaks of it 
as “‘coplose in littoribus marinis Nove Zelandiz,” and states that it was observed 
in all the localities where Cook landed ; while Cook himself remarks that boat-loads 
of it were collected and used as an antiscorbutic by his crew. Forster, who accom- 
panied Cook in his second voyage, published the species in his ‘“ Prodromus,” but 
his description is short and unsatisfactory. In his “ Esculent Plants,’ however, 
he gives a much fuller account, stating that during the stay of the expedition 
in Queen Charlotte Sound large quantities of it, together with Apiwm and 
Tetragonia, were collected for the use of the crew, and he goes so far as to remark that 
“inter alimenta antiscorbutica nunquam satis laudandum.” A. Richard, in the 
« Botany of the Voyage of the ‘ Astrolabe,’” also speaks of it as bemg abundant, 
and repeats Forster’s views as to its value as an antiscorbutic. 
Lepidium oleraceum is one of the few plants which range through the whole 
length of the Dominion, from the Kermadec Islands in the north to the Auckland 
Islands in the south. It is usually found on rocky shores, but as a rule is far more 
plentiful on detached islets than on the mainland. It appears to specially affect 
places frequented by sea-birds for breeding purposes, as, for instance, on the Three 
Kings Islands, where I observed it growing with the greatest luxuriance on the richly 
manured soil of the large gannet rookery on the Western King; and on Cuvier 
Island, where it forms patches near the burrows of the mutton-birds (Puffinus). 
On the whole, however, it can hardly be said to be a plentiful species at the present 
time, whatever its position may have been in Cook’s days, and I know of very few 
localities where ‘‘ boat-loads ”’ of it could now be obtained. 
The nearest allies of ZL. oleracewm are undoubtedly Mr. Kirk’s two species 
L. Banksti and L. obtusatum, the first of which, in fact, may be nothing more than 
a variety. Outside New Zealand its closest relatives appear to be a group of which 
the Australian L. foliosum and the Polynesian L. piscadiwm may be taken as types. 
Pirate 10. Lepidium oleraceum, drawn from, specimens collected on Cuvier Island, between the 
Great Barrier Island and Cape Colville. Fig. 1, flower (enlarged) ; 2, sepal, and 5, petal (both enlarged) ; 
4, stamen (enlarged) ; 5, pistil (enlarged) ; 6, section of pistil, showing position of ovules (enlarged) ; 
7, ripe fruit, (enlarged) ; 8, fruit, with one valve removed, showing the seed suspended from the top 
of the septum, (enlarged); 9, embryo, showing the incumbent cotyledons (enlarged) ; 10, section of 
embryo (enlarged). 
