Cruci/era.] FLORA 01 Tasmania. 25 
or none, limb entire. IV Ian-rally compressed, ovate or ohlomr. with a \.rv narrow septum, n 
bilobed at the top. 77//rc.s keeled, often winged at the haek. »,-,/* solitary, rank in pairs in < 
from the apex of the cavity. Cotyledons incumbent or accumbcnt. (Name from X*™, a «•«,', .■ in allusion to the 
form of the pods.) 
1. Lepidium cuneifolium (DC. Syst. Veg. ii. 545) ; robusta, glabcrrima, divaricatim ramosa, foliis 
cuneato-oblongis subspathulatis basi lata sensim august ata insertis (^-1 unc. longis) apieem versus grosse 
dentatis, racemis brevibus fructiferis 1-8-uncialibus, pedicellis divaricatis £-unc, siliculis rhombeo-oblongis 
rotundatisve emarginatis pedicello paullo brevioribus. — DC. Prodr. i. 206; Hook. Journ. 
{Gunn, 645.) 
Hab. Coasts of various parts of the Island : Macquarrie Harbour, A. Cunningham ; Bass Straits ; 
Circular Head and AYoolnorth, Gunn. — (Fl. Jan.) (v. v.) 
Disteib. New South Wales and South-eastern Australia. 
A spreading, robust, perennial plant, 2 feet and more high, growing in the wash of the sea, where with a feu 
other plants it forms the boundary of phaenogamic vegetation. — Branch, s w< thick as a quill, horizontal, h-are* 
cuneate-oblong or spathulate, fleshy, toothed towards the top only, \-\ inch long, \-{ inch broad. 
inches long. Fh/nr.s and fruit numerous. Frnif flat, nearly ] inch long, rhomhoid-ohlong or liroader, notched at 
Islands, but has shorter, -mailer leaves, of a dill'erent form. 
2. Lepidium ruderale (L. Sp. PL 900), (auk gbbenimo i urn. poberalo ban 
rarnoso, ratnis gracilibus elongatis, foliis linearibus integris v. varie iucisis pimiatiscctisve pleniunpio scrratis 
glaberrimis puberulisve, siliculis parvis oblongis emarginatis pedicello multo brc\ioribus, lloribus imper- 
fectis apetalis diandris.— Engl. Bot. t. 1595. {Gunn, 1026.) 
Var. /3. robusta ; ramis robustioribus divaricatim ramosis, racemis brevioribus. 
Hab. Common on waysides and by the sea-shore in many situations. Var. |3. l>T,nttvcastean\ 
Channel, J. D. #.— (PL Sept. Oct.) (v. v.) 
Distrib. South-eastern and Western Australia, extratropical South America, South Africa, and through- 
out temperate Europe and Northern Asia. 
This common and widely-diffused plant is probably described under many names, hut it is quite impossible to 
identifv its numerous forms - tis ct< il by theii published desi iptions Mr. Gunn at one time thought that it 
might possibly be an introduced weed, and, from its localities at Hobarton, I was inclined to coincide with him ; 
but we changed our opinions independently, on finding the plant to be abundant along ail the 
be expected, the Tasmanian specimens, especially those that inhabit the moist atmosphere Dear the sea, are frequently 
much more luxuriant than the European ones. I particularly paid attention to this point in Tasmania, where I 
found small specimens growing by the roadsides to be altogether like European, hut gradually on approaching 
the sea-coast the plants became stouter and more branched, sinter, and with larger foliage In -haded spot* the 
stems lengthen very much, and often be prostrate, with -lender branches two feet long. It also vanes extremely m 
being smooth or pubescent, and in the size and cutting of the leaves; which in aeedting plants are generally 
pinnalipai'tite, and also frequently so at the base of old stems; at other times they are lobed, entire, or serrate. 
It is readily known from L. cuneifoUum by its slender habit, narrow leaves, and small pods. De Candolle (quoting 
Desvaux' Journal) gives D'Entrecasteaux Channel as a habitat for L. foliosum, a plant I do not know, but which is 
said to have the pods almost twice as large as those of L. piscidium, and therefore twice as large as those of L. 
cuneifoUum. I found L. ruderale abundantly i 
