Lepidium.] ill. CEUCIPERAE. 37 



Pods very small, much compressed, narrowed at both ends, broadly notched at the 

 apex and narrowly winged ; style included. 



NORTH and SOUTH Islands ; Abuadautly naturalised from sea-level to 2,500ft. Sheep's 

 cress. 



*L. sativum, L., Sp. PI. 644. Erect, annual, glabrous. Stems pale or 

 whitish, much branched above, branches ascending. Lower leaves lobed, pinnate 

 or 2-pinnate ; upper entire, linear, sessile. Flowers small. Pod rounded-ovate, 

 compressed, winged, shortly notched at the apex. Cotyledons 3-partite. 



NORTH Island: Sparingly naturalised, bat rarely seen in large quantity. Garden-cress. 



7. L. Kirkii, D. Petrie in Trans. N.Z.I, xxii. (1889) 439. Small, 

 glabrous or rarely glabrate, with prostrate filiform sparingly-branched scapes 

 2in.— 4in. long. Radical leaves entire, narrow-linear or linear-spathulate, 

 obtuse, sin.— lin. long, sheathing at the base ; cauline smaller. Stems few. or 

 many, filiform, flexuous. Racemes short, terminal; pedicels slender. Flowers 

 minute. Sepals broadly ovate, inflated. Petals shorter than sepals, rarely 

 retuse. Stamens 4, rarely 6. Pods distant, equalling the slender spreading 

 pedicels, ovate-orbicular, very strongly notched; style minute. 



SOUTH Island : Otago : Gimmerburn, Maniototo Plains, Pci™ .' Dec. 



A very distinct species. The hypogynous glands, 6 in number, are unusually prominent, 

 forming a ring at the base of the ovary. 



8. L. sisymbrioides, Hook. /., Handbk. N.Z. Fl. 14. Dioecious. Root- 

 stock stout and fleshy, much divided above. Leaves all radical or nearly 

 so, rosulate, glabrate or haii'y, narrow - lanceolate or oblong, lin. — l^in. 

 long ; petioles dilated at the base, pinnatifid ; the pinnules narrow, frequently 

 lobed above. Scapes slender, suberect, branched, naked or with a few entire 

 leaves at the base. Flowers minute. Malt . Petals narrow ; stamens 4. Fe- 

 male : Petals 0. Pods about as long as the slender pedicels, sparsely hairy, 

 broadly subquadrate-ovate, narrowed at both ends, minutely notched at the 

 apex, narrowly winged; style exceeding the notch. Seed brown, obovate. — 

 L. Solandri, T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z.I, xiv. (1881) 380. 



SOUTH Island: Canterbury: Broken River Basin, Enys and Kirk. Lake Ohau, Tlaast I 

 Mackenzie Country, J. F. Armstrong ! Otago; Waitaki Valley, Lake Wanaka, Buchanan ! Kurow, 

 Petrie ! 600ft. to 2,500ft. Dec, Jan. 



The stout tap-root is often from 2ft,-4tt. long, and, owing to it^? branching just below the 

 surface, forms a crown of leaves a, foot or more in diameter. It is easily distinguished by the re- 

 markable pod, which is narrowed at bothjends. 



9. L. tenuicaule, T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z.I, xiv (1881). 381. Leaves 

 chieflv radical, more or less clothed with soft whitish hairs, rarely glabrous, 

 narrow-oblong, pinnate or pinnatifid, lin.-4in. long ; leaflets sometimes petiolu- 

 late, incised, or sharply serrate on the upper margin, often piliferous. Scapes 

 numerous, slender, pi'ostrate or suberect, 6in.-12in. long, simple or branched, 

 naked or with few small entire leaves below. Flowers very numei'ous, small, 

 usually apetalous. Stamens 4. Ovary winged. Pod minute, orbicular, much 

 shorter than the slender erect pedicel, narrowly winged above ; style scarcely 



