52 VIII. ORUGIFERiE. 



11. LEPIDIUM, Linn. 



(Pod scale-like.) 

 (Monoploca, Baiujii.) 

 Sepals short, equal at the base. Petals short, equal, sometimes wantirig. 

 Pod ovate or shortly oblong, rarely orbicular, usually much compressed laterally 

 and notched at the tpp, 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 incumbent in all 

 except one species not Australian. — Herbs, undershrubs, or even small shrubs, 

 very variable in habit. Leaves in the Australian species narrow or entire. 

 Flowers small, white, the racemes without bracts. 



A large genus, spread over the temperate and warmer regions of the globe, but not alpine 

 and scarcely Arctic. 



Leaves all quite entire. Pod usually conspicuously winged. 



Leaves broadly ovate or orbicular X. ^. strfnigylopjiyllum. 



Petals none. Stkmeris 4. Pod- wings almost united with the style 2. L. monoplocoiaes. 

 Leaves mostly toothed or lobed. Flowers very small. Pod- wings 

 small or none, except in L. papillosum. 

 Petals none. Leaves narrow-linear, the upper ones auricled. 



Stems papillose. Stamens 4. Pod about 2 lines long, with 2 short 



lobes or wings %. L. papillosum. 



Stems glabrous. Leaves linear or cuneate, not auricled, the 

 radical ones pinnatifid. Stamens 2. Pod about 1^ line, scarcely 

 lobed 4. X. ruderale, 



1. Jm. Strongylophyllum (upper leaves round), F. v. M. Herb.; Benth. Fl. 

 Austr. i. 84. Apparently shrubby, quite glabrous, with the branches denuded at 

 the base. Leaves in the upper part of the branches, broadly ovate or nearly 

 orbicular, or the upper ones elliptical-oblong, ^ to fin. long, entire, rather thick, 

 narrowed into a short petiole. Flowers unknown. Fruiting raceme evidently dense, 

 with spreading pedicels of about 2 lines, the thick rhachis 1 to near 2in. long. 

 Pods only known by the persistent replum, which is oblong-lanceolate, nearly 3 

 lines long, f line broad in the centre, terminating in a subulate style of about 1 

 line, and the scars of a funicle on each side at the upper angle of the replum show 

 that there had been a single pendulous seed in each cell as in other Lepidia. 



Hab.: Inland localities. 



2. I.. monoplOCOides (like a Monoploca), F. v. M. in Trans. Phil. 8oc. 

 Vict. i. 35 and PL Vict. i. 47 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. i. 85. An erect branching annual 

 of about 6in., glabrous or slightly rough with minute papillae. Leaves narrow- 

 lijiear, entire and not auricled, the lower ones sometimes 2in. long, but mostly ^ 

 to lin. Flowers very minute, without petals and with only 4 stamens. Fruiting 

 racemes 2 to Sin. long, with rigid, rather spreading, flattened pedicels, of 1^ to 2 

 lines. Pod orbicular, scarcely 2 lines long, flat, winged all round, the wings 

 united with the style at the top, and projecting beyond it in 2 minute, connivent, 

 acute lobes, forming a short point to the pod. Seeds with a viscid, clear mucus, 

 as in several of the preceding species. 



Hab.: Southern Queensland. 



3. Ii. papillosum (Papillose), F. v. M. in Linnma xxv. 370 and PI. Viet. i. 

 46 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. i. 86. An erect branching annual, usually under 6in., but 

 according to F. v. Mueller sometimes 1ft. high or more, the stems covered with 

 little transparent papillse, and exhaling an unpleasant scent. Radical leaves 

 petiolate, often 2in. long or more, linear-oblong, coarsely toothed or irregularly 

 pinnatifid, the upper ones lanceolate or linear-cuneate, with a few remote teeth, 

 and clasping the stem by their auricled base, ^ to lin. long and all glabrous. 

 Flowers very small, without petals and with only 4 stamehs. Fruiting racemes 

 mostly 2 to 4in. long, with rigid, flattened, rather spreading pedicels, of about 2 



