LEPI 
than the calyx. Silicles orbiculate, compreffed, fcarcely 
emarginate, and the terminating llyle fo fhort as to be 
fcarcely obfervable ; they are fmooth, and there is a fingle 
feed of a bay-colour in each cell. Native of Auftria and 
the Levant; cultivated in 1640, according to Parkinfon ; 
flowers in July. 
z. Lepidium veficarium, or bladdery pepperwort: 
joints of the ftem inflated. Leaves like thofe of Iberis 
vulgaris; flowers white. It is an annual plant, native of 
Iberia and Media, in dry places; flowers there in July 
and Auguft. 
3. Lepidium nudicaule, or naked pepperwort: fcape 
naked, quite Ample; flowers four-ftamened, leaves pin¬ 
natifid. This-is a fmall annual plant, with many linear 
root-leaves, pinnatifid or toothed at the top, tender, 
fmooth, fpreading on the ground. Among thefe rifes a 
naked ftalk, two or three inches high, terminated by five 
or fix fmall white flowers, with equal petals. Silicles 
flatted, emarginate, inclofing four or five roundilh feeds. 
Native of Spain and the fouth of France; cultivated by 
Mr. Miller in 1768. 
4. Lepidium procumbens, or proftrate pepperwort: 
leaves finuate-pinnatifid, the outmoft larger; fcape naked, 
ftems proftrate, racemiferous. This alfo is an annual 
plant. Some of the leaves are ovate and entire, others 
three-lobed, five-lobed, lyrate. Allione remarks, that the 
Items are not really naked, but leafy ; and that the miftake 
has arifen from the leaves falling oft' very eafily. Native 
of the fouth of France and the county of Nice. 
5. Lepidium alpinum, or alpine pepperwort: leaves 
pinnate, quite entire; fcape fubradicate, filicles lanceo¬ 
late, mucronate. Root perennial, flender. The whole 
plant is fmooth, and has the fame tafte with L. fativum, 
or crefs. Stems very (liort, clothed with'alternate leaves, 
putting out round upright fcapes, from one to two 
inches long, with flowers in a corymbed raceme. Native 
of the Alps of Germany, Swiflerland, and Italy ; intro¬ 
duced in 1775 by Drs. Pitcairn and Fothergill. It flowers 
from April to June ; in the Alps from May to Auguft. 
C. Lepidjum petrteum, or rock-pepperwort: leaves 
pinnate, quite entire ; petals emarginate, fmaller than the 
calyx. Root biennial, (annual, Linn, and Jacqu.) taper 
and fibrous. Stem much and alternately branched from 
near the root, fpreading. Leaves dark green, elegantly 
pinnate, or rather very deeply pinnatifid, with an odd 
lobe ; flowers in a clofe corymb, gradually lengthening 
out into a fpike, very minute, ereft. Silicle exaftly oval, 
flat, with the remains of the ftyle in a minute notch at 
the tip, fmooth ; valves with a Iharp but not dilated keel. 
Seeds two in each cell, on flender footftalks. This has 
the proper filicle of a Lepidium ; in fome of the foreign 
fpecies it approaches fo to that of Thlafpi, that it is 
fcarcely poflible to define the limits of the two genera. 
It is a native of feveral parts of Europe, as Oeland, 
Auftria, Swiflerland, Dauphiny, Silefia, England; and, 
according to Loureiro, of China. With us it is found 
on St. Vincent’s rocks, and walls, near Briftol; at Uphill 
in Somerfetlhire; near Pembroke, &c. flowering in March 
and April. 
7. Lepidium cardamines, or cardatnine-pepperwort: 
root-leaves, pinnate; ftem-leaves, lyrate. Thisis a biennial 
plant. The root-leaves bear a great refemblance to thofe 
of Cardamine, whence the trivial name. Stems a fpan 
high, branched, terminated by a raceme of white flowers. 
Native of Spain, by way-fides, in a dry clay foil. 
_8. Lepidium fpinofum, or prickly pepperwort: leaves 
pinnate, leaflets lunate ; the outer, elongated ; branches mu-: 
cronate. This is annual. Stem a fpan high, ftiffifti, thick- 
ilh awl-lhaped, branched at bottom ; branches awl-lhaped, 
quite Ample, ftiff, fpiny at the end. Flowers fcattered, 
white, on a very fliort ftiff peduncle. Native of the Levant. 
9. Lepidium fativum, garden or common crefs : flowers 
tetradynamous; leaves oblong, multifid. Root annual, 
white, fufiform, flender. Stem upright, round, fmooth, 
VOh, XII, No, 848. 
D I U M, ' 505 
from a foot to two feet in height, branched at top; both 
ftem and branches terminated by loofe narrow fpikes of 
fmall flowers. Silicle roundilh, without any ftyle ; the 
valves winged, whence Crantz makes it a Thlafpi. 
Of the garden-crefs, fo much ufed in winter and fpring 
falads, there are feveral varieties; one with broad leaves, 
another with curled leaves, and the common fort. Lin¬ 
naeus remarks, that in the common fort the leaves are 
multifid ; that there is one variety in which they are lan¬ 
ceolate, entire and gafli-ferrate; and another in which- 
they are pinnate and curled ; but that no one can doubt 
their being of the fame fpecies who confiders the frudlifi- 
cation, ftruclure, tafte, and appearance, of the plants. 
The native place of this commonly-cultivated plant being- 
unknown, Linnaeus fufpe&s it to have had its origin, 
from L. rtiderale, but this notion has not obtained credit. 
It is inferted by Linnaeus, Krocker, and Villars, in their 
local floras. The young plant has the fmell and tafte of 
this natural order, but in a far inferior degree to feurvy. 
grafs ; it may be however of fome ufe as a diuretic and 
antifcorbutic, if taken largely. 
io. Lepidium lyratum, or curled-leaved crefs: leaves 
lyrate, curled. This is a biennial plant. The lower 
leaves, which fpread on the ground, are near two inches 
long, and about half an inch broad. Stalks a foot high, 
dividing into a great number of flender branches, having 
fmall oblong leaves on them, which are cut on theirTides, 
and a little curled on their edges. The flowers are pro¬ 
duced in clufters at the end of the branches; they are 
very fmall, and white ; appear in July, and are fucceeded 
by roundifli bordered feed-veffels, which are compreffed, 
and have one fmall oblong feed in each ceH, ripening in 
the autumn. Native of the Levant, and Spain. Culti¬ 
vated by Mr. Miller in 1759. 
it. Lepidium latifolium, broad-leaved pepperwort, or 
dittander: leaves ovate-lanceolate, entire, ferrate. Root 
perennial, long, branching, fpreading very far. Stems 
ereft, a yard high and more ; alternately branched, leafy, 
round, fmooth, frequently flexuofe, panicled at top, with 
numerous branches of fmall white flowers, in little co¬ 
rymbs. Leaves alternate, acute, broad-lanceolate, length¬ 
ened out at the bafe and tip, ferrate in the middle, glau¬ 
cous, efpecially beneath. The young leaves are eaten 
fometimes in falads : they have a pungent acrid tafte. 
This plant is one of the acrid antifcorbutics, and was 
formerly ufed in the place of horfe-radifh. An infulion 
of it vomits. Having a hot biting tafte like pepper, and 
the leaves having been often ufed by the country people 
to give a relifli to their viands inftead of pepper, it had 
the appellation of poor-man's pepper. Native of feveral 
parts of Europe: with us, at Hythe near Colchelter, 
Heybridge, near Malden, in marfties near Grays, and 
other places in Eflex ; below Sheringham clift's in Nor¬ 
folk ; between Beningborough and Mitton in the North 
Riding of Yorkftiire; near Seaton, plentifully: about 
the caftleof Weems, in Fifelhire, &c. It flowers in July. 
iz. Lepidium oleraceum, or notch-leaved pepperwort: 
leaves elliptic-oblong, acute, ferrate; flowers four fta- 
mened. Stem perennial, herbaceous, round, from a foot 
to a yard in height. Flowers white, two lines in diame¬ 
ter. Native of New' Zealand, efpecially at Charlotte 
Sound. This plant, with Apium, or fmaliage, and Te- 
tragonia halimifolia, was of confiderable fervice to the 
fhips’ crews under captain Cook, when they lay in Char- 
lotteSound. Introduced in i779>byJonasDryander, M.A. 
13. Lepidium fubulatum, or awl-leaved pepperwort: 
leaves awl-lhaped, undivided, fcattered ; ftem fuffruticofe. 
Native of Spain; cultivated by Mr. Miller in 1768. 
14. Lepidium graminifolium, or grafs-leaved pepper¬ 
wort : leaves linear, the upper ones quite entire; ftem 
panicled, wandlike; flowers fix-ftamened. It refembles 
Iberis graminifolia, but is diftinft from it. When adult s 
it calls the leaves. Native of the fouth of Europe. 
15. Lepidium fuffruticofum, or fhruboy pepperwort: 
N leaves 
