36 
PLANTS INDIGENOUS TO 
[ Cmciferce. 
very few teeth, sessile; flowers generally tetrandrous, in each raceme not very numerous; stamens about as 
long- as the calyx; anthers yellow; petals small, little or about J longer than the calyx ; siliques twice or 
several times long-er than the pedicel ; valves nerveless; seeds brown, smooth. 
In marshy places, chiefly in rich soil, often indicating- somewhat saline ground, not rare; for instance, 
on the Yarra Yarra, Darebin Creek, Hopkins River, Mount Emu Creek, Creswick Creek, Loddon, Murray, 
Ac.; also rather frequent in South Australia, viz., at Lake Alexandrine, the Gawler River, the Bugle Ranges, 
the Onkaparing-a, Torrens River, Ac. 
A rather weak erect or ascending* herb, seldom above 1 foot high, generally lower, sometimes stoloni- 
ferous. Root stout, almost woody, more or less divided and fibrillif'erous, sometimes producing- long running 
fibres. Stems simple or branched, hollow, leafy or except the base almost leafless. Petioles of lower leaves 
very long, of upper ones more or less shortened, somewhat dilated and quite entire at the base. Leaves 1-5 
inches long, 1J line to 1^ inch broad, grossly or minutely always remotely toothed, or divided into long 
acute segments, of which the uppermost is the largest and frequently elong-ate-lanceolate. Racemes with 
several, seldom very numerous flowers. Pedicels slender, in age often remarkably remote, and then more or 
less spreading-, when flower-bearing 1J-3 lines, when fruit-bearing 3—8 lines or occasionally even folly an 
inch long. Sepals elliptical-oblong or oblong-linear, J-2 lines long-. Petals white, oblong, unguieulate. 
Stamens about as long- as the calyx, in specimens from numerous localities, 4, rarely 6. Anthers basifoed, 
about J line long, ovate-oblong, rolled back in age. Filaments filiform, linear, pallid, alternately broader. 
Silique l-2± inches long, erect or in various degrees divergent, about § line broad, gradually terminated in 
a short style. Funicles filiform, of l or ^ the length of the seeds. Seeds as broad as the nerveless septum, 
round-ovate, about § line long. Testa when moistened mucilaginous. 
This species is in flower throughout the year. The Murray natives use it as food. Its flowers are 
occasionally viviparous. 
Cardamine parviflora, Linne Spec. Plantar . 919; C. hirsuta, L. Spec. Plant. 915; J. Hook. 
PI. Antarct. ii. 232; Flor. of New Zeal i. 13; Flor. Tasm. i. 20; C. pratensis, L. Spec. Plant. 915, 
according to J. Hook. FI. Tasm. i. 19 ; C. debilis, Banks $ Soland. in Cand. Syst. ii. 265; C. silvatica, 
Link, in Ho fm. Phytogr. Blaett. i. 50 ; C. heteropliylla, Hook. Icon. PI. 58 ; C. lilacina, Hook. Comp.Bot. 
Magaz. i. 273; C. tenuifolia, Hook. Journ. Bot. i. 247; C. corymbosa, J. Hook. Icon. PI. 686; C. inter¬ 
media, Hook. Icon. 258.—Small-flowered Bitter-cress* 
Glabrous, rarely short-hairy, annual ,* leaves all petiolate, pinnatisected, with more frequently stalked 
than sessile cordate roundish rhomboid ovate lanceolate oblong or linear segments, of which the lateral ones 
are generally smaller than the terminal one or sometimes perfectly undeveloped; petals twice or several times 
longer than the sepals; stamens longer than the calyx; anthers yellow; seeds compressed, brown, as broad 
as the septum, smooth, ovate or ovate-oblong. 
On wet meadows, springs, rivulets, banks of rivers and lagoons dispersed over the whole colony; 
common also in many parts of South Australia, at least as far north as the Flinders Ranges; also in New 
South Wales, Tasmania and New Zealand, from the lowland to the summits of the Alps; seemingly rare in 
Western Australia (at least not contained in the rich collections of Dr. Preiss); not found anywhere in North 
or North-Western Australia; noticed, however, in almost every other part of the globe as indigenous, 
although within the tropics chiefly restricted to mountain tracts. The large-flowered variety occurs in 
Australia principally on high mountains. 
An herb, sometimes very diminutive, sometimes above a foot high, in this country seldom hairy. Stems 
slender, weak, in small plants even capillary, in large plants again robust, erect or ascending, simple or 
branched, in most instances producing but few leaves, in rare cases, when growing on shady banks of rivers 
subject to inundations in rich soil, laxly decumbent and several feet long, rooting then at intervals. Root 
fibrous, sometimes forming a toothed or almost scaly and much divided rhizome. Petioles at the base widened, 
