Flora of New Zealand Series

wavy bitter cress

Annual to perennial herb. Rhizomes 0. Stems erect, flexuous, hairy especially below, green, rarely purplish, (10)-15-30-(40) cm tall. Lvs thin, green, sparsely hairy above and sometimes beneath and on petiole. Rosette lvs pinnate, petiolate; terminal leaflet circular, bluntly lobed, cordate, slightly larger than laterals; lateral leaflets in (2)-3-4-(5) pairs, ovate, bluntly lobed, cordate and unequal at base; petiolules < leaflets. Cauline lvs pinnate, petiolate; terminal leaflet obovate, bluntly lobed, cuneate, becoming narrow-oblanceolate, toothed, slightly larger than the lateral leaflets; lateral leaflets in (2)-3-(4) pairs, ovate, cordate, becoming narrow-oblanceolate, toothed especially basiscopically, shortly petiolulate, becoming subsessile. Infl. racemose, flexuous, glabrous or sparsely hairy, (4)-6-10-(15) cm long. Pedicels glabrous or rarely the lowest sparsely hairy, erecto-patent to ± spreading, 3-10 mm long at fruiting. Sepals glabrous, purplish, pinkish or green, 1.3-1.7 × 0.5-0.8 mm; margins scarious. Petals white, ± erect, spathulate, 2-3 × 0.6-1.0 mm. Stamens 6. Silique pale greenish brown, rarely with purple valves, erecto-patent at angle to pedicel, (10)-15-18-(25) × c. 1 mm; valves glabrous; style 0.8-1 mm long. Seeds reddish brown, broad-oblong, very narrowly winged, c. 1 mm long.

N.: throughout; S.: local in Marlborough, Canterbury, Westland, and Otago

Europe 1957

Weed of cultivation and bush remnants.

C. flexuosa is found more often in damper sites than C. hirsuta.