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Volume IV (1988) - Flora of New Zealand Naturalised Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms, Dicotyledons
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Valerianella Mill.

VALERIANELLA L.

Annual herbs. Lvs simple and entire to sinuate or dentate. Cymes numerous, small and conspicuously bracteate, or rarely fls solitary. Fls small and inconspicuous, often overtopped by subtending bracts. Calyx variously developed, usually conspicuous or reduced to a ring of inconspicuous teeth, sometimes 0, forming a pappus or not at fruiting. Corolla ± actinomorphic; tube lacking a basal spur, but sometimes slightly gibbous. Stamens 3. Fr. flattened to 3-4-angled or rounded in cross-section, glabrous, hairy or echinate.

Key

1
Fr. oblong to oblong-obovoid, c. 2 × 0.8-1.2 mm; fertile loculus slightly thickened and rounded on back
1. *carinata
Fr. oblong-globose, c. 1.8-2.3 × 1.5-2.2 mm; fertile loculus greatly thickened and hemispheric on back
2. *locusta

c. 80 spp., Eurasia, eastern N. America. Naturalised spp. 2.

In addition to the 2 naturalised spp., a specimen of what is probably V. dentata (L.) Pollich has been collected from plants grown from seed impurities in grain samples. V. dentata is distinguished by usually having pinnatifid lobes at the base of the upper lvs, and the fr. which is extended at the apex into a persistent calyx tooth.

Fig. 120. Frs of Valerianella. A V. locusta; B V. carinata. © All rights reserved. [Image: 4X40]
Fig. 120. Frs of Valerianella. A V. locusta; B V. carinata. © All rights reserved. [Image: 4X40]
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