Flora of New Zealand Series

Biennial to perennial with lax rosette. Stems erect, glabrous or sparsely hairy below, to 1 m tall; older stems woody. Lvs glaucous, glabrous or sparsely bristly, petiolate. Rosette and lower stem lvs lyrate-pinnatifid to lyrate-pinnate, (4)-8-20 × (2)-3-8 cm; margins crenate to dentate; terminal lobe large, often 3-lobed; lateral lobes subacute or obtuse, in 2-4 pairs, the proximal deflexed. Stem lvs becoming simple, linear, entire, c. 30 × 2 mm. Racemes 12-35 cm long; open fls slightly overtopping buds. Sepals narrow-oblong, 4-5 × c. 1 mm. Petals yellow, 7-9 × 4-5 mm. Lateral stamens spreading. Silique terete, glabrous, linear-oblong, constricted between seeds, (15)-20-35 × 2-3 mm; gynophore 1-2 mm long; valves with prominent median and 4 weaker lateral veins; beak conic, 0-2-seeded, 3-5 mm long. Seeds red-brown, c. 1 mm diam.

N.: Palmerston North, Raumati, Wellington City and suburbs.

N. Africa 1957

Waste land, roadsides, cliffs, and sandy places.

N.Z. plants belong to subsp. mauritanica (Cosson) Maire. The sp. has also been referred to in N.Z. as B. integrifolia, and some early records of B. juncea are based on plants of B. fruticulosa.