Flora of New Zealand Series

peppercress

Perennial. Stems erect, branching above, finely and closely grooved, glabrous or densely puberulent, (10)-15-50-(90) cm tall. Lvs all simple, hairy beneath or glabrous. Basal and lower stem lvs withering at fruiting, simple, toothed, lanceolate to oblanceolate, acute, (2)-3-10 × 1-2 cm, cuneately narrowed into a slender petiole. Upper lvs becoming linear or narrow-lanceolate, sessile, entire or toothed at apex or 3-fid, (5)-10-20-(30) × 1-3 mm. Racemes 5-10-(15) cm long at fruiting; rachis sparingly hairy or glabrous, ridged; pedicels erecto-patent, curved, 2-3 mm long at fruiting, with a single row of hairs. Sepals glabrous or sparsely hairy, purplish or green, 0.6-1 × 0.5 mm. Petals 0 or up to 1/2 length of sepals, white. Stamens 2. Silicle elliptic, 2-3 × 1.8-2.2 mm; stigma almost sessile, < or = the very shallow notch; valves purple or green, glabrous. Seed narrow-ovoid, brown, not winged, 1.2-1.5 mm long.

(1) Glabrous form. Stem glabrous. Lvs glabrous or sparsely hairy on margin; basal lvs (2)-6-10 cm long; upper lvs becoming linear, entire or 3-fid at apex, 10-20-(30) × 1-3 mm. Infl. rachis glabrous. Sepals glabrous, 0.6-0.8 × c. 0.5 mm. Petals minute or 0. Stigma < notch. Silicle valves usually purple.

(2) Hairy form. Stem puberulent. Lvs hairy beneath and on midrib above; basal lvs 3-5 cm long; upper lvs becoming linear or narrow-lanceolate, toothed at apex or 3-fid, 5-15 × 1-3 mm. Infl. rachis sparingly hairy. Sepals glabrous or sparsely hairy, purplish, 0.7-1 × c. 0.5 mm. Petals c. 1/2 length of sepals. Stigma c. = notch. Silicle valves green or purple.

N.: Auckland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu, Wellington; S.: Marlborough, Canterbury.

N.; S.: throughout the range of the sp.

N.: Auckland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, Manawatu.

Africa 1979

Gardens, railway ballast, waste land, sand dunes, roadsides, especially near the coast.

L. africanum is a variable sp. found in many parts of Africa. Two different forms are naturalised in N.Z.:

Glabrous forms of L. africanum may be distinguished from L. pseudotasmanicum by their elliptic silicles and simple basal and lower stem lvs without minute marginal denticles.

The hairy form of L. africanum is distinguished from all other hairy Lepidium spp. in N.Z. by the lvs being all simple and toothed, glabrous above and hairy beneath, and the pedicel hairs in 1 row. It was treated as L. transvaalense Marais by Garnock-Jones (1979), but it differs from that sp. in having simple lvs and larger silicles.