Cardamine depressa Hook.f.
Perennial herb with short stout rootstock. Stems erect, glabrous, straight, purplish or green, up to 20 cm tall. Lvs glabrous to hairy, brownish or green, shiny, coriaceous or thin. Basal lvs simple, crenate or entire, elliptic to obovate-spathulate, long-cuneate at base, obtuse to subacute, sometimes with 1-2 short lobes near base. Cauline lvs 0 or 1-2 among whorl of fls, similar to rosette lvs. Infl. straight, glabrous, ± corymbose but sometimes racemose, or sessile and appearing as many solitary fls. Pedicels glabrous, erecto-patent to spreading, (3)-10-40 mm long at fruiting. Sepals glabrous, rarely sparsely hairy, usually purplish, sometimes green, 1.5-2 × 0.7-1 mm. Petals white, erect, narrow-oblong, cuneate, (2)-3 × (0.6)-1 mm. Stamens 6. Silique pale brownish to purple, erect to erecto-patent, (5)-10-30 × c. 1 mm; valves glabrous; style 0.5-1 mm long. Seeds circular to broad-oblong, brown, 0.8-1 mm long.
(1) Subantarctic plants (including C. depressa sens. strict., C. stellata Hook. f., C. depressa var. acaulis Hook. f.). Lvs hairy to some extent, thin or fleshy, simple and crenate; cauline lvs present among whorl of fls. Infl. tightly corymbose, often sessile. Sepals sparsely hairy, sometimes glabrous; pedicel (3)-10-20 mm long; silique 5-10-(15) mm long.
(2) South Id plants. Lvs glabrous, rarely sparsely ciliate, coriaceous, simple and entire, sometimes lobed at base; cauline lvs usually 0. Infl. loosely corymbose to racemose, rarely sessile. Sepals glabrous; pedicel (15)-30-40 mm long; silique (10)-15-30 mm long.
A., C., M.
S.: mostly E. of the Main Divide.
Endemic
Endemic
Coastal meadows, rocks and ridges.
Montane, rarely alpine, rock outcrops in grassland, moraines, stream beds.
FL (Oct)-Nov-Jan-(Mar) (Nov)-Dec-Feb-(Mar).
As treated here, C. depressa includes 2 entities which are probably distinct at sp. level.
