Flora of New Zealand Series

hedge mustard

Annual herb. Stem erect, hairy, to 1 m tall. Lvs and petioles with fine stiff hairs. Rosette lvs deeply lyrate-pinnatifid to lyrate-pinnate, (3)-7-25-(30) × (1.5)-2-9-(12) cm; terminal leaflet not lobed or 2-3-lobed, broadly toothed, ovate to reniform; lateral leaflets in 2-6 pairs, ± deflexed, triangular. Upper stem lvs smaller, deeply lyrate-pinnatifid to lyrate-pinnate; terminal leaflet narrow-oblong; lateral leaflets in 1-2 pairs, spreading or ± deflexed. Uppermost stem lvs becoming simple and hastate to narrow-triangular. Racemes ebracteate, suberect to spreading, hairy, (10)-20-30-(40) cm long. Pedicels c. 3 mm long, hairy. Sepals hairy, c. 2 mm long, not horned. Petals yellow, 3-4 mm long. Anthers c. 0.5 mm long; filaments > sepals. Silique hairy or glabrous, appressed to stem, tapering evenly from base, 10-15-(20) × 1-2 mm; style c. 0.5 mm long. Seeds oblong, brown, c. 1 mm long.

N.; S.; St.; K., Ch.: widespread throughout.

W., C., and S. Europe, N.W. Africa, Asia Minor 1855

Roadsides, shelter belts, waste land.

Plants with glabrous siliques have been referred to as var. leiocarpum DC., and plants of that nature occur sporadically throughout the range of the sp. in N.Z. The sp. has also been recorded in N.Z. as Erysimum officinale.