Alyssum alyssoides (L.) L.
small alyssum
Annual herb; stems erect, leafy, branched below, (5)-10-18-(45) cm tall. Lvs entire, stellate-hairy, (2)-5-10 × (1)-2-4 mm; basal lvs oblanceolate to obovate; stem lvs narrower. Infl. a raceme, (5)-10-15 cm long; pedicels spreading, hairy, 2-3-(4) mm long. Sepals stellate-hairy, persistent at fruiting, 3 × 1 mm. Petals hairy beneath, obtuse to shallowly emarginate, 4-6 × 1-1.5 mm. Outer filaments with slender paired appendages. Silicle almost circular, shortly emarginate, inflated in centre, 3-4 × 3-(4) mm; valves stellate-hairy; veins faint or 0; style 0.3-0.4 mm long. Seeds brown, ovoid, flattened, narrowly winged, 1.5 × 1 mm, usually 2 per locule.
S.: inland Marlborough, Canterbury, C. Otago
Europe, N. Africa 1880
Stony dry fields and tussock grassland, roadsides, shingle, limestone outcrops.
This sp. has also been referred to in N.Z. as A. calycinum L.
