Flora of New Zealand Series

L. solandri Kirk in T.N.Z.I. 14, 1882, 380.

Nasturtium sisymbrioides Kuntze Rev. Gen. Pl. 1, 1891, 937.

L. sisymbrioides subsp. solandri (Kirk) Thell. var. typicum Thell. Die Gatt. Lepidium 1906, 312.

Type locality: "dry grassy flats Lake Ohau". Type: K, Haast, Dec. 1863. 2000'.

Papillose-pubescent to glabrate dioec. herb with deeply descending taproot up to c. 1 m. long; stock up to c. 1 cm. diam.', branched above. Radical lvs us. many, subrosulate, linear in outline, pinnate to pinnatifid, c. 1-10 cm. long; pinnules ∞, c. 1 to 3 cm. long, lobulate to entire. Stems slender, us. many, ascending, branched, up to 10 cm. long or more, produced into racemes; cauline lvs ± linear-spathulate, toothed to entire, smaller. Racemes slender, terminal, 2-10 cm. long; pedicels slender, subpatent, 3 to 5 mm. long; fls minute, sepals ± 1 mm. long, broadly ovate. Staminate fls with or without oblong-spathulate petals, ± 1·5 mm. long, including claw; stamens 4 to 6; glands 6, oblong; abortive ovary villous. Pistillate fls apetalous; stamens 4, abortive; glands 6, linear. Silicles 3-5 mm. long, rhombic, narrowed above and below, notched, narrowly winged above; styles short. Seeds hardly 1·5 mm. long.

DIST.: S. Lowland and montane tussock-grassland east of divide from lat. 43° to 45°.

FL. 11-1. FT. 12-2.

Kirk (T.N.Z.I. 14, 1882, 380) described his L. solandri from specimens collected by himself and Enys on "limestone rocks, Broken River Basin, Canterbury". He distinguished it from L. sisymbrioides Hook. f. "by the naked stems, apetalous fls, straight pedicels and narrowly-winged pods". Later (Stud. Fl. 1899, 37) he treated the name as an absolute synonym of L. sisymbrioides. Thellung (Die Gatt. Lepidium 1906, 313) described his var. ovatum from plants collected by Petrie, "East Coast of Otago, Kurow". Silicles broadly ovate-rhombic, subobtuse at base, acute at apex, slightly notched; wings short, obtuse; style distinctly exserted. There is a Petrie specimen in W labelled "Low hills at Kurow, Waitaki R. L. sisymbrioides var.".