Flora of New Zealand Series

narrow-leaved cress

Perennial. Stems erect, glabrous, ridged or grooved, 10-50 cm tall; branches sometimes sparsely puberulent below. Lvs glabrous. Basal and lower stem lvs withering or falling at fruiting, (3)-5-12-(25) × 1-3-(4) cm, deeply pinnatisect with narrow acute curved teeth on distal edges of pinnae. Upper lvs becoming linear, 3-fid at apex or entire, 5-20-(40) × 1-2-(3) mm; marginal denticles present especially near cuneate lf base. Racemes (3)-5-7-(10) cm long; rachis glabrous; pedicels erecto-patent to patent, (2)-3-4 mm long at fruiting, with hairs in 1 row. Sepals hairy or glabrous, green or purple, 0.7-1 × 0.2-0.3 mm; petals white, minute or 0. Stamens 2. Silicles ovate to rhomboid, 2.4-2.7-(3) × 1.8-2 mm; stigma almost sessile, included in shallow notch; valves green or purple, glabrous. Seed ovoid, brown, not winged, c. 1.4 mm long.

N.: Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Manawatu, Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa, Wellington; S.: Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury, Otago, Southland.

Australia 1979

Gardens, roadsides, stony waste land.

L. pseudotasmanicum is distinguished from L. africanum by its ovate to rhomboid silicle, deeply pinnatisect basal lvs and marginal denticles on upper lvs, and from other common narrow-fruited spp. by its glabrous stems. Large old plants take on a dense springy rounded almost shrubby habit.