Flora of New Zealand Series

radish

Annual or biennial. Taproot tuberous, napiform or cylindric, white or red, 1-3-(8) cm diam. Stems often reddish, (10)-40-100 cm tall. Rosette and lower stem lvs lyrate-pinnate, rarely simple; terminal leaflet (2)-3-6 × (2)-3-6 cm, wider than rest of lf; lateral leaflets in 1-4 distant pairs. Stem lvs simple, rarely with a pair of basal lobes, orbicular to lanceolate, 1-3 cm long. Racemes 15-40 cm long. Pedicels 1-2 cm long, stout at fruiting. Sepals 6-8 × 1-2 mm. Petals usually white, sometimes pink or mauve, rarely pale yellow, mauve-veined, 15-20 mm long. Silique (1)-5-12-seeded, ovoid to cylindric, not or scarcely constricted between seeds, not breaking into segments, veined or very weakly ribbed, tapering at apex, 20-60 × 8-15 mm. Seeds c. 3 mm long.

N.; S.; K.

Unknown in the wild, probably arose in cultivation in Europe 1832

A common casual in waste land near towns, sometimes established about sand dunes, a garden escape.