Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Brassicales Bromhead
Family
Cruciferae
Genus
Lepidium L.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Lepidium sisymbrioides Hook.f., Handb. New Zealand Fl. 14 (1864)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Nasturtium sisymbrioides (Hook.f.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2, 937 (1891)
  • = Lepidium kawarau Petrie, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 17: 270 (1884 [1885])
  • ≡ Lepidium sisymbrioides subsp. kawarau (Petrie) Thell., Lepidium 313 (1906)
  • = Lepidium kawarau var. dubium Kirk, Stud. Fl. New Zealand 36 (1899)
  • ≡ Lepidium sisymbrioides var. dubium (Kirk) Thell., Lepidium 314 (1906)
  • = Lepidium sisymbrioides var. ovalis Thell., Lepidium 313 (1906)
 Description

Dioecious perennial. Stems decumbent to erect, branching, glabrescent to densely hairy. Lvs hairy above, glabrous beneath. Rosette lvs persistent, shortly petiolate, pinnatifid to pinnate, to 2-pinnatifid, 2–7–(10) × 0.3–1.5 cm; pinnae linear to obovate, entire or narrowly lobed. Stem lvs becoming entire, lanceolate to oblong to obovate to linear, 2–15 × 1–3 mm. Racemes 2–5–(10) cm long at fruiting; rachis hairy; pedicels hairy, spreading, 4–6 mm long at fruiting. Sepals sparsely hairy, 1–1.5 × 0.5–1 mm. Petals either 0, or white, obovoid, up to 2 mm long. ♂ fls with 4 or 6 stamens and rudimentary ovary. ♀ fls with 4 abortive stamens and developed ovary. Silicles ovate to rhomboid, 3–5 × 2–3.5 mm; style 0.2–0.3 mm long, free from narrow wing, slightly exceeding shallow notch; valves with scattered flexuous hairs or almost glabrous. Seeds ovoid, brown, not winged, 1.5–2 mm long.

[From: Webb et al. (1988) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 4.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Phenology

Flowering: Sep.–Jan.; Fruiting: Sep.–Jan.

 Bibliography
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Hitchmough, R.; Townsend, A.J. 2009: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand (2008 revision). New Zealand Journal of Botany 47: 61–96. [Nationally Endangered; Not threatened]
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Heenan, P.B.; Courtney, S.P.; Molloy, B.P.J.; Ogle, C.C.; Rance, B.D. 2004: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 42(1): 45–76. [as Lepidium sisymbrioides Hook.f. subsp. sisymbrioides; Lepidium sisymbrioides subsp. kawarau (Petrie) Thell.]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Nationally Critical]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Nationally Endangered]
Heenan, P.B.; Mitchell, A.D.; Mclenachan, P.A.; Lockhart, P.J.; de Lange, P.J. 2007: Natural variation and conservation of Lepidium sisymbrioides Hook.f. and L. solandri Kirk (Brassicaceae) in South Island, New Zealand, based on morphological and DNA sequence data. New Zealand Journal of Botany 45: 237–264.
Hooker, J.D. 1864: Handbook of the New Zealand Flora: a systematic description of the native plants of New Zealand and the Chatham, Kermadec's, Lord Auckland's, Campbell's and Macquarie's Islands. Part I. Reeve, London.
Kirk,T. 1899: The Students' Flora of New Zealand and the Outlying Islands. Government Printer, Wellington, N.Z.
Kuntze, C.E.O. 1891: Revisio Generum Plantarum. Vol. 2. Arthur Felix, Leipzig.
Petrie, D. 1885: Description of new species of native plants. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 17: 269–271.
Thellung, A. 1906: Die Gattung Lepidium (L.) R. Br. Eine Monographische Studie. Basel.