Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Brassicales Bromhead
Family
Cruciferae
Genus
Lepidium L.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Lepidium banksii Kirk, Stud. Fl. New Zealand 35 (1899)
Synonymy:
Type Collection: “SOUTH Island: Queen Charlotte Sound and Astrolabe Habrour, A. Richard, l.c.” Lectotype: Herbarium Richard, Paris!
  • = Lepidium banksii var. ovatum Kirk, Stud. Fl. New Zealand 35 (1899)
Lectotype (fide Allan 1961): Northwest Bay, Pelorus Sound, J. Rutland s.n., n.d., WELT SP079012!
Etymology:
Although Kirk (1899) did not explain his choice of epithet, 'banksii' commemorates Sir Joseph Banks FLS, FRS (1743–1820) who together with Dr Daniel Solander made the first gatherings of New Zealand plants to be described by European botanists during the Endeavour voyage of discovery (1768–1771).
 Description

Perennial, glabrous except for distinctive pale clavate hairs on pedicels and slender hairs on sepals. Stems spreading to erect, stout, barely flexuous, 20–50 cm tall. Lvs all similar, oblanceolate-spathulate, sharply and finely serrate, cuneately narrowed to broad flat petiole about = lamina, 1.5–5–(7) × 0.5–0.8–(1.5) cm. Racemes terminal on short leafy branchlets, 2–6 cm long; pedicels erecto-patent, 5–8 mm long at fruiting. Sepals c. 1.5 × 1 mm. Petals white, narrowly obovate, c. = sepals. Stamens 4. Silicle broadly ovate, notched at apex, slightly winged, 5–5.5 × 4–5 mm; style very short; stigma slightly > notch. Seeds broadly ovoid, brown, narrowly winged, c. 2.5 × 2 mm.

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

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Phenology

Flowering: Nov.–Jan.; Fruiting: Nov.–Jan.

 Bibliography
de Lange, P.J.; Heenan, P.B.; Houliston, G.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Mitchell, A.D. 2013: New Lepidium (Brassicaceae) from New Zealand. PhytoKeys 24: 1–147.
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 Critical]
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.
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 Critical]
Kirk,T. 1899: The Students' Flora of New Zealand and the Outlying Islands. Government Printer, Wellington, N.Z.