Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/80

40 This is allied to L. oleraceum, but can be readily distinguished by the slender often prostrate habit, the long petioles of the radical leaves, their crenate margins, and by the notched pods. My specimens from the north of the Manukau Harbour are suberect; Mr. Kirk's are mostly prostrate.

4. L. Kirkii, ''Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst.'' xxii. (1890) 439.—Small, prostrate, glabrous or nearly so. Stems many from the top of a short stout rootstock, prostrate, branched, flexuous, almost filiform, 2–4 in. long. Radical leaves entire, narrow-linear or linear-spathulate, ⅓–1 in. long, sheathing at the base, obtuse at the tip; cauline similar but smaller. Racemes short, elongating in fruit. Flowers minute. Sepals ovate, concave. Petals narrow, slightly shorter than the sepals. Stamens 4. Pods on slender pedicels about their own length, ovate-orbicular, minutely notched at the tip; style short, exceeding the notch.—Kirk, Students' Fl. 37.

5. L. flexicaule, ''T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst.'' xiv. (1882) 380.—Perfectly glabrous, smooth and fleshy. Stems numerous, branched, flexuous, procumbent; branches ascending at the tips. Lower leaves 2–3 in. long, petiolate, linear-oblong, pinnatifid; lobes 2–6 pairs, entire or toothed at the tips. Cauline leaves smaller, sessile or shortly petiolate, linear-spathulate or cuneate, coarsely toothed towards the apex. Racemes 1–2 in. long, lateral or terminal, leaf-opposed. Flowers small. Petals linear, obtuse. Stamens 2. Fruiting pedicels rather longer than the pod. Pod broadly ovate, slightly winged above, notched at the apex; style not exceeding the notch.—Kirk, Students' Fl. 35. L. incisum, ''Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 15; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 14 (not of Roth'').

6. L. tenuicaule, ''T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst.'' xiv. (1882) 381.—More or less clothed with minute soft whitish hairs, rarely glabrous. Stems numerous, slender, branched, procumbent or sub-erect, 6–12 in. long. Radical leaves numerous, thin, 1–4 in. long, linear-oblong, pinnate or pinnatifid; leaflets sometimes stalked, finely and sharply serrate or laciniate on the upper edge; teeth irregular, sometimes piliferous; petiole sheathing at the base. Cauline leaves usually few, sometimes absent, oblong-spathulate to linear, sessile or shortly petiolate, entire or serrate. Flowers very numerous, minute, in long and slender terminal racemes. Petals wanting. Stamens 4. Pod very small, orbicular, shorter than the