almost entire, toothed or sinuate-lobed. Flowers small, yellow, in lax racemes. Pedicels slender, ebracteate. Petals about equalling the sepals. Pods oblong, turgid, slightly curved when ripe, 16–14 in. long. Seeds numerous, crowded, in 2 series.—Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 10; Kirk, Students Fl. 25. N. terrestre, R. Br. in Ait. Hort. Kew. iv. 110; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 14. N. semipinnatifidum, Hook. Journ. Bot. i. 246. N. sylvestre, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 309, (non R. Br.); A. Cunn. Precur. n. 625; Raoul, Choix de Plantes, 47.
North and South Islands: Common in moist places from the North Cape to the Bluff. Usually in lowland districts, but ascending to over 2000 ft. in the river-valleys of Canterbury and Otago. Summer and autumn. An abundant plant in the temperate portions of both hemispheres.
The common water cress of Europe (Nasturtium officinale, R. Br.) is now plentifully naturalised throughout New Zealand. It is easily known by its aquatic habit, creeping or floating stem, pinnate leaves, and white flowers.
2. CARDAMINE, Linn.
Annual or perennial often flaccid herbs, glabrous or slightly pubescent. Leaves entire or more frequently pinnately divided. Flowers white or purplish. Sepals equal at the base. Petals clawed. Stigma simple or 2-lobed. Pod long, narrow-linear, compressed; valves usually flat, openmg elastically; septum membranous, transparent. Seeds numerous, flattened, in one series; cotyledons accumbent.
A rather large genus of over 60 species, inhabiting the temperate and cool regions of both hemispheres. Of the seven species found in New Zealand one is a very widely diffused plant, another extends to Australia, the remaining five are endemic.
| A. Rootstock slender, short. | |
| Slender, usually flaccid. Leaves pinnate (reduced to a single pinnule in var. uniflora). Flowers small | 1. C. hirsuta. |
| Small, depressed. Leaves all radical, spathulate. Flowers small | 2. C. depressa. |
| Leaves all radical, pinnatifid at the base. Flowers large | 3. C. bilobata. |
| Tall, slender, branched and leafy. Flowers in elongated racemes. Seeds pitted | 4. C. stylosa. |
| B. Rootstock stout, fleshy, as thick as the finger, crowned with numerous rosulate radical leaves. | |
| Flowering-stems 6–18 in. Leaves almost glabrous. Pods narrow, 115–112 in. broad | 5. C. fastigiata. |
| Flowering-stems 6–24 in. Leaves villous. Pods broad, 16–14 in. | 6. C. latesiliqua. |
| Flowering-stems short, 2–4 in. Leaves covered with stellate pubescence. Pods narrow | 7. C. Enysii. |
1. C. hirsuta, Linn. Sp. Plant. 655.—A very variable glabrous or slightly hairy annual or perennial herb, usually much branched from the base. Stems erect or decumbent, occasionally as much as
