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Synonyms: |
Lepidium didymum L. Senebiera didyma (L.) Pers. |
Common names: | Lesser swine-cress (English) |
Frequency: | Local |
Status: | Introduced |
Description: |
Annual or biennial herb with much-branched, prostrate or ascending, pubescent stems up to 50 cm long, strong-smelling when crushed. Lower leaves pinnately lobed with the lobes pinnatifid; cauline leaves sessile with the lobes entire, all leaves sparsely pubescent to subhairless. Flowers very small, whitish, in dense leaf-opposed racemes, elongating up to c. 6 cm. Petals 0 or c.0.5 mm, shorter than the sepals. Stamens 2(-5). Fruit c. 2.5 mm wide, constricted in the middle into 2 subspherical, 1 seeded mericarps. Seeds ellipsoid, flattened, orange-brown. |
Notes: | |
Derivation of specific name: | didymus: twinned, referring to the pair of mericarps which comprise the fruit |
Habitat: | A weed of cultivation. |
Altitude range: (metres) | |
Flowering time: | |
Worldwide distribution: | A cosmopolitan weed, possibly of American origin |
Zimbabwe distribution: | W,C,E |
Growth form(s): | |
Endemic status: | |
Red data list status: | |
Insects associated with this species: | |
Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
Images last updated: | Saturday 7 April 2007 |
Literature: |
Exell, A.W. (1960). Brassicaceae Flora Zambesiaca 1(1) Page 193. Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J. (eds) (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 33 Sabonet, Pretoria and Harare Page 30. |
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