Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Lepidium didymum
Common name
Lesser Swinecress
Family
Brassicaceae
Where found
Weed of disturbed areas. Mostly Sydney area and ACT. Occasionally elsewhere.
Notes
Introduced annual or perennial herb to 0.3 m high, or prostrate. Hairless to hairy, with an unpleasant odour. Basal leaves to 9 cm long, deeply dissected or compound, with 7-11 further deeply dissected or divided, with more or less linear lobes. Stem leaves alternating up the stems, becoming smaller, finally entire. Flowers tiny, with 4 sepals 1-2 mm long, and 4 white petals shorter than the sepals, or absent. Flower cluster longer than the leaves at the seeding stage. Flowers spring–summer. Seed cases 1.5 mm long, 2–3 mm wide, with 2 lobes, constricted at the join, separating into two halves, each half almost globular. (needs a hand lens or a macro app on your phone/tablet to see.) Stalks of seed cases 1.5–3 mm long.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Lepidium~didymum (accessed 22 January, 2021)
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