CORONOPUS DIDYMUS

Family and Genus:- See- CRUCIFERAE

Common Names:- Lesser swinecress

Homotypis Synonyms:- Carara didyma, Coronopus didymus subsp.

eudidymus, Lepidium didymum Senebiera didyma.

Meaning:- Coronopus (Gr) A name used by the Greek philosopher Theophrastus

for crowfoot, reference to the leaf-shape

Didymus (Gr) Twofold, double (the dumb-bell-shaped fruit)

General description:- Procumbent or ascending annual or biennial

Stem:-

1) 5-15(-35) cm.

Leaves:-

1) Glabrous.

2) Lower, pinnatipartite, the segments usually pinnatifid.

Flowers:-

1) Raceme, somewhat elongate in fruit.

2) Pedicels, 1·5-3·5 mm, usually longer than the silicula.

3) Petals, c. 0·5 mm, shorter than the sepals, sometimes absent.

4) Stamens, fertile usually 2.

5) Style absent, or up to 0·2 mm and included in the notch.

Fruit:-

1) Silicula c. 1·5 x 2.5 mm, rugose, emarginate., reticulate.

Key features:-

1) Petals minute or absent.

2) Silicula c. 1·5 x 2.5 mm, rugose, emarginate.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Sandy beaches and salines, near harbours, olive groves, ruderal habitats

in and near villages. 0-100(-800) m.

Distribution:- W Peloponnisos and Ionian Islands.- Probably native to S America

now almost a cosmopolitan weed. Rare on Crete, known from a few locations

around the Hania area in the west.

Flowering time:- Late Mar to May, occasionally at other times.

Photos by:- Zacharias Angourakis