Classification
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Cardamine depressa Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. I. (Fl. Antarct.) Part I, 6, t. 3 (1844)
Synonymy:
Lectotype (designated by Heenan 2017): Rendezvous Harbour, Lord Auckland’s group, November 1840, K!
  • = Cardamine depressa var. acaulis Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. I. (Fl. Antarct.) Part I, 6 (1844)
Lectotype (designated by Heenan 2017): Head of Rendezvous Harbour, Lord Auckland’s group, December 1840, K!
Etymology:
The specific epithet depressa (Latin: flattened) probably refers to the low and compact growth habit.
 Description

Perennial herb, single rosette or multiple rosettes on short lateral branches, stem and branches 1.0–2.0 mm diam. Leaves up to 60 mm long, usually simple or occasionally pinnatifid with up to 4 lobes; lamina 3.0–20.0 × 2.4–12.5 mm, green, glabrous or hairy, coriaceous, obovate, elliptic to broadly elliptic, sinuate, margin entire; apex obtuse to subacute, hydathode obscure or absent; base cuneate; petiole up to 32 mm long, plano-convex, glabrous or hairy. Cauline leaves sometimes present, subtending corymbs or individual flowers or inserted on pedicel, similar to rosette leaves. Inflorescence corymbose, with 1–4 corymbs each 4–16-flowered, with flowers clustered toward distal end; peduncle 7–110 mm long, 1.0–2.5 mm diam. at base, ascending to erect, glabrous. Pedicels 2.5–25.0 mm long, 0.4–0.6 mm diam., stout, glabrous. Sepals 1.8–2.5 × 0.9–1.1 mm, elliptic-oblong to elliptic, ± saccate, green and sometimes flushed red-brown at apex, glabrous or hairy, margin white and membranous, apex obtuse, base truncate. Petals 1.5–2.7 × 0.6–1.3 mm, white, limb obovate to broadly obovate; apex obtuse; base cuneate, tapering to a 0.7–1.0 mm-long claw. Stamens 6; median filaments 4, 1.8–2.6 mm long; lateral filaments 2, 1.6–2.2 mm long; anthers 0.5–0.6 mm long, cream to pale yellow, when dehiscent held at a similar height to or slightly below the stigma. Ovary 2.4–2.8 mm long, 0.5–0.6 mm diam., ± terete, green, glabrous; ovules 8–14; style 0.2–0.3 mm long, ± terete; stigma 0.2–0.3 mm diam. Siliques 6.0–15.0 × 1.0–1.2 mm, glabrous, style 0.3–0.8 mm long; valves green at maturity; straw-coloured when dehiscent, replum 0.4–0.6 mm wide. Seeds 0.6–0.7 mm long, 0.4–0.6 mm wide, 0.3–0.4 mm thick, orbicular to broadly oblong-orbicular, henna; wing absent.

 Key
1Lamina glabrous, petiole glabrous or with a few sparse hairs near base; sepals glabrous; plants from Auckland Islandssubsp. depressa
Lamina surface and margin moderately to sparsely hairy, petiole moderately to sparsely hairy; sepals hairy, rarely glabrous; plants from Campbell Islandssubsp. stellata
 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
Number of subspecific taxa in New Zealand within Cardamine depressa Hook.f.
CategoryNumber
Indigenous (Endemic)2
Total2
 Bibliography
Heenan, P.B. 2017: A taxonomic revision of Cardamine L. (Brassicaceae) in New Zealand. Phytotaxa 330(1): 001–154.
Heenan, P.B. 2020: Cardamine. In: Wilton, A.D. (ed.) Flora of New Zealand - Seed Plants. Fascicle 6. Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln.
Hooker, J.D. 1844–1845: The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. I. Flora Antarctica. Part I. Botany of Lord Auckland’s Group and Campbell’s Island. Reeve, Brothers, London.
Kirk,T. 1899: The Students' Flora of New Zealand and the Outlying Islands. Government Printer, Wellington, N.Z.