四棱荠 si leng ji

Raphanus laevigatus Marschall von Bieberstein, Fl. Taur.-Caucas. 2: 129. 1808; Goldbachia hispida Blatter & Hallberg; G. laevigata var. ascendens Boissier; G. laevigata var. ascendens f. reticulata Kuntze; G. reticulata (Kuntze) Vassilczenko.

Herbs annual, (10-)15-40 cm tall. Stems branched basally and above. Basal leaves not rosulate; petiole 1-3 cm; leaf blade often oblong, 2.5-4.5 × 0.8-3 cm, margin sinuate-dentate to dentate. Middle cauline leaves sessile, amplexicaul, cordate-ovate or ovate-lanceolate, (0.8-)1.3-4.5(-5.5) cm × 2-15(-17) mm, widest at base, margin entire. Fruiting pedicels slender, 0.5-1.5 cm, reflexed, forming with fruit a distinct angle 30-120 degrees, articulate at base. Sepals oblong, 2.5-4 × ca. 1 mm, densely pubescent with crisped trichomes, base of lateral pair slightly saccate. Petals pale purplish or pink, spatulate, 5-8 × ca. 1.5 mm. Filaments 3-4 mm; anthers ovate, 0.4-0.6 mm. Fruit narrowly oblong, 0.8-1.3 cm × 3-4 mm, pointed upward, 4-angled, rugose, constricted at middle when more than 1-seeded, base subrounded, beaklike apex (1-)1.5-2(-2.5) mm. Seeds yellow-brown, oblong, 1.6-2.4 × 0.9-1.3 mm. Fl. Apr-Jun.

Fields, roadsides, hillsides; 400-1300 m. Xinjiang [Afghanistan, ?India, Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, ?Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; SW Asia].

Records and illustrations in FRPS (3: 375. 1987), Fl. Qinghai. (1: 483. 1997), and Fl. Xinjiang. (2(2):189. 1995) of Goldbachia laevigata are based on misidentified plants of G. pendula. The former species has pedicels that form a distinct angle with the fruit and sepals densely pubescent with crisped trichomes. Goldbachia pendula and G. ikonnikovii have pedicels and fruit that form a straight line and their sepals are either glabrous or sparsely pubescent with few straight trichomes (see the above key). The occurrence of G. laevigata in China is here confirmed based on Regel s.n., May 1877 (LE), collected from Xinjiang. Records of the species from India and Pakistan are questionable, and they are likely based on misidentified plants of G. tetragona Ledebour or G. torulosa de Candolle.