Tan. 6796. 
DENTARIA poLypHytta. 
Native of Middle Europe. 
Nat. Ord. CructrER%.—Tribe ARABIDER. 
Genus Dentaria, Linn. Carpamine, subgenus Dentanria, Benth. et Hook. f. 
Gen. Pl. vol. i. p. 70. 
Dentarra polyphylla; glaberrima, foliis 2-4 approximatis oppositis alternis v. 
ternatim verticillatis breviter petiolatis pinnatisectis, segmentis 7-9 approxi- 
matis subsessilibus lineari-lanceolatis acuminatis grosse serratis, floribus sub- 
corymbosis longe pedicellatis nutantibus, sepalis oblongis obtusis pallide 
viridibus, petalis triplo longioribus obovato-spathulatis albis emarginatis, 
siliquis erectis elongato-ensiformibus in stylum longe angustatis oligospermis, 
valvis coriaceis enerviis tenuissime striolatis, seminibus oblongis funiculo 
evanido, 
D. polyphylla, Waldst. et Kitaib. Pl. Rar. Hung. vol. ii. p. 174, t. 160; DC. 
Syst. Veg. vol. ii. p. 271, and Prodr. vol. i. p. 154; Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ. 
p. 49; Reichd. Ic. Fl. Germ. vol. ii. t. 32; Bertoloni, Fl. Ital. vol. vii. p. 5. 
The question of the distinction between the genera Den- 
taria and Cardamine has often been discussed, and is so far 
settled in the “‘Genera Plantarum” that the former has 
been reduced to a subgenus of the latter. Brown and 
Bernhardi distinguished them by habit and the dilated 
funicles of Dentaria. Spenner found a character in the 
cotyledons of Dentaria pinnata, which, instead of being flat, 
as in Cardamine, have their margins on both sides folded 
inwards. This folding is, however, sometimes (as in D. 
enneaphylla) confined to one side of the cotyledons only, 
and in other species it is evanescent, as in the common D, 
bulbifera. Koch has pointed out a character in the petioled 
cotyledons of Dentaria. Bernhardi indicates a very im- 
portant difference in the germination of the two genera, for 
whereas in Cardamine the plumule germinates between the 
two cotyledons, in Dentaria the cotyledons perish, and a 
tubercle forms at their base, from which, in the following 
year, growth takes place. How far this is constant in the 
genus is not known; and the fruiting of D. bulbifera is a 
JANUARY lst, 1885. 
