Tas. 6243. 
MORICANDIA  soncHIFOLtA. 
Native of Northern China. 
Nat. Ord. CRrucirer£,—Tribe BRASSICEZ. 
Genus Moricanpia, DC. (Benth, et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, vol. i, p. 85). 
MoricanDIa sonchifolia ; erecta, ramosa, glabra, foliis sessilibus basi auriculatis, 
radicalibus lyrato-pinnatisectis segmentis sinuato-dentatis, caulinis obovato- 
oblongis v. pandureformibus subacutis, floribus racemosis violaceis ebract- 
eatis gracile pedicellatis, sepalis erectis coloratis lateralibus basi saccatis, 
petalis amplis patulis longe unguiculatis lamina late obovata, siliquis longis- 
simis angustis obtuse 4-gonis, valvis carinatis, septo membranaceo foveolato, 
“phe ee elongato, stigmatibus in conum conniventibus, seminibus 
-serlatis 
ORYCHOPHRAGMUS sonchifolius, Bunge, Enum. Plant Chin. Bor., p. 7; Walp. 
Rep., vol. i., p. 187. 
This very showy Crucifer, though described as long ago 
as 1832, has hitherto been known only from dried specimens 
collected by its discoverer, the veteran traveller and botanist, 
Professor Bunge, of Dorpat, who accompanied a Russian 
mission to Pekin from Siberia in 1831. It is a hardy 
annual, remarkable for the bright colour and delicacy 
of its corolla, and being easy of cultivation is likely to 
become as great an acquisition as its near ally, the old garden 
favourite, the European MM. arvensis (Tab. nost. 3007), which — 
has been in cultivation since 1739. Another species is the 
beautiful M. Ramburii (Tab. nost. 4947), a native of Spain. — 
When describing the Crucifere for the “Genera Plantarum” 
I had only imperfect specimens of Orychophragmus, and I 
retained the genus as defined by Bunge; with the more 
complete materials now before me I have no hesitation in 
replacing it in Moricandia, to which genus, indeed, Bunge 
had in the first instance referred 0. sonchifolia. 
The Royal Gardens are indebted to Dr. Playfair, late 
medical officer attached to the Embassy at Pekin, for seeds of 
this plant, which flowered in March of the present year. 
Descr. A slender, branched, glabrous, leafy annual, one 
JuLy 1isz, 1876, : 
