CRUCIFERJE. 46 



21. LEPl'DIUM. 

 Silicic ovale, emarginate ; valves carinale, dehiscent; cells 

 1-seeded; cotyledons incumbent or accumbent. 



Gr. >.£7rt«, a scale ; the form of the silicles is that of a little scale. Petals 

 obovate. Sepals ovate. Silicle 2 celled, the partition very narrow, crossing 

 the greater diameter. Seeds ovate. 



1. L. VlRGl'NlCUM. 



Leaves linear-lanceolate, incisely serrate, smooth; stamens 2—4, silicle 

 orbicular, emarginate ; cott/l edmis accnmhent; s/c?)i branched above. In san- 

 dy fields, flowering from June to Oct. Stem rigid, round, smooth, a foot high. 

 Flowers and capsules very numerous, in a panicle of racemes. Flower very 

 small, white, diandrous. Radical leaves pinnatifid, the cauline ones narrow, 

 with a few long teeth. Silicles ions-shaped, with a notch at tlie end. It has 

 a pungent taste lilce the garden peppergrass. Ann. JVild Peppergrass. 



2. L. SATi'VUM. 



Silicles orbicular, winged ; haves variously divided and cut ; branches with- 

 out spines. A well known, annual, garden salad, flowering in July. 



Common Peppergrass or Cress. 



22. ISA'TIS. 

 Silicle elliptical, flat, 1-celled, 1-seeded, with carinate, na- 

 vicular valves, which are scarcely dehiscent. 



Gr. iirci^M, to make equalj; the plant is believed to remove roughness from 

 the skin. Dissepiment obliterated. 



I. tincto'ria. 



Silicles cuneate, acuminate at base, somewhat spathulate at the end, very 

 obtuse, 3 times as long as broad. The Woad is native of England. It is oc- 

 casionally cultivated for the sake of its leaves, which yield a dye that may 

 be substituted for Indigo. The plant grows about four feet high, with large 

 leaves clasping the stem with tiieir broad bases. Flowers yellow, large, in 

 terminal racemes. May — July. Bien. Woad. 



Tribe 3, ORTHOPLOCEvE. 



Cotyledons conduplicate, or folded together lengthwise on the radicle (o» ). 

 Seeds globose, never margined, 



2 3. S I N A' P I S . 

 Calyx spreading; corolla with straight claws; silique sub- 

 terete; valves nerved ; partition extending beyond the valves 

 and ensiform; seeds in a single row, subglobose; cotyledons 

 conduplicate (folded together.) 



Name from the Greek, a-ivuTrt, mustard. Flower always yellow. 



1. S. NIGRA. 



Silique smootii, 4-corncred, appresscd to the rachis of the raceme; upper 

 leavr.s linear, lanceolate, entire, smooth. In cultivated grounds and waste 

 places. Stem 3 — IJ feet high, branching, smooth, round, striate. Leaves 

 variously lobed and tootlied, the upper ones deiiexed and entire. Flowers 



