MUSTARD FAMILY 91 



Eefs. — ^Plattspeemum scapigerum Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 1:68, t. 18B (1830), type loe. Great 

 Falls, Columbia Eiver, Douglas; Jepson, Man. 441, fig. 432 (1925). Idahoa scapigera Nels. & 

 Mcbr. Bot. Gaz. 56:474 (1913). 



29. ALYSSUM L. 



Low branching herbs with small white or yellowish flowers. Pod in ours orbic- 

 ular, flattened; cells 1 or 2-seeded. Cotyledons accumbent. — Species about 100, 

 Europe, Asia, north Africa. (Greek, a, without, lussa, madness, in ancient times 

 a supposed antidote for hydrophobia.) 



Pubescence of simple appressed hairs; pods marginless, pointed 1. A. maritimum. 



Pubescence stellate ; pods narrowly margined, slightly emarginate above 2. A. alyssoides. 



1. A. maritimum Lam. Sweet Alyssum. Perennial; leaf -blades narrowly 

 lanceolate or linear; petals white, 2 lines long, twice as long as the deciduous sepals; 

 filaments not toothed; pod 2-seeded. 



Garden plant from Europe, occurring as an escape : coastal region. May-Sept. 



Locs. — San Diego, W. S. Wright 115; Del Mar, San Diego Co., Jepson 1619; Catalina Isl. 

 (Erythea 7:142) ; Santa Cruz, Berg; East Oakland, E. A. WalTcer 688; San Francisco, Jepson 

 10,239. 



Eefs. — Alyssttm maritimttm Lam. Eneyl. 1:98 (1783) ; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 226 (1901), 

 ed. 2, 193 (1911), Man. 442 (1925). Clypeola maritima L. Sp. PI. 652 (1753), type south Euro- 

 pean, Koniga maritima E. Br.; Britt. & Br. 111. Fl. 2:153, fig. 1788 (1897). Lobularia maritima 

 Desv. Jour. Bot. 3:162 (1814), 



2. A. alyssoides L. Small Alyssum. Annual; leaves narrowly oblanceolate; 

 petals yellowish white, 1% lines long, scarcely exceeding the sepals; sepals per- 

 sistent about the base of the fruit; filaments of the shorter stamens toothed at base; 

 pod 4-seeded. 



Garden plant from Europe. Naturalized in Siskiyou Co. and at one time 

 adventive in the San Francisco Bay region. 



Locs. — Yreka, Butler 1341 ; Cottonwood Creek, Siskiyou Co., Butler 722 ; Sisson, Heller 8054. 



Eefs.— Alyssum alyssoides L. Syst. ed. 10, 1130 (1759) ; Britt. & Br. 111. Fl. 2:153, fig. 

 1787 (1897) ; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 226 (1901), ed. 2, 191 (1911), Man. 442 (1925). aypeola 

 alyssoides L. Sp, PL 652 (1753), type European, A. calycinum L, Sp, PI, ed. 2, 908 (1763). 



30, CAPSELLA Medic. 



Slender annuals with pinnatifid leaves and small white flowers. Petals small, 

 little exceeding the sepals. Pod obcordate or elliptical, strongly or scarcely at all 

 flattened, several-seeded; valves carinate. Seeds not winged; cotyledons incum- 

 bent. — Species 4, northern hemisphere. (Latin capsella, a little box.) 



Pod obcordate, or cuneate-triangular in outline with retuse apex, strongly flattened 



1. C. iursa-pastoris. 

 Pod elliptic-oblong, scarcely flattened, entire at the apex 2. C, procumbens. 



1. C. bursa-pastoris Moench. Shepherd's Purse. Stems erect, simple or 

 branching, 3 to 18 inches high, sparsely hispid; basal leaves in a spreading rosette; 

 lower leaves petioled, their blades pinnatifid, rarely entire, the terminal lobe larg- 

 est; blades of upper leaves merely dentate, sessile-auriculate; petals % to 1% 

 lines long ; pedicels elongating in fruit, 4 lines long ; pods obcordate, 2^ to 3 lines 

 broad, many-seeded, strongly flattened. 



Common in pastures, orchards and by waysides, 10 to 6000 feet, naturalized 

 from Europe : throughout cismontane California. Feb.-Apr. 



Note on variation. — Capsella bursa-pastoris is variable in foliage and shape of pod. To 

 what degree is partly evident from the studies of E, Almquist (Acta Hort. Berg. 4": 1-91, — 1907; 

 7:41-95 figs. 1-16, — 1923) who, on the basis of cultures which he believed constant, described 200 

 species chiefly with reference to the structure of the pod. 



Locs. — Sierra Nevada : Shepherd Cove, near Kaweah, W. Fry 410 ; Pine Eidge, Fresno Co. ; 

 Hodgdon Eanch, Tuolumne Co., Jepson 10,542; Yosemite, Bioletti; Jackson, Hansen; Donner 



