crucifer^e. (mustard family.) 29 



9. DRABA, L. 



Silicic oblong or oval, flattened parallel with the broad partition. Seeds nu- 

 merous in two rows in each cell, compressed, wingless. Cotyledons accumhent. 



— Small herbs with entire or toothed leaves, and yellow or white flowers in ter- 

 minal racemes. 



§ 1. DRABA. — Petals entire. 



1. D. brachycarpa, Nutt. Annual; minutely downy ; stems leafy, sim- 

 ple or branched ; radical leaves round-ovate, stalked, those of the stem oblong- 

 linear ; silicle oval, as long as the pedicel. — Middle districts of Georgia, in dry 

 soil, and westward. March and April. — Stem 2' - 6' high. Silicle 2"- 3" long. 

 Flowers white. 



2. D. Caroliniana, Walt. Annual ; stems leafy and hispid at the base, 

 smooth ahove ; leaves tufted, spatulate-obovate, hispid ; silicle linear-oblong, 

 two or three times as long as the pedicel. — Sandy fields, Georgia and north- 

 ward. February - April. — Stems 1'- 3' high. Silicle 4" -6" long. Flowers 

 white. 



3. D. CUneifolia, Nutt. Annual ; leaves obovate, wedge-shaped, or the 

 lowest spatulate, toothed ; raceme somewhat elongated in fruit (l'-3'), at length 

 equalling the naked peduncle ; petals emarginate, much longer than the calyx ; 

 silicles oblong-linear, minutely hairy, longer than the horizontal pedicels. — West 

 Florida (Nuttall) and westward. March and April. 



4. D. ramosissima, Desv. Perennial ; stems diffuse, pubescent ; leaves 

 linear-lanceolate or the lowest oblanceolate and crowded, coarsely toothed ; ra- 

 cemes corymbose-branched ; silicle lanceolate, flat, twisted, hairy ; style slender. 



— Mountains of North Carolina and northward. April and May. — Stems 

 4' - 8' long. Flowers white. 



§ 2. EROPHILA. — Petals 2-cleft. 



5. D. verna, L. Stems naked, slender (2' -4' high) ; leaves radical, ob- 

 long ; silicles oblong, smooth, shorter than the pedicels, scattered ; flowers small, 

 white. — Waste places, chiefly in the upper districts. Introduced. (I). 



10. VESICARIA, Lam. 



Silicle globular and inflated, or more or less flattened parallel to the orbicular 

 partition ; the hemispherical or convex thin valves nerveless. Seeds few or sev- 

 eral, flat. Cotyledons accumbent. Filaments toothless. — Low herbs, pubescent 

 or hoary with stellate hairs. Flowers mostly yellow. 



1. V. Lescurii, Gray. Somewhat pubescent, but green ; stems dif- 

 fusely ascending from a biennial root ; leaves oblong or oval, sparingly toothed, 

 those of the stem half-clasping by a sagittate base ; racemes elongated, many- 

 flowered ; pedicels ascending ; filaments inflated at the base ; style half the 

 length of the hispid orbicular or broadly oval flattened silicle ; seeds wing-mar- 

 gined, one to four in each cell. — Hills near Nashville, Tennessee. April and 

 May. — Flowers golden yellow. 

 3* 



