SWISS FLOWERS. 29 



which grows so thickly in some of the Swiss pastures as to 

 give a deep colour to them. The leaves in this species are 

 biternate with lobed segments ; the flowers, of a pretty pink, 

 droop from the bending stem ; and the plant is not unlike a 

 poor specimen of its relation, Dielytra spectabilis, which has 

 of late years been so generally introduced into our gardens. 

 Abundant in the Swiss pastures in the early spring, espe- 

 cially in Canton Valais, Lancy, Bernex, Compesieres, Bex, 

 St. Maurice, Balvais near Rumilly in Albanais, and about 

 Annecy. 



10 and 11. Thlaspi. 



{PLATES VIII. and X.) 

 This plant brings us to the Cruciferae, a family thus 

 named from having its four petals in the form of a Greek 

 cross. It has six stamens, four of which are long and two 

 short, and agrees with the Linnaean class of Tetradynamia, 

 having also the same sub-classes — Siliquosa, a pod longer 

 than broad, like the Stock ; and Siliculosa, apod broader than 

 long, like the Shepherd's Purse. It may help to keep in mind 

 the distinction to remember that the longest pod has the 

 shortest name. Though the distinctions above mentioned 

 mark out the family plainly enough, it is not so easy to 

 distinguish one cruciferous plant from another ; the se^d 

 vessel is often a point which settles the matter, and this 



