92 SOUTH AFRICAN FLOWERING PLANTS, 



Similarly, wild potatoes in Peru are no bigger than 

 hazel nuts ; but we. now get magnificent tubers half a 

 pound in weight. It is all done by carefully selecting 

 the best only for propagation. 



General Description of the Crucifer Family. 



Her'hs — Non-poisonous. 



Inflorescence — Corymbs passing into racemes of 

 ebracteate flowers. 



Flowers — Sepals, 4; petals, 4, clawed; stamens, 6, 

 tetradynamous ; pistil of 2 carpels, syncarpous. 



Fruit — A siliqua or silicula, with a false dis- 

 sepiment, dehiscing by two valves, and with four rows 

 of seeds. 



No plants of this family are poisonous, and many 

 are useful for food. The cabbage is wild on the chalk 

 cliffs of the South of England, and is the origin of all 

 the many sorts of that vegetable. The turnip and 

 rape, mustard and cress, horseradish and radish, etc., 

 all belong to it. 



Of garden flowers, the wallflower, stock, candytuft, 

 natives of Europe, are grown in gardens. 



Capparideae. 



The Caper Family. 



This family has 300 species of 23 genera in 2 tribes 

 in all, and 25 species in South Africa, of which the 



