CLASS XV. ORDER II.] BRASSICA. 915 



terminal lobe, toothed and rough, with bristly hairs, the upper ones 

 heart-shaped, lanceolate, clasping the stem, quite smooth, and some- 

 what glaucous, and entire, or slightly toothed. Injlorescence terminal 

 lax paniculated racemes, of pale yellow flowers, in sub-corymbose 

 tufts. Calyx of four oblong smooth yellowish pieces, close at the 

 base, spreading above the middle. Petals four, the limb roundish, 

 ovate, spreading. Stamens with awl-shaped filaments, ascending. 

 Fruit a cylindrical siliqua, about an inch long, tapering at the beak, 

 and crowned by the roundish obtuse stigma. Seeds globose, brownish 

 red, acrid, bitterish. 



Habitat. — Borders of fields and waste places ; frequent. 



JJiennial; flowering in April and May. 



Turnips are too well known as valuable food both for man and 

 cattle to need any comment, and their mode of cultivation in the rota- 

 tion of crops, and the means of producing the greatest weight of food, 

 is not necessary here to describe. The varieties usually found in culti- 

 vation are arranged under two heads, according to the shape of the 

 turnip ; as the Depressa, the form of which is roundish, depressed, more 

 or less flatly ; of these there are the white, yellow, black, purple, and 

 green, all of which, except the black, (which is seldom seen, if not 

 extinct), are in common cultivation. The OZ>/o»^a, the form of which 

 is oblong, gradually tapering into the slender root ; of these there are 

 the same common varieties as in the other. The young tender 

 branches and leaves are cropped in the spring, and used as a pot herb, 

 especially on the Continent, and are highly esteemed as an excellent 

 antiscorbutic vegetable ; they are somewhat bitter, which to some 

 people, however, is by no means unpleasant. They require well 

 boiling, and in a large quantity of water to render them wholesome. 

 During the season these, as well as cauliflowers and brocoli,&c., are 

 boiled and sold at the corners of most of the frequented streets in 

 Rome; and if we may judge by the appearance of the portly dames 

 who preside over these public kitchens, it must be a profitable business; 

 but it is not vegetables alone that they cook and vend, but fish and 

 fritters of various kinds fried, or rather boiled, in oil or lard. 



5. B. Monen'sis, Broivn. (Fig. 1058.) Isle of 3Ian Cabbage. Root 

 hard, woody ; stem slender, smooth, nearly leafless ; leaves pinnalifid, 

 smooth, glaucous; lobes linear, distant, toothed; siliqua with a one 

 to three seeded beak. 



English Flora, vol. iii. p. 220. — Hooker, British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. 

 p. 256.— Lindley, Synopsis, p. ^2.— Sisymbrium monense, Linn. — 

 English Botany, t. 962. 



Boot long, slender, tapering, woody. Stems mostly several from 

 the same root, ascending about a foot high, round, simple, or branched, 

 smooth, or slightly hairy below. Leaves pinnatifid, with channeled 

 somewhat hairy footstalks, the lobes opposite and alternate, obIong> 



