4. CRUCIFEK.E. 



27 



stiff, spi'eading branches; lower leaves lyrate, the upper 

 ones sessile, oval to lanceolate, 

 sinuate-toothed ; flowers bright- 

 yellow ; fruiting pedicels thick, 

 much shorter than the pods ; pods 

 almost erect, beaded, hairy or 

 glabrous, valves prominently 3- 

 nerved; beak stout, conical, 

 nearly as long as the valves; 

 seeds 3-11, globular, smooth, red- 

 dish-brown, the beak usually con- 



taining one. Brassica 

 strum, Boissier. 



iinapi- 



Cultivated land. — Aug. -Dec. — 

 Europe; western Asia. 



2. S. alba, L. White Mus- 

 tard. Rough - villous annual ; 

 leaves all stalked and lyrate ; 

 fruiting pedicels spreading, as 

 long as the 3-nerved pods, which 

 are spreading, beaded, covered 

 with soft, white hairs; beak flat- 

 tened, cui'ved, longer than the 

 valves ; seeds 4-6, usually 1 in the 

 Boissier. 



Sinapis arvensis. 



beak. Brassica aJha, 



Cultivated as fodder, and spontaneous in places. — 

 Aug. -Nov. — Europe; western Asia. , 



Brassica oleracea, L. (Cabbage), with thick, glabrous, 

 glaucous leaves, the upper ones sessile, but not auricled ; 

 B. Bapa. L. (Turnip), with green, rough-hairy radical leaves 

 and glaucous upper leaves, clasping the stem with auricles; 

 and B. Xapus, L. (Rape), with similar upper leaves and all 

 leaves glaucous and glabrous, are sometimes spontaneous in 

 or near cultivated land. All have yellow flowers, cylindrical 

 pods with a beak much shorter than the valves, and the 

 cotyledons of DipJota.ris. — Europe. 



7. Lepidium, L. 



(Diminutive of the Greek Icpis, a scale ; alluding to the 

 shape of the pod.) 



1. Lepidium DraiOta, L. Hoary Cress. Whiti-sh- 

 downy perennial; stems stiff, branching above; leaves ob- 

 long, sinuate-toothed, the lower ones stalked, the upper 

 ones stem-clasping and ^auricled ; flowers white, numerous, 

 in a flat-topped panicle; fruiting pedicels 2-4 times as long 

 as the pods, which are cordate, broader than long, glabrous; 

 style persistant and conspicuous; seeds 1 in each cell; coty- 

 ledons incumbent. 



