176 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
form has the fruiting raceme very dense and the pods short and 
applied to the stem. In B. preecox the leaflets or segments of the 
stem leaves are more numerous than in B. eu-vulgaris and 
B. arcuata, and the terminal lobe is much smaller; the upper 
leaves are also pinnatifid and not merely toothed or sinuated The 
seeds are only about one-fourth longer than broad and are more 
rounded and less quadrangular in outline than in B. eu-vulgaris. 
Early Winter Cress, American Cress. 
French, Barbarée Précoce, Cresson d Amérique. German, Americanischer Kresse. 
This species is preferred by many to the former. It is less bitter in salads, and is 
in demand in some places throughout the year. 
GENUS XTT—-NASTURTIUM. BR. Brown. 
Sepals erect or spreading, equal. Petals equal, entire, with 
very short claws. Filaments without wings or teeth. Pods linear, 
cylindrical or ovoid, not compressed; valves convex, without a 
dorsal nerve or sometimes with a faint one; replum transparent. 
Seeds roundish or ovoid, more or less compressed, not winged. 
Annual, biennial, or perennial herbs with undivided pinnatifid 
or pinnate leaves, glabrous or clothed with simple hairs. Flowers 
small, yellow or more rarely white, disposed in corymbs or short 
racemes which afterwards elongate. 
French, Cresson. German, Brunnenkresse. 
The name of this genus of plants comes from nasus, the nose, and tortws, tor- 
mented; the acrid taste and smell of the species affecting the nose painfully. 
SPECIES I—-NASTURTIUM OFFICINALE. BR. Brown. 
PiatE CXXV.* 
Sisymbrium Nasturtium, Zinn, Sm. Eng. Bot. No. 855. 
Leaves pinnate. Petals white, nearly twice as long as the 
sepals. Pods shortly cylindrical, about as long as or slightly 
exceeding the pedicels; valves without a distinct dorsal nerve; 
style inconspicuous, shorter than the diameter of the pod. 
Var. a, vulgaris. 
N. officinale, Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ. et Helv. Vol. II. Zetr. Tab. L. Fig. 4359. 
Stem decumbent or ascending. Terminal leaflet roundish-ovate, 
* The Plate is E. B, 855, and represents var. a. 
