CRUCIFERA. 179 
green food should form a part of the daily diet. Care must be taken in choosing 
Water-Cresses for table that they are not confounded with a poisonous plant with 
which they grow, called Fool’s-Cress (Sium nodiflorum). An acquaintance with the 
distinctions of the orders Cruciferze and Umbelliferee will prevent this mistake. The 
most obvious of these distinctions, and which can be applied at all seasons of the year, 
is the characier of the leaf-stalks or petioles. In the Umbellifere these clasp or 
embrace the stem, which they do not in the Crucifere. In this way the poisonous 
Sium may be distinguished from the wholesome Water-Cress. 
SPECIES I1L—NASTURTIUM SYLVESTRE. BR. Brown. 
Prare CXXVL* 
Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ et Helv. Vol. II. Zetr. Tab. LV. Fig. 4368. 
Sisymbrium sylvestre, Zinn. Sm. Eng. Bot. No. 2324. 
Rootstock creeping. Leaves deeply pinnatifid or pinnatipartite, 
the lowest often sub-lyrate and the uppermost merely toothed. 
Petals about as long as the sepals, yellow. Pods cylindrical, about 
as long as the pedicels (sometimes a little shorter, and sometimes 
exceeding them); valves with an indistinct dorsal nerve; style 
nearly equal to the width of the pod. Seeds in 1 zigzag row in 
each cell of the pod. 
By the banks of ditches and rivers, and in other damp places. 
Not uncommon in England. In Scotland, however, it is very rare, 
and probably introduced with ballast, at least in the Fifeshire locality 
_ of Inverkeithing. 
England, (Scotland,| Ireland. Perennial or Biennial. 
Summer, Autumn. 
Rootstock rather slender, branched and creeping, producing 
ascending angular flexuous stems which are often diffusely 
branched. Leaves very variable, the lowest of all frequently 
lyrate, with a large terminal and a few lateral lobes. Most 
frequently, however, these as well as the stem leaves are deeply 
pinnatifid, sometimes almost pinnate with oblong or lanceolate 
cut toothed or nearly entire lobes. Flowers in short racemes, 
bright yellow, about + inch across, with a spreading calyx, the 
petals from once and a half to twice as long as the calyx. Pedicels 
+ to 1 inch long, or even more. Fruit pedicels commonly spread- 
ing, sometimes a little deflexed, especially before the fruit is quite 
ripe, and in that state they are sometimes only ascending. Pod 
from 2 to 2 inch long, more slender than in N. officinale, and the 
valves having the dorsal nerve indicated at least towards the base. 
Seeds small, reddish brown, ovoid, plano-convex, finely punctured, 
* The Plate is E. B, 2324. 
