48 CRUCIFERzE 



erect stem, from ten to twelve inches in height, and its white flowers bloom 

 from June to August. 



4. Hairy Pepper-wort {L. suiUlni). — Leaves downy; upper ones 

 arrow-shaped at the base ; pouch not scaly ; style much longer than the 

 notcli. Plant biennial. This, as well as the Field Pepper-wort, is frequent. 

 It is a greyish downy plant, with small white flowers, and numerous seed- 

 vessels. It grows in abundance in hedges about Belfast and Dublin, and is 

 common in the north of Scotland, and in some counties in England. It is 

 much like the Field Pepper-wort, though truly distinct. Hooker regards it 

 as a sul^-species of L. camjyestrr. 



6. Candy-tuft (Iberis). 



Bitter Candy-tuft (/. amdra). — Leaves lanceolate, acute, somewhat 

 toothed, smooth ; pouch round, with a narrow notch. Plant annual. We 

 are far more familiar with the Candy -tuft as a garden than a wild flower, 

 and its white and rich purple blossoms are very ornamental to the border. 

 Our wild kind has less pretensions to beauty, but it has thick clusters of 

 white blossoms, and its stems are about a foot high, spreading around the 

 root. It grows in corn-fields, chiefly on chalky soils ; but it is thought to be 

 either the outcast of gardens, or to have been introduced with grain from the 

 south of Europe. It is frequent in Bucks, Oxfordshire, and Berkshire ; and 

 the author once saw a quantity of it in a field about three miles from Eoyston, 

 in Cambiidgeshire, far from any houses, and apparently Avild. The whole 

 plant is very bitter, and it is antiscorbutic. It is sometimes called Clown's 

 Mustard. It is a native of Europe, from Spain to Germany, and from 

 England to Italy. The Dutch call it Bitter Scheefbloem : the Spaniard, 

 Carmspique. It is L'lbnide of the French, and Die Iherpflanze of the 

 (xermans. 



7. Scurvy-grass (Cochledria). 



1. Common Scurvy-grass (C. officinalis). — Pouch nearly globose; 

 root-leaves between heart-shaped and kidney-shaped, stalked ; stem-leaves 

 oblong, sessile, slightly lobed, toothed at the base, stem often much branched. 

 Plant annual. The English name of this genus indicates the medicinal 

 properties of the plants composing it. It is of old repute for diet drinks, and 

 is one of the ingredients which formed the " Spring juices " of our forefathers, 

 and which doubtless were beneficial to health. The common species had 

 also, in olden times, the names of Scruby -grass and Spoon-wort; and very 

 ample details have been given by medical botanists of its use in stimulating 

 the digestive organs, and in removing cutaneous maladies. The circumstance 

 of its growing near the sea has long been regarded as a providential adapta- 

 tion to the needs of the mariner ; and many a sailor, or passenger, after a 

 long voyage, may have derived advantage from it in those complaints 

 engendered by salt provisions, and absence of vegetable diet. The town of 

 Barmouth is said to have formerly obtained its celebrity as a resort for 

 invalids, on account of the quantity of scurvy-grass growing in its neighbour- 

 hood. This plant blossoms in May. It has rather large corymbs of white 

 flowers, and its succulent leaves, very variable in form, are sometimes hollow, 



