44 



CRUCIFER^ 



2. 5. officinal^ (Common Hedge-mustard). — Stem i — 2 feet 

 high, rough ; branches horizontal ; leaves hairy, deeply lobed, with 

 the points turned backward (runcinate), the terminal lobe large ; 

 fiotvers small, yellow ; /^^i" downy, closely pressed to the stem, 

 subulate. — It grows in waste places and by roadsides, where it 

 seems to have a peculiar aptitude for collecting and retaining 

 dust. — Fl. June, July. Annual 



3. .S*. Sophia (Flixweed). — Downy ; stei7i slender, erect, 

 branched ; leaves twice pinnatifid, segments narrow, linear ; flowers 



small, greenish yellow ; petals 

 shorter than the calyx ; pods terete, 

 narrow, constricted between the 

 numerous seeds. — Waste places; 

 not uncommon. — Fl. June — 

 August. Annual. By the old 

 herbalists it was called Sophia 

 chiriirgbriun^ "Wisdom of sur-' 

 geons," from its use in healing 

 wounds. 



4. S. Irio (London Rocket). — 

 Glabrous ; stejii erect, branched ; 

 leaves runcinate, dentate ; floivers 

 small, yellow ; pods narrow, linear, 

 four times as long as their stalks. 

 — A leafy plant about 2 feet high, 

 occurring in waste ground near 

 old towns, but rare. It is known 

 as London Rocket because it 

 covered the ground in the spring 

 after the Great Fire of 1666. — Fl. July, August. Annual. 



Two other species are naturalised, S. polycerdtiimi ; a prostrate 

 form \<\\\\ floivers Siudpods in threes in the axils o{ bracts^ growing 

 near Bury St. Edmunds ; and S. altissimum^ near Crosby, 

 Lancashire, and in and near London, with runcinate leaves, 

 spreading sepals, and pedicels nearly as thick as the pods. 



10. Alliaria (Garlic-Mustard). — Annual and biennial herb.s, 

 glabrous or with a few simple hairs ; leaves stalked ; flowers white ; 

 corymbose ; pods long, 4-angled ; seeds i -seriate, striate, on 

 flattened, winged funicles. (Name from the Latin dlliu77i, garlic.) 



I. A. officinalis (Garlic-Mustard, Jack-by-the-Hedge, or Sauce- 

 alone). — Ste7n erect, slightly branched, i — 2 feet high; leaves 

 broadly heart-shaped, coarsely toothed, with prominent veins ; 

 flowers \ in. across; pods 2\ in. long. — Hedge-rows; common. — 



SISYMBRIUM OFFICINALE 



{CoDtiiion Hedge-vmstard). 



