$12 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART ITI. 
CHAP. IX. 
OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS SPECIES OF THE ORDER CRUCIA‘CER. 
DISTINCTIVE Characteristics. Thalamiflorous. (H. B.) The order Cruciacee 
is readily recognised by the cruciform arrangement of the petals, which are 
always four, in conjunction with tetradynamous stamens, and the fruit a 
silique or silicle. ‘Though there are several species, which, technically con- 
sidered, are ligneous plants, such as Alyssum saxatile, Tbéris sempervirens, 
Cheiranthus Chei7i, and some others; yet, in a popular point of view, the only 
shrub included in the order is the Vélla Pseudo-Cytisus. 
Genus I. 
VE’LLA ZL. Tue Vewia. Lin. Syst. Tetradynamia Siliculdsa. 
Derivation. The word Félla is Latinised from the word velas, the Celtic name of the cress. 
Gen. Char. Stamens the 4 longer in 2 pairs, the 2 of each pair grown together. 
Style ovate, flat, tongue-shaped, at the tip of the silicle. Siicle ovate, com- 
pressed, its valves concave. Partition elliptic. Cotyledons folded, the embryo 
root disposed in the sinus of the fold. (Dec. Syst.) 
w 1. Ve’tLa Psevu‘po-Cy’tisus L. False Cytisus, or shrubby, Cress-Rocket. 
Identification. Lin. Sp., 895.; Dec. Prod., 1. p. 223.; Don’s Mill. 1. p. 254 
Synonymes. Vélla integrifdlia Sal.; Faux-cytise, Fr. ; strauchartige (shrubby) Velle, Ger. 
Engravings. Cav. Ic., 1. 42.; and our fig. 60. 
Spec. Char., §c. Petals yellow, with long dark 
purple claws. Larger stamens perfectly con- 
nate by pairs. (Don’s Mill.,i. p. 254.) A 
low evergreen shrub, seldom exceeding 4 ft. 
in height, with glaucous green leaves, and 
bright yellow flowers, which appear in the 
beginning of April, and continue till the 
middle of May. It is a native of Spain, on 
gypsaceous hills about Aranjuez, where it 
was first observed by Minuart, and, afterwards, 
by Cavanilles. It was cultivated by Miller in 
1759, as a greenhouse plant; but is found 
sufficiently hardy to stand the open air with a 
slight protection. It has stood for several years in the garden of the 
London Horticultural Society, planted on rockwork, where the dry soil 
renders protection unnecessary. It has also stood for a number of years 
in the open garden in the Hammersmith Nursery, and for five years in 
our garden at Bayswater, where it appears to be as hardy as the commen 
azalea. It is a desirable shrub, on account of the early period at which 
it flowers; and also because it is a free flowerer. On a mound of rock- 
work it would form a most ornamental bush, and might be associated 
with the dwarf furze and Nitraria Schdberz. It .is easily propagated by 
cuttings of the young wood, planted in sand under a hand-glass. Price, in 
London, Is. 6d. 
