[Vol. 8 
134 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 
Vesicaria, section Vesicaria DC. Syst. 2: 295. 1821, in part. 
Vesicaria, section Vesicariana DC. Prodr. 1: 159. 1824, 
in part; Walp. Rep. 1: 140. 1842, in part; Dietr. Syn. Pl. 3: 
638. 1843, in part. 
Vesicaria Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Am. 1: 100. 1838; Gray, 
Gen. Am. Bor.-Or. Ill. 1: 161. 1848; Gray, Bost. Jour. Nat. 
Hist. (Pl. Lindh.) 6: 148. 1850; Walp. Ann. 2: 37. 1851; 
Benth. & Hook. Gen. Pl. 1: 73. 1862, in part; Wats. Bibliog. 
Ind. N. Am. Bot. 74. 1878; Coulter, Manual Rocky Mountain 
Region, 25. 1885. 
Alyssum Gray, Manual, ed. 5, 72. 1867, in part; Ktze. Rev. 
Gen. Pl. 2: 931. 1891. 
Synthlipsis Wats. Bibliog. Ind. N. Am. Bot. 72. 1878, in 
part; Coulter, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 2: 21. 1891, in part; 
Wats. in Gray, Syn. Fl. N. Am. 1': 121. 1895, in part; Small, 
Fl. Southeastern U. S. 468. 1903, ed. 2, 468. 1913. 
Alyssum, section Vesicariana Ktze. in Post & Ktze. Lexicon 
Gen. Plant. 21. 1904, in part. 
Annual, biennial, or perennial herbs more or less densely 
covered with branching or stellate hairs. Stems simple or 
branched, both terminal and lateral developing, or frequently, 
due to the more or less complete inhibition of the terminal bud, 
only the lateral produced from a basal rosette. Radical leaves 
from deeply pinnatifid and thin to oblanceolate and entire or 
even suborbicular and then usually thick. Cauline leaves in a 
few species auriculate at the base, but usually oblanceolate and 
subentire with a slender, cuneate petiole. Flowers sometimes 
large and showy, frequently rather small and inconspicuous; 
petals usually yellow, occasionally red or purple and rarely 
nearly white, entire, obovate to narrowly spatulate; filaments 
linear, edentate, in a few species dilated at the base.  Pedicels 
straight, simply curved upwards, recurved or sigmoid. Pods 
sessile or stipitate, glabrous or stellate-pubescent, typically 
spherical, often flattened at the apex, sometimes elongated but 
rarely more than twice as long as wide; in one section the pods 
are strongly flattened parallel to the septum, in another at 
right angles to it. Styles persistent, usually long and slender. 
Stigmas capitate, slightly two-lobed or scarcely enlarged. Sep- 
tum usually thin, nerved from the apex towards the base; areolae 
