170 ERUCASTRUM POLLICHIT AS A BRITISH PLA^;T. 
but it must be obvious that they have no real claim to be"consiclered 
as true British plants. 
fid 
additions to our flora as Viola arenaria^ DC, found in Teesdale by 
Mr. Backhouse, or Chara ahpecuroides^ DC, discovered by Mr. A. G. 
More in the Isle of Wight, or Neolutea inlacta, Echb. f., found by his 
sister in Gahvay, or several others which have been for the first time 
figured and described in the 'Journal of Botany.* 
The gen s Erncastrnm was established by Schimper and Spenner, 
in Spanner's 'Flora of Freiburg.' It belongs to the section of the long- 
podded Cnicifera, in which the cotyledons are conduplicate, and the 
radicle is dorsal, lying within the fold of the cotyledons. It is dis- 
tinguished from Diplolaxis in having its seeds in a single row in a 
somewhat cylindrical silique, and from Brassica and Sinapis in having 
F 
oval or oblong, slightly compressed seeds, and in the valve of the 
silique having only one well-marlied rib running along it. It diS'ers 
from all the three British genera of this section in the calyx being 
gibbous at the base. 
The species E. PoUicJiii, Schimp. and Spenn,, is very generally dis- 
tributed throughout Europe. It is found in sandy felds and on rub- 
bish heaps all over France. It is distinguished from the allied species 
by its pale-yellow flowers, erect calyx, ascending siliques, and deeply 
pinnatitid leaves. 
The following generic and specific characters are framed with special 
reference to the allied British plants. 
Erucastrum, Schimp. and Spenn. Sepals almost erect or spreading, 
the lateral pair gibbous at the base. Silique linear subcylindrical, the 
valves with a single longitudinal rib, the beak short. Seeds oval or 
oblong, somewhat compressed, in a single series. 
E. Follichii, Schimp. and Spenn., E. inodorum, 'Rchh., Biplotaxk 
hracteata, Gren. and Godr. Leaves not auricled at the base, deeply 
pinnatifid, the lobes obtuse and unequally dentate, and the separating 
Binuses roundish. The lower peduncles of the raceme furnished with 
pinnatipartite bracts, which extend more or less up the axis. Sepals 
greenish, erect, loose, about the length of the peduncle. The long 
stamens closely adpressed to the pistil Pod terminating in a short 
cylindrical beak without seeds. The erect herbaceous stem is from six 
to sixteen inches high, and more or less hairy, especially at the base. 
The flowers are pale-yellow. The plant is an annual. 
