428 



CRUCIFERAE (MUSTARD FAMILY) 



Annuals or biennials, with yellow flowers. Lower leaves mostly lyrate, 

 incised, or pinnatifid. (The Latin name of the Cabbage.) 



* Beak of the pod large, flat or conspicuously angled, usually containing one 

 seed in an indehiscent cell ; leaves not clasping at the base. 



1. B. ALBA (L.) Boiss. (WHITE M.) Pods bristly, ascending on spreading 

 pedicels, more than half their length occupied by the sword-shaped beak ; leaves 

 , all pinnatifid ; seeds pale. (Sinapis L.) Cultivated, and 



occasionally spontaneous. (Introd. from Eu.) 



2. B. ARVENSIS (L.) Ktze. (CHARLOCK.) Knotty pods 

 fully one third occupied by a stout 2-edged beak; upper 

 leaves rhombic, scarcely petioled, merely toothed ; fruiting 

 pedicels short, thick ; pods smooth or rarely bristly, 4 cm. 

 long. (B. Sinapistrum Boiss. ; /Sinapis 

 arvensis L.) Noxious weed in grain- 

 fields, etc. (Nat. from Eu.) FIG. 755. 



* * Beak smaller, conical, seedless ; leaves 

 not clasping. 



755 B arvensis 3. B. jtfNCEA (L.) Cosson. Nearly 



Stem-leaf and part of glabrous, somewhat glaucous; upper 

 fruiting raceme x %. leaves oblong, subentire, attenuate at 

 the base ; the lower lyrate ; pedicels 

 slender, spreading ; pod at length 3.5 cm. long. Roadsides, 



756. B. juncea. 



grain-fields, etc., recently introduced but already common. Stem-leaf and part of 

 (Nat. from Asia.) FIG. 756. fruitin e raceme x * 



4. B. JAPONICA Siebold. (CURLED M.) Leaves crisped and much cleft; 

 otherwise similar to the last. Occasionally established after cultivation. 

 (Introd. from Asia.) 



5. B. NIGRA (L.) Koch. (BLACK M.) Hirsute with scattered hairs, green; 

 leaves slender-petioled, the lower with a very large terminal lobe and a few 



small lateral ones; pods short, 1.6-1.8 cm. long, 

 on short erect pedicels, oppressed ; seeds dark, very 

 pungent. Roadsides and waste 

 places, common. (Nat. from Eu. ) 

 FIG. 757. 



* * * Leaves cordate- or auricu- 

 late-clasping at the base. 



6. B. CAMPESTRIS L. (RUTA- 

 BAGA.) Glaucous, hispidulous with 

 scattered hairs at least when 

 young ; leaves lyrately lobed ; 

 flowers rather large, pale yellow 

 (Fio. 768); also B. NAPUS L. 

 (RAPE), which is very similar but 758 ' B " ""P estri9 - 

 entirely glabrous ; and B. RAPA 8tem . lea [ ' 

 L. (TURNIP), which is greener, and has smaller brighter yellow |y 

 flowers and a thickened root ; all tend to escape from or persist 

 after cultivation, and are often noxious weeds. (Introd. from Eu.) B. OLER\CEA 

 L. (CABBAGE), with broad fleshy glaucous leaves, is occasionally found in a 

 half -wild state. (Introd. from Eu.) 



16. DIPLOTAXIS DC. 



Seeds ovoid, in two rows in each cell ; other characters as in Brassica. 

 Leaves toothed or pinnatifid; flowers yellow. (Name from the Greek, alluding 

 to the biseriate seeds.) 



1. D. MURALIS (L.) DC. Annual or biennial, smooth or sparingly hispid, 

 leafy only near the branching base ; leaves oblong, toothed or somewhat pin- 



757. B. nigra. 

 Leaves and part of fruiting raceme 



xy a . 



