66 VIII. CRUCIFER/E (OLIVER). [Brassica. 



herb, glabrous or hispid below. Radical leaves lyrate, variously toothed, 

 upper lanceolate or narrow-oblong, entire or sinuate. Siliquas ^ in. long or 

 little more, on short, erect pedicels ; beak straight, tapering ; valves with a 

 strong midrib. 



Nile Iiand. Abyssinia, in cultivated ground, Schimper ! 

 "Widely spread in Southeni Europe and Southern Asia, 



3. B. Toumefortii, Gouan ; DC. Syst. Veg. ii. 602. Erect, usually 

 with spreading branches, shortly hispid below. Radical leaves narrowed to 

 the base ; segments patent or slightly recurved, oblong or obovate, toothed, 

 obtuse or acute, sessile ; cauline pinnatipartite or much reduced and linear 

 or subulate. Siliquas divergent, straight, slightly torulose, often 1^-2 in., 

 exclusive of the straight, 1 -seeded beak of \-\ in. ; valves with a more or 

 less distinct midrib. 



Nile Ziand. Abyssinia, Schimper ! 

 Occurs in N. Africa and Western Asia. 



4. B. Schimperi? Boiss. in Ann. Sc. Nat. Ser. 2. xvii. 86. An erect 

 herb of 1-2 ft,, glabrous or minutely retrorse-setulose or puberulous. Leaves 

 lanceolate or oblanceolate, entire or sinuate-dentate, narrowed into a winged 

 petiole, the uppermost nearly or quite sessile and subamplexicaul. Siliquas 

 narrow-linear, 1-1^ in. long, patent, with a short beak ; the valves with a 

 distinct midrib and obscure lateral nervures. -Pedicel short. — Erucastmm 

 arabicum, F. et M. in Linnsea, xiii. Lit. Bl. 109 {ex Boiss,). 



Nile Iiand. Abyssinia, Schimper ! 



Our specimens of this plant do not suffice to enable me to describe or determine it satis- 

 factorily. It agrees well with specimens named B. Schimperi, Boiss,, grown in the Royal 

 Gardens, Kew, as well as with Boissier's description of the Arabian plant. It may possibly 

 prove to be a small form of Diplotaxis erucoides. 



*5. B. campestris, Linn.; DC. Syst. Veg. ii. 588. Erect glabrous 

 or slightly hispid-pilose below, often glaucescent. Lower leaves lyrate-pin- 

 natifid, upper ovate-lanceolate, sinuate- dentate, amplexicaul. Siliquas erect 

 or ascending, on pedicels of ^-1 in. ; valves with median and laterally ana- 

 stomosing nerves ; beak long, straight, half as long as the valves. — B. am- 

 plexicaulis, Hochst., Rich. El. Abyss, i, 23. 



Nile Xaand. Abyssinia, Schimper ! 



Throughout Europe and greater part of Asia. The Turnip and Colza are cultivated 

 varieties. Nearly allied is B. oleracea, the type of the cultivated Cabbage and its innumer- 

 able varieties. Cultivated in Abyssinia. It differs from B. campestris in its upper leaves, 

 which are not auricled though sessile, and, usually, in the shorter beak of the fruit. 



10. DIPLOTAXIS, DC. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. i. 84. 



Sepals at length spreading. Siliquas linear, sometimes elongate, com- 

 pressed, without or sometimes with (as in the following species) a short 1- 

 Reeded beak ; valves with a slender median ]ierve ; septum membranous. 

 Seeds numerous, in two series, ellipsoidal or globose. Cotyledons condupli- 

 cate. — Herbs with the general aspect of Brassica and scarcely distinguish- 

 able excepting by the more distinctly biseriate seeds. 



