Braya.] x. CRUCIFER^E. (Hook. f. & T. Anderson.) 155 



23. BRAYA, Sternb. & Hoppe. 



Small tufted glabrous or hoary pubescent alpine perennials, with a 

 branching rootstock. Leaves mostly radical, spathulate or linear, entire or 

 toothed. Flowers purple, rose-coloured or white, solitary or racemed Sepals 

 short, equal at the base. Pods ovate-oblong or linear, subcylindric or 

 slightly compressed ; valves ^convex, 1 -nerved ; style short or long ; stigma 

 capitate. /Seeds usually 2-seriate, few or many ovoid, wingless. DISTRIB. 

 Species 12, alpine and arctic regions, the Andes. 



1. B. uniflora, H.f. & T. inJourn. Linn. Soc. v. 168 \ glabrous, leaves 

 linear-spathulate quite entire, scapes short 1 -flowered. 



WESTERN TIBET; in Nubra, alt. 15-17,000 ft., Thomson. 



Rootstock stout, fleshy, covered with bleached petioles, branched at the crown. 

 Leaves fleshy, 1 in., petioled. Scapes many, about equalling the leaves. Pods linear, 

 3~4 in. ; septum 2-nerved ; style short. Seeds sub-2-seriate, many. 



2. B. alpina, Sternb. & Hoppe; glabrous, leaves linear-spathulate, 

 flowers capitate. Dekss. Ic. Select, ii. t. 22. B. Thomson!, H. f. in Journ. 

 Linn. Soc. v. 168. BJ oxycarpa, H.f. & T. I.e. 169. 



_ WESTERN TIBET; Piti, alt. 12-13,000 ft., Thomson, Stewart. DISTRIB. European 

 high Alps, arctic regions. 



Boot stout, fleshy, long. Leaves tufted, ^ in. Scapes 1-4 in., leafless, or with few 

 linear leaves. Flowers white or purple; pedicels f in. Pods erect, linear- or elliptic- 

 lanceolate, straight or curved, acute, glabrous ; style usually long and slender. Seeds 

 1-2-seriate. Very variable ; the arctic American B. glabella is hardly distinct from it. 



3. B. rosea, Bunge ; Led. Fl. Ross. i. 194 ; glabrous or puberulous, 

 leaves narrowly linear-oblong, flowers crowded corymbose, pods very short 

 elliptic. H. f. & T. in Journ. Linn. Soc. v. 169. 



Alpine Himalaya, from SIKKIM to KUNAWUR, alt. 15-17,000 ft. ; WESTERN TIBET, 

 alt. 14-18,000 ft. DISTRIB. Altai Alts, and arctic Siberia. 



Very similar to B. alpina, differing chiefly in the shorter pods (f-| in.), and leafless 

 scapes. /Seeds 8-12 in each capsule ; style variable in length. 



4. B. tibetica, H. f. & T. in Journ. Linn. Soc. v. 168 ; hoary or pu- 

 bescent, leaves narrow-linear, scapes naked, flowers subcapitate, petals 

 minute, pods short ovate. 



WESTERN TIBET; alt. 13-18,000 ft., Thomson. 



Bather rigid, purplish ; rootstock much divided, clothed with withered petioles. 

 Leaves erect, rarely spathulate, with 2-3 spreading teeth about the midrib ; margins 

 ciliate, rarely glabrous. Scapes many, 2-24 i n - rarely 1-leafed. Sepals hairy, edges 

 membranous, white or red. Petals hardly exceeding the sepals. Pods % in. long, rarely 

 glabrous ; style loug. 



24. BRASSICA, Linn. 



Glabrous or hispid herbs ; rootstock often woody. Leaves large, pinna- 

 tifid or lyrate, rarely entire. Flowers yellow, in long racemes. Sepals erect 

 or spreading, lateral usually saccate at the base. Pods elongate, terete or 

 angular, often with an indehiscent 1-seeded beak; valves convex, 1-3- 

 nerved, lateral nerves flexuose ; style beaked or ensif orm ; stigma truncate 

 or 2-lobed. Seeds 1-seriate, globose or subcompressed ; cotyledons incum- 

 bent, concave or conduplicate, the radicle within the longitudinal fold. 

 JSpecies about 50 ; temperate regions of the Old World. 



