Capsella.} -x. CRUCIFER^:. (Hook. f. & T. Anderson.) 159 



28. CAFSELLA, Moench. 



Small branched annuals or perennials. Radical leaves entire or pinnatifid. 

 Flowers small, white, racemed. Sepals spreading, equal at the base. Petals 

 short. Pods obcordate cuneate ovate or oblong, laterally compressed ; valves 

 convex or boat-shaped ; septum very narrow ; style short. Seeds numerous, 

 2 -seriate, narrowly margined: cotyledons incumbent. DISTRIB. Species 6, 

 natives of N. and S. temperate regions. 



1. C. Bursa-pastoris, Moench. ; leaves rosulate pinnatifid, pod trian- 

 gular or obcordate. H.f. & T. in Journ. Linn. Soc. v. 172. 



Cultivated places throughout temperate India. DISTRIB. A weed of cultivation. 



Glabrous or hairy; hairs branched ; root long, tapering. Stems 6-16 in., branched. 

 Lsaves pinnatifid, rarelv entire, upper lobe triangular, cauline auricled. Flower? y^- in. 

 diam. Pods \-^ in.; pedicels slender; style short; valves smooth. Seeds many, 

 oblong, punctate. 



2. C. elliptic a, C. A. M. ; Led. Fl. Ross. i. 199 ; annual, glabrous, stems 

 slender decumbent and ascending, leaves entire or pinnatifid, pods ovate- 

 oblong truncate. H.f. & T. in Journ. Linn. Soc. v. 172. C. procumbens, 

 Boiss. Fl. Orient, i. 340. Hutchinsia procumbens, Desv. 



WESTERN TIBET, alt. 14,000 ft., Thomson. DISTRIB. Westward to S. Europe and 

 N. Africa (Australia, Chili, perhaps introduced). 



Stems 2-10 in., numerous from the root, filiform, flexuous. Leaves &~i in., radical 

 petioled, oblong or spathulate ; upper more sessile, linear, entire. Flowers minute, 

 white, in elongating racemes with a capillary rachis. Pods distant, -i in., on long 

 capillary horizontal pedicels ; valves boat-shaped. Seeds many, minute. 



3. C. Thomsoni, H. f. in Journ.' Linn. Soc. v. 173 ; perennial, hoary- 

 tomentose, branches spreading from the root, leaves pinnatisect, racemes 

 leafy, pod broadly oblong truncate at both, ends. Hutchinsia tibetica, 

 Thomson in Hook Ic. PI. t. 900. 



WESTERN TIBET, alt. 16-18,000 ft., Nnbra, Strachey ; Ladak, Thomson. 



Root long, fusiform, almost woody, crowned by a short stock that emits many pro- 

 strate leafy branches, 2-6 in. long, with ascending tips. Leaves sessile, ^-1 in., linear- 

 oblong, segments lanceolate. Flowers crowded, white, in the axils of leafy bracts, 

 very shortly pedicelled. Pods \ in. ; valves much compressed, obscurely keeled 

 veined ; stigma sessile, minute. Seeds numerous, very small, funicles slender. A. very 

 envious plant, quite unlike its congeners, with the habit of the Siberian Hutchinsia 

 calycina, Desv. (Smelowslda, C. A. M.) 



29. LEFIDIUM, Linn. 



Diffuse or erect herbs, undershrubs or shrubs, with entire or divided leaves. 

 Flowers small, white, ebracteate. Sepals short, equal at the base. Petals 

 sometimes 2-4 or 0. Stamens 6, 4, or 0. Pods ovate or oblong, rarely glo- 

 bose, usually orbicular, laterally much compressed, tip notched or entire; 

 valves boat-shaped, keeled or winged ; septum narrow, membranous. Seeds 

 solitary in each cell ; cotyledons incumbent (in the Indian species). Dis- 

 TEIB. Species about 80, chiefly European and Asiatic. 



SECT. I. Cardamum. Pods ovate or oblong, notched at the tip ; valves 

 winged. Cotyledons divided. 



1. Xi. sativum, Linn.; erect, radical leaves 2-pinnatisect, pods orbi- 

 cular-ovate, wings narrow. H.f. & T. in Journ. Linn. Soc. v. 174 (Cress.). 



