CLASS XV. ORDER 11.] TURRITIS. 905 



5. A. Turri'ta, Linn. (Fig. 1045.) Tower Wall-cress. Stein erect, 

 downy ; leaves oblong, downy, the radical ones peliolated, tbe upper 

 sessile, cordate, amplexicaul ; pedicles leng ; siliqua long, flat, com- 

 pressed, with thickened margins ; seeds flat, with a narrow membranous 

 margin. 



English Botany, t. 178. English Flora, vol. iii. p. 214. Hooker, 

 British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 252. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 24. 



Root tapering. Stem erect, from one to two feet high, round, more 

 or less clothed with close soft starry pubescence, simple, rarely branched, 

 leafy. Leaves a pale green, more or less clothed with soft close 

 pubescence, especially beneath, the radical leaves oblong, ovate, taper- 

 ing into a footstalk, the margins somewhat recurved, and unequally 

 toothed, those of the stem elliptic, ovate, deeply cordate at the base, 

 sessile, the lobes embracing the stem, plane, and unequally toothed. 

 Inflorescence a terminal sub-corymbose raceme, becoming much 

 elongated, the pedicles short, arising from the bosom of a leafy bractea. 

 Calyx of four oblong pieces. Corolla pale sulphur coloured, broadly 

 ovate, tapering into a claw, the limb spreading. Filaments with four 

 small ovate glands at the base. Stigma small, obtuse, nearly sessile. 

 Fruit a recurved siliqua, compressed with a thickened margin about 

 four inches long, smooth. Seeds numerous, flat, pale brown, with a 

 narrow membranous margin. 



Habitat. Walls of Trinity and St. John's Colleges, Cambridge, and 

 Magdalen College, Oxford ; Cleith Castle, Kinross, Scotland. 



Biennial; flowering in May. 



This rare and probably introduced species of Arabis we find common 

 amongst rocks in shady places in the mountainous districts of Italy, 



where 



" Oft have I wandering seen strange characters 

 Of beauty lodged within an insect's wing, 

 Or 'neath a spurn'd weed's close enveloping ; 

 Hid within modest Nature's secret bars, 

 (Like a blue night with all its silver stars), 

 A bright wild world ol order and whole spring 

 Of colourings. Such to sight God's presence bring : 

 Io the least thing which nature makes and mars, 

 He builds a temple !" 



Thoughts in Past Year*. 



GENUS XXI. TURRITIS, LINN. Tower Mustard. 

 Nat Ord. CRUCIF'EBA. Jess. 



GEN. CHAR. Siliqua linear, with ribbed or keeled valves. Stigma 

 obtuse, entire, or slightly emarginaled. Seeds in a double row. 

 Cotyledons accumbent. (See Fig. 1, p. 871.) Name from turris, 

 a tower ; from the somewhat pyramidal form of the plant. 



