CLASS XV. ORDER II. 1 ERYSIMUM. 909 



Its medicinal properties are diuretic and antiscorbutic, and it has been 

 given with advantage in some asthmalical affections. Sheep and 

 cows feed upon it, though it is refused by other cattle ; if it is eaten 

 abundantly, it gives the milk of the cow an unpleasant taste, and 

 imparts the same flavour to mutton. 



5. S.thalia'num, Gaudin. (Fig. 1051.) Common Thale-cress. Stem 

 erect, branched ; leaves obscurely toothed, hairy, the radical ones ob- 

 long, petiolated, the upper ones lanceolate, sessile; siliqua slender, 

 linear, ascending; calyx erect. 



Hooker, British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 254. Arabis lhaliana, I.inn. 

 English Botany, 1. 901. English Flora, vol. iii. p. 209. Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 24. 



Root slender, tapering, and branched. Stem erect, round, striated, 

 branched, and more or less hairy, especially below. Leaves more or 

 less clothed with starry pubescence, (he radical ones numerous, tufted, 

 oblong lanceolate, tapering into a footstalk, more or less toothed, the 

 upper ones lanceolate, mostly entire. Inflorescence terminal sub- 

 corymbose racemes, much elongated after flowering. Calyx of four 

 oblong pieces, pale green, Corolla of four while ovate spreading 

 petals, tapering at the base. Stamens with s\my\e filaments and ovate 

 anthers. Stigma small, obtuse, nearly sessile. Fruit a slender smooth 

 siliqua, ascending on a slender spreading pfdicle, the valves with a 

 dorsal rib and obscure longitudinal veins, more resembling llie genus 

 Arabis, but the cotyledons of its small seeds are incumbent, and nof 

 accumhent,as in that genus. 



Habitat. Walls, dry banks, and sandy places; common. 



Annual; flowering in April and May. 



GENUS XXIII. ERYS'IMUM. LINN. Treacle Mus far d 

 Nat. Ord. CRCCJF'ER^E. Juss. 



GEN. CHAR. Siliqua linear, quadrangular. Stigma obtuse, entire, 

 or emarginate. Calyx erect. Seeds with flat oblong incumbent 

 cotyledons. (See Fig. 2, p. 872 ) Name from t^va, to cure ; so 

 called on account of the supposed medicinal virtues of some of 

 the species. 



1. E. cheiranlhoi des, Linn. (Fig. 1052) Worm Seed Treacle 

 Mustard. Leaves lanceolate, entire, or obscurely toothed, rough, with 

 stellated hairs ; pedicles twice as long as the calyx, spreading; siliqua 

 erect, quadrangular, compressed ; stigma obtuse, nearly sessile. 



English Botany, t. 942. English Flora, vol. iii. p. 200. Hooker, 

 British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 254. Lindley, Synopsis, p. :iO. 



Root tapering and branched. Stem erect, from one to two feet 

 high, angular, simple or branched, leafy, rough, with close pressed 



G c 



