246 



CAR 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL ; 



CAR 



leaflets ovate-oblong, obtuse, somewhat spreading, .gib- 

 bous, small, deciduous. Corolla : four-petalled, cruciform ; 

 petals oblong-ovate, spreading much, ending in erect claws 

 of twice the length of the calix. Stamina: iilamentn six, sub- 

 ulate ; of these the two opposite ones are twice the length 

 of the calix, but the rest a little longer ; antherae small, 

 cordate-oblong, erect. Pistil : germen slender, cylindric, 

 length of the stamina ; style none ; stigma obtuse-headed, 

 entire. Pericarp : silique long, cylindric, compressed, bilo- 

 cular, bivalve ; the valves on opening, rolling spirally back- 

 wards. Seeds: very many, roundish. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Silique: opening elastically ; the valves revolute. 

 Stamina : entire. Calix: rather gaping. Few of the plants 

 of this genus are admitted into gardens ; they are mostly 

 low plants, growing in wet or alpine situations. The peren- 

 nials may be propagated by parting their roots in the 

 autumn, and require a strong soil with a shady situation. 

 All the species may be propagated by seeds sown in the 

 autumn, on a shady border, where they require no care but 

 to be kept clean from weeds, and will flower early in the fol- 

 lowing season. As they are very prolific in seed, and their 

 pods are provided with a particular mode of dispersing 

 them, by means of the twisting of the valves in opening ; 

 they will. propagate themselves abundantly when once in- 

 troduced, but they will thrive best in the shade. All the 

 species of Cardamine are mild antiscorbutics, as the taste 

 sufficiently indicates, but they are not received in practice. 



The species are, 



* Leaves simple. 



1. Cardamine Bellidifolia ; Daiiy- leaved or Alpine Cress. 

 Leaves simple, ovate, quite entire ; petioles long ; root simple, 

 white, very long. The plant has no smell, and flowers in 

 July and August. On the highest Alps, at first it appears 

 with a stem scarcely two inches high, yet with some-leaves 

 on it. It is frequent on the mountains of Lapland ; on the 

 Alps of Switzerland, Dauphiny, Austria, and Carniola; and 

 upon the highest Alps between Savoy and Piedmont : there 

 is some doubt whether it be a native of Great Britain. It is 

 perennial, and flowers in April and May. 



2. Cardamine Asarifolia ;Asarabacra- leaved Cress. Leaves 

 simple, subcordate ; leaves round, a little sinuated ; corolla 

 white ; siliques long, many, bursting at the least touch when 

 ripe. This species has all the qualities of Scurvy-grass, and 

 is substituted for it where it grows in abundance. It is 

 found at Barga in Tuscany ; in the Modenese : at the foot of 

 Mount Cenis ; in the Vandois Alps ; above Tende, &c. 



3. Cardamine Nudicaulis ; Naked-stemmed Cress. Leaves 

 simple, lanceolate, sinuate-toothed, smooth, firm, about three 

 inches long; stems naked, about nine inches high. Ob- 

 served by Steller in Siberia. 



4. Cardamine Petraea ; Rock Cress, or Alpine Ladies' Smock. 

 Leaves simple, oblong, toothed ; roots perennial ; stems 

 from three to six inches high, reclining at the base, and in- 

 creasing by offsets. Perennial; flowering in May and June. 

 Found upon lofty moist rocks in Wales, Scotland, Sweden, 

 Denmark, and Silesia. 



** Leaves ternate. 



5. Cardamine Resedifolia ; Rocket-leaved Cress. Lower 

 leaves undivided, upper three-lobed and pinnate ; root bien- 

 nial. Native of the south of France, the Swiss Alps, and the 

 Pyrenees, Germany, Austria, Piedmont, on the highest 

 rocks; flowering in July. 



G. Cardamine Trifolia ; Three-leaved Cress. Leaves 

 ternate, obtuse ; stem almost naked ; root creeping. Stem 

 branched, cicatrized with the fallen petioles ; radical leaves 

 often continuing to another year, ternate, on long reddish 



semicylindric petioles ; leaflets rounded above the middle, 

 with repand or subcrenated edges, the notches ending in a 

 point ; flowers white or reddish. Native of Lapland, ami 

 Westrogothia, Switzerland, Carniola, and Austria. 



7. Cardamine Africana; African Cress. Leaves ternate, acu- 

 minate ; stem very branching ; leaflets stiff, large, roundish, 

 with sinuated edges, the terminating one very large ; sterna 

 a span or more in height, round, somewhat hairy, and striated 

 towards the top ; flowers in spikes, purple ; siliques long. 

 Perennial ; flowering in May, and a native of Africa. 



*** Leaves pinnate* 



8. Cardamine Chelidonia ; Celandine-leaved Cress. Leaves 

 pinnate ; leaflets in fives, gashed ; stem herbaceous, eight 

 inches high, with many ascending branches ; leaflets seven, 

 lanceolate, smooth ; flowers purplish white, in simple termi- 

 nating spikes. Native of Italy, Siberia, and China. 



9. Cardamine Impatiens ; Impatient Ladies' Smock. Leaves 

 pinnate, gashed, stipuled ; flowers without petals ; root annual. 

 Stems from six to twelve or eighteen inches high, angular, 

 hollow, stiff, erect, somewhat flexuose, simple, or but little 

 branched; radical leaves have five pairs or more, ovate ; pin- 

 nas obtusely lobed ; stem leaves very numerous, growing with - 

 out order, shortest towards the bottom of the stem, pinnate ; 

 pinnas nine pairs or more, oval-lanceolate,orlanceolate, deeply 

 and acutely lobed or indented, especially on the lower edge, 

 smallest towards the stem, and gradually larger ; odd leaflet 

 usually three-lobed ; flowers in erect spikes ; siliques numer- 

 ous, almost parallel to the stem, long, stiff, swelling out u 

 little. It is called impatient, from the elasticity of the 

 siliques, which, if touched when they are ripe, spring open, 

 and cast out their seeds with violence to a considerable dis- 

 tance. It is found upon the Swiss mountains, and in Sweden, 

 Denmark, Germany, the south of France, Austria, Carniola, 

 Piedmont, the Pyrenees : in England, it grows in Derby- 

 shire, Yorkshire, Westmoreland, Worcestershire, and Somer- 

 setshire ; flowering in May and June. 



10. Cardamine Parviflora; Little-flowered Ladies' Smock. 

 Leaves pinnate, without stipules ; leaflets lanceolate, obtuse ; 

 flowers corolled. An annual plant, and native of most parU 

 of Europe. 



11. Cardamine Grreca ; Greek Cress, or Ladies' Smock. 

 Leaves pinnate ; leaflets palmate, equal, petioled. Root an- 

 nual ; height less than a span ; stems slender, jointed, 

 branched ; leaflets nine, small, ovate, seinipalinate, obtuse, 

 divided about the edge ; flowers few, at the tops of the 

 branches ; calix erect ; corolla white. Native of Sicily, 

 Corsica, and the Greek islands. 



12. Cardamine Hirsuta ; Hairy Ladies' Smock. Leaves 

 pinnate ; flowers four-stamined and six-stamined. Hoot an- 

 nual, fibrous ; stem a span high or more, solid, upright, 

 flexuose, grooved or angular, purple near the base, ami com- 

 monly very hairy, above nearly smooth, branched, sometimes 

 very much so ; radical leaves numerous, forming a circle, 

 pinnate.; leaflets petioled, round, angular, generally li\e- 

 lobed, hirsute, roughish, with little prominent points, (lie 

 lobes unequal, blunt or ]K>inted ; stem leaves narrower, and 

 more deeply indented, with fewer lobes ; calix with a few 

 white hairs; corolla almost twice the length of the calix, 

 small, white; petals entire, obtuse; bili<ine about au inch in 

 length, upright ; seeds twelve, flattened, smooth, yellowish- 

 brown. Early in the spring, when the weather is cold, it has 

 only four stamina, but as the summer advances it lias con- 

 stantly six ; in a wet and luxuriant soil, it loses its hah- 



in a great degree; in exposed situations, it seldom eveeds 

 six or eight inches high, and is generally niueh more liuirjr, 

 and when it grows singly, also much uioro branched ; the 



