48 CRUCIFEILE. Senebiera. 



26. SENEBIERA, DC. 



Pod didymous, 2-celled ; cells indehiscent, subglobose, separating at maturity from 

 the persistent linear axis, nerveless, strongly rugose or tuberculate, 1-seeded. Seed 

 turgid, not winged ; cotyledons incumbent. Diffuse or prostrate annuals or bien- 

 nials, with minute white flowers in racemes opposite to the pinnatifid leaves. Sta- 

 mens often only two. 



Half a dozen species, natives of the warmer and temperate regions of both hemispheres. 



1. S. didyma, Pers. Somewhat hirsute : stems diffusely branched, \ to 1J feet 

 long : leaves petioled, with small narrow segments : pods small, emarginate above 

 and below, strongly reticulated, a line broad or more. S. pinnatifida, DC. ; Gray, 

 Gen. 111. i. 166, t. 72. 



San Pablo Landing (Bolander) ; introduced and probably confined to sandy localities near the 

 Bay of San Francisco. Widely distributed in warm regions around the globe. 



27. BISCUTELLA, Linn. 



Pod flattened laterally, 2-celled ; cells nearly orbicular, indehiscent, with a thick- 

 ened margin, separating at maturity from the persistent linear axis, 1-seeded. Seeds 

 flat, horizontal, not winged; cotyledons accumbent. Erect annual or biennial, his- 

 pid or tomentose branching herbs ; with entire or pinnatifid leaves, and yellow or 

 purplish flowers. 



A genus of 3 or more species, belonging to the Mediterranean region, to which Bentham and 

 Hooker have added the two following, previously kept distinct under the name Dithyraxi. They 

 form a section differing from the Old World species in the nearly sessile and conical or 2-lobed 

 broad stigma, the simple racemes, whitish or purplish flowers, stellate tomentuin, and more leafy 

 stems. 



1. B. Californica, Benth. & Hook. Tomentose with stellate hairs, annual : 

 stems 6 to 15 inches high, erect or ascending: radical leaves spatulate, sinuately 

 toothed or pinnatifid ; the upper cuneate-oblong, sessile : sepals tomentose, linear, 2 

 to 3 lines long ; petals (purple ]) linear-spatulate, half an inch long : racemes loose 

 and elongated in fruit : pods 4 or 5 lines wide and half as long, emarginate above 

 and below, pubescent especially on the margin, with a small cavity adjoining the 

 axis : style short : stigma dilated and depressed : pedicels horizontal, a line long. 

 Gen. Plant, i. 91. Dithyroea Californica, Harv. in Lond. Jour. Eot. iv. 77, t. 5. 



On sand-hills near the Colorado River ; rare. B. WISLIZENI, Engelm., is found farther to the 

 east, from Arizona to Texas. It is a foot or two high, more leafy ; pods larger, broadly truncate 

 above, deeply cordate at base ; stigma conical ; pedicels 5 to 8 lines long. 



28. THYSANOCARPUS, Hook. 



Pod 1 -celled, indehiscent, plano-convex and much compressed, orbicular, winged 

 or margined, 1-seeded: seed pendulous, somewhat flattened, not winged. Erect 

 and slender sparingly branched spring annuals ; with minute white or rose-colored 

 flowers, the fruit mostly pendulous on slender pedicels in elongated racemes. 



1. T. Clirvipes, Hook. Somewhat hirsute at base, glabrous above, | to 2 feet 

 high : radical leaves oblanceolate, 1 to 3 inches long, pinnatifid or sinuately toothed ; 

 the upper linear or narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, clasping by a broad auricled 

 base, entire or sparingly toothed : pods round to obovate or ovate, densely tomentose 

 or glabrous, 2 to 4 lines in diameter including the entire or crenate veined and 

 often perforated wing, emarginate at the summit and tipped by the short purple 

 style : pedicels 2 to 4 lines long. El. i. 69, t. 18. T. pulcliellus & elegans, Fischer 

 & Meyer ; Hook. Ic. PL t. 39. 



