7$ 



CLASS XIV. TETRADYNAMIA, 



ORDER; S1Im1CTJ1,OBA. 



a. Siiicles mostly entire. 



247. DRABA. Nittt. Gen 551. 

 [An ancient Greek name; of uncertain meaning.] 



S'dicle oval-oblong; valves flaftish, parallel with the dissepiment. Style scarcely any. 

 D. VERN-A. Ph. Leaves oblong, acute, subserrate, rough-haired; scape naked; petals bifid; stigma sessile. 

 Synon. D. hispidula.' Mx- Fii/g-'o— "Whitlow-grass. April flower. Shad blossom. 



Fl. Beginning of April. ^r. mat. Beginning of June. 



JIab. Sandy banks: roadsides, &c. common. 1 to 4 inches hi-h: flowers white. 

 Obs. This delicate little plant, in mild seasons, often blooms in February and March. 



248. ALYSSUM. JVutt. Gen. 552. 

 [Gr. c, privative, and Lyssa, madness; being supposed to cure that malady.] 

 Siltde subentire, marginate, mucronate with the style; valves concave. Filam. 2 shortest sometimes toothed. 

 A. SATIVUM. JVg. Leaveslanceolate, sagittate, amplexicaul; siiicles obovate, inflated. 

 Syiwn. Myagrum sativum. Willd. Sac. Camelina saliva. Persooi}. F«/g-o— Wild Flax'. Mad-wort. 

 Fl. Latter end of May. Fr. vwt. Beginning of July. 



Jlab. Cultivated grounds: chiefly among Flax, sometimes Wheat: frequent. 2 to 3 feet high: flowersyellow. 

 06s This foreigner is an unwelcome intruder in our Flax crops; where it is sometimes pretty abundant. 

 Some few of our farmers are so deplorably ignorant of the botanical branch of their profes.4n as to believV 

 that this plant is a sort of degenerate Flax; and that the melnmorphosis is the result of sowing ilax-«eed iii 

 a burnt soil-as where brush-heaps, &c. have been burnt! This is worse, if possible, than the transforma- 

 tion of wheat into cheat. But, happily lor the dignity of the agricultural character, the extension of natural 

 ^lence among our young farmers is rapidly exploding all such disreputable ab^urditie'^ 

 ^▼hichfts'seedJ JffSd*°°*' ''"'^ ^'^"^^""2' ^^at this plant is cultivated, in Germany, for the sake of the oil 



b. Siiicles emarginate. 



249. LEPIDIU.M. Nidt. Gen. 554. 



[Supposed from the Or. Lepis, lepidos, a scale, or shell; from the form of the seed-vessels.] 



Silicle orbicular, 2 celled; cells 1 seeded; valves keeled; dissepiment contrary. 



L. viRGiNicuM. EU. Sub-diandrous; t&dical leaves pinnatifld; cauline lance-linear, sub-incised-serratc 



Vulgo— Wild Pepper-grass. 



Fl. Middle of May, and after. Fr. mat. Last of July, and after. 



Hab. Lanes, fields, and roadsides: common. 9 to 15 inches high: flowers white, minute. 



250. THLASPI. Nutt-.-Gen. 55-5. 



[An ancient Greek pame: " a thlao, comprimo, quia* ejus siliqua est valde compressa." Bocrh.l 



SilicU obcordate, 2 celled; seeds numerous; valves boat-form, with the keels outward. 



T. BURSA PASTORis. Ell. Hairy; radical leaves pinnalind, cauline lanceolate; pods deltoid-obcordate. 



f«/g-o— Shepherd's Purse. 



Fl. Middle of April, and after. Fr. mat. Last of June, snd aft-r. 



Hab. Gardens, fields, and roadsides: very common. C to 20 inches high: flowers white, smnll- 



Ob«. This foreign weed has become so extensively naturalize 1 as to be rather troublesome in our gardens 

 and grain fields It is subject to many rarieti>s. psfticubrly in itsrsdiml leaver: somo h»in- nonrlv rnlirp- 

 ana oiheTspseudo-pinnat*-. 



