Forage Plants of Australia . 



ORDER CRUCIFER^E. 



THLASPI COCHLEARIXUM, F. Y. M. 



" Oval Podded Cress." 



Flora Austr., Vol. J, p, 88. 



Ax erect branching annual Gin. to over 1ft. in height, and slightly hairy all 

 over. The leaves are lanceolate or linear oblong, with one or two coarse 

 teeth or lobes ; the lower ones about 2 in. long, and the upper ones getting 

 gradually smaller to the inflorescence. The flowers are wiite and rather 

 large, although there is a variety (Far. ochranthum), sometimes put down as 

 a species, with large yellow flowers ; with this exception, however, and a few 

 other minor differences, they are much alike. The fruiting racemes are 

 loose and from 2in. to 4in. long, and the pods are broadly oval as illustrated 

 at figure 1 in the engraving. The seeds are flat and round, and each cell 

 contains from two to four of them. This plant is found in the arid interior, 

 from the Lachlan to the Darling Bivers, and on the western boundary of 

 New South Wales, also at a few stations in South Australia. It is 

 found generally growing on sandhills, and in some situations it is fairly 

 plentiful. During the late spring and early summer months it affords a 

 tender herbage, which sheep and other herbivora are particularly fond of, 

 but cows that are giving milk should not be allowed to browse on pastures 

 where it is growing, or it will flavour the milk and butter. A slightly pun- 

 gent flavour pervades the whole plant, which, however, is a characteristic of 

 all the plants arranged under the order Crucifera, to which it belongs. , As 

 far as is at present known, there are only three species of the genus Thlaspi 

 found in Australia, and two of them are not very abundant anywhere. 



The seeds should be sown during the early spring months and when the 

 soil is moist. 



