VII. CRUciA^CEiE : te'lla. 53 



spiny-toot'ied. Racemes diffuse. Root creeping. Filaments bidentate. 

 {Don's Mill.) An evergreen undershrub. West coast of N. America, on 

 the Rocky Mountains. Height 1 it. to 2 ft. Introduced in 1822. Flowers 

 yellow; April and ]\lay. Berries purplish black; ripe in September. 



Variefi/. 



m AT. r. 2 repens-fasciculdris. Habit of M. fascicularis, with larger and 

 more robust foliage, resembling that of J\J. repens. A sport, or a 

 hybrid, produced accidentally in the Sawbridgeworth Nursery. 



The shoots consist chiefly of short unbranched suckers, with the leaves some- 

 what glaucous on both surfaces. The racemes of flowers are terminal, nume- 

 rous, fascicled, diffuse, rising from scaly buds. The plant, in British gardens, is 

 perfectly hardy, and produces a profusion of rich yellow flowers in April 

 and May. Layers or suckers; but it does not root readily. Seeds are 

 sometimes produced. 



Other Species of Mahoma are no doubt in British gardens ; but as they 

 have been only raised lately from Nepal or Mexican seeds, nothing can be 

 recorded of them with that degree of certainty and detail which is suit- 

 able for this work. Mahoma. lemdfoUa, a Mexican species with pinnate 

 leaves, and entire quite smooth leaflets, on very long slender footstalks, has 

 been raised in the Horticultural Society's Garden, and may probably be as 

 hardy as M. fascicularis ; but this is uncertain. M. nepalensis, M, acanthi- 

 folia, M. tragacanthoides, and M. caraganEe/o/ifl, are said to be very desirable 

 species. 



Section II. 



Carpella solitary, or connate ; Placenta paneial (that Part of the Capsule which 

 the Seeds are attached to adhering to the Sides or Walls of the Ovarii or Ger- 

 men), attached to the Walls or Celk of the Ovary. 



Order VII. CRUCIA^CE^. 



Ord. Char. The order Cruciacese is readily recognised by the cruciform 

 arransjement of the petals, which are always tour, in conjunction with tetra- 

 dynamous stamens, and the fruit a silique or silicle. Though there are 

 several species which, technically considered, are ligneous plants, such as 

 ^lyssum saxatile, iberis sempervirens, Cheiranthus C'heiri, and some others; 

 yet, in a popular point of view, the only shrub included in the order is the 

 Telia Pseudo-(7\ tisus. 



Genus I. 



FE'LLA L. The Vella. Lin. Syst. Tetradynamia Siliculosa. 



Derivation. The word Telia is Latinised from the word velar, the Celtic name of the cress. 

 Gen. Char. Stamens the 4 longer in 2 pairs, the 2 of each pair grown together. 

 Style ovate, flat, tongue-shaped, at the tip of the silicle. Silicle ovate, com- 

 pressed, its valves concave. Partition elliptic. Cotyledons folded, the enibryo 

 root disposed in the sinus of the fold. {Dec. Syst.) 



Leaves simple, alternate, exstipulate, sub-evergreen ; toothed or serrated, 

 glaucous. Flowers in axillary spikes, yellow, seldom succeeded by seed pods 

 in the climate of London. Shrub low, suffruticose, native of Spain. 



E .3 



