CHARLOCK OR WILD MUSTARD. 90 



Charlock or Wild Mustard (Brassica sinapis}. 



An upland cornfield in June with Charlock between the 

 short corn-plants is a beautiful sight for the rambler, but the 

 farmer may be pardoned if he fails to take the aesthetic view ; 

 for all that vegetable gold must be laboriously hand-picked, or 

 "cleaned," as he would probably express it. Charlock is a 

 weed that keeps close to the farmer ; that likes the com- 

 paratively light and dry soil of the ploughed field. 



It is a hairy annual belonging to the cabbage tribe, which is 

 a branch of the Crucifera or Cross-worts, so-called from the 

 four petals being arranged cross- wise. In this and the two 

 following species the petals are bright yellow. To make the 

 flower symmetrical there should be four or eight stamens ; 

 there are six, and it has been suggested that there were eight, 

 but two have been suppressed. The fruit is an angular pod, 

 with a straight beak, not persistent, and two hairy valves, but 

 containing only one row of dark-brown seeds. Flowers from 

 May to August. 



There are many species of Brassica, two of which may be 

 confounded with B. sinapis ; they are : 



I. Black Mustard (B. ni^rttm). Stem bristly, upper leaves very narrow, lance- 

 shaped, smooth, with entire or toothed margins. Pods awl-shaped, quadrangular. 

 Beak short and slender, containing no seeds. Valves keeled. Seeds reddish-brown, 

 oblong. Flowers June to September in hedges and wastes. 



II. White Mustard (B. alba). Hairy, like B. sinapis, but the hairs pointing down- 

 wards. The upper leaves deeply lobed, lyre-shaped, the lobes being again cut and 

 lobed. Stem marked with longitudinal incised lines. Pod short, no longer than 

 the flat thin, or sword-shaped, ribbed beak. Seeds larger than the last, more 

 globose, yellow. Flowers June and July in cultivated ground. 



The genus bears the Latin name for the Cabbage, the wild form of which is 

 B. oleracea, a wild plant on the sea-cliffs of South-west England and Wales, from 

 which have arisen the cultivated varieties known as Scotch-kail, cow-cabbage, 

 savoys, brussels sprouts, red cabbage, white cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli. 



