CHAPTEE VIII. 

 THE CRTTCIFEBJE, OR CROSS-BEARERS. 



EXERCISE LI. 

 Characters of the Cruciferce. 



THE plants of this order bear flowers with a cru- 

 ciferous corolla. About sixteen hundred species have 

 been discovered, and they are all wholesome. They 

 grow in every zone and country, but chiefly in tem- 

 perate regions. Both wild and cultivated species are 

 common, and the characters by which they are known 

 are few and obvious, so that you may easily make 

 their acquaintance. Mustard, horse-radish, shep- 

 herd's-purse, turnip, cabbage, radish, pepper-grass, 

 cress, and honesty, are familiar examples, which you 

 must often have observed and studied ; and I wonder 

 how many of you can recollect certain characters pe- 

 culiar to these plants. Procure them, and confirm, 

 by direct observation, the following statements : 



The flowers of this family of plants have four 

 petals, so placed as to resemble a cross. They have 

 six stamens, four long and two short (Fig. 114) tetra- 

 dynamous stamens. Their inflorescence is racemose, 

 and without "bracts. Any plant with these characters 

 is a crucifer. These three characters are alone suffi- 

 cient to characterize a plant as cruciferous ; but they 

 always accompany certain other traits of structure, 

 which you will discover on glancing at the columns of 

 the schedules you have made in describing them. In 



