MUSTARD FAMILY. Cruciferse. 



Small Bitter ^ bitter-tasting little herb easily dis- 

 Cress tinguished by its exceedingly long thin 



Cardamine seed-pods which are an inch long and 

 hirsuta erect. The tiny flowers with four narrow 



A *ui petals are white, and are frequently visited 



by the brilliant flies of the family Syrphi- 

 dce. The little compound leaves mostly at the base of 

 the plant form a rather pretty rosette ; the few upper 

 leaflets are exceedingly narrow. 3-12 inches high. 

 Common everywhere in wet places. 



This is a generally hairy little plant 

 Cres^ (sometimes it is nearly smooth) with a tall 



Arabis hirsuta, slim stem, terminated by a small cluster 

 Greenish white of tiny white or greenish white flowers 

 May-July beneath which in the later season of its 



bloom appears a succession of slim seed-pods. The clus- 

 tered basal -leaves are hairy, toothed, and lance-shaped, 

 but blunt at the tip ; the stem-leaves clasp the stem, and 

 are widely toothed and small. 12-20 inches high. 

 Common on rocky banks, and in stony pastures from 

 Me., south along the mountains to Ga., and west. 

 Arabis la&vigata A perfectly smooth species with a slight 

 Greenish white bloom, taller than the preceding, and with 

 April-May stem-leaves which clasp the stem and are 

 almost pointed either side of it what is sometimes called 

 a sagittate (arrow-shaped) base. Resembling in other 

 respects the species above described. 1-3 feet high. 

 Similarly distributed but not farther west than Minn. 

 Carolina Wh't- ^ ur na ^ ve whitlow-grass distinguished 

 !ow=grass a ^ once by its slender or linear seed-pods, 

 Draba Carolini- which are longer than their stems. The 

 ana ^ tiny flowers and the pods below them 



terminate a Ions: smooth stem : the little 

 March-May 



obtuse-ovate leaves nearly at the base of 



the plant. An annual of miniature proportions. 1-5 

 inches high. In sandy and barren fields from eastern 

 Mass., south to Ga., and west to S. Dak., Neb., and Ark. 



168 



