198 THE MUSTARD FAMILY. 



THE nUSTARD FAMILY. 



Critciferce. 



A large group of hej-bs with acrid, watery sap, alternate leaves and 

 rather small white, or yellow Jloivers which grow in coryjfibs or racemes. 

 Sepals: four usually early falling. Petals : four ; cruciform. Stai7iens: 

 usually six, two of which are shorter than the others. Fruit : a capsule. 



WILD PEPPERGRASS. 



Lcpiditnn Virginicinn. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Mustard. White. Scentless. Texas a?:d Florida ]\Iny-Nove7nber. 



northward. 



Flcnvers : tiny; growing in lateral and terminal racemes. Sepals: four, early 

 falling. Petals : four, spreading in the form of a cross or occasionally wanting. 

 Stamens : two only. Capsule : flat ; round, notched at the top. Leaz'es : those about 

 the base obovate or spatulate, unequally dentate; those on the stem, linear, or 

 lanceolate; sessile or the lower stalked ; irregularly toothed or entire. An erect 

 and much branched herb; glabrous or slightly pubescent. 



Frequently along the roadsides, or through fields we encounter this rather 

 weedy-looking little plant, which, when well grown, however, is often quite 

 pretty. Those that remember it is a mustard, perhaps pull a bit to eat the 

 many round and lustrous pods which have a spicy taste. 



SHEPHERD'S PURSE. MOTHER'S HEART. 



Bursa Bursa-pastbris. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Mustard. M'liitc. Scentless. General. April-September. 



Flowers: minute; inconspicuous; growing in long racemes, their thread-like 

 pedicels becoming long in fruit and spreading at right angles from the stem. 

 Calyx : pubesce'nt, considerably shorter than the petals. Pods : triangular, wedge- 

 shaped at the base and becoming broadly cordate at the apex; two-valved. 

 Leaves: those tufted about the base, long, narrow, and pinnately divided into 

 numerous irregular lobes which are dentate, or simply dentate and without lobes. 

 Siejn leaves : lanceolate; clasping and projecting two lobes at the base ; entire, or 

 irregularly dentate. Steui: five to eight inches high, branching; leafy; pubescent 

 below. 



So constantly does the shepherd's purse crop up along roadsides the 

 world over that it counts among the passers-by a legion, at least, of friends. 

 There are, however, few with sufficient sentiment, or charity so broad as 

 not to regard it as a weed. In this country it has become naturalized from 

 Europe where it is called St, James' weed. The popular names which 

 appeal most to us in this country have naturally been bestowed in allusion 



