CRUCIFERAE CAPSELLA 493 



4. Capsella, Medic. Shepherd's Purse 



Annual or winter annual, erect herbs, pubescent with more or less branched 

 hairs ; flowers in racemes, small, white ; basal leaves tufted ; pistils with short 

 styles; pods obcordate, triangular, compressed at right angles to the partition; 

 valves boat-shaped; seeds numerous, small, without margins; cotyledons accum- 

 bent. A small genus of 4 species, 2 in North America. 



Caspella Bursa-pastoris (L.) Medic. Shepherd's Purse 



An annual or winter annual, 1^ feet high, root leaves clustered, lobed, 

 pinnatifid, or merely toothed, stem leaves sessile, lanceolate, auricled; flowers 

 small, white; pods triangular, truncate, or emarginate, many seeded; seeds light 

 brown, elongated with a prominent ridge; seeds mucilaginous when moistened 

 with water; cotyledons incumbent. 



Distribution. One of the most common weeds everywhere in eastern North 

 America from Nova Scotia to Florida, west to Texas and the Pacific Coast, 

 from Eastern Canada to Manitoba to Vancouver in B. C. Cosmopolitan, as 

 common in Europe as in the United States. Naturalized from Europe. 



Poisonous properties. It produces the same symptoms as other members 

 of the family only somewhat less severe. 



5. Camelina, Crantz. False Flax 



Erect, annual herbs, sparingly branched; leaves entire, lanceolate, or 

 pinnatifid; flowers racemose, yellow; sepals 4, green; petals 4, yellow small; 

 pistil with stigma entire, style slender; pod obovoid or pear-shaped; flattish; 

 seeds small, numerous; cotyledons incumbent. The 5 species are native to 

 Europe and Asia. 



Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz. False Flax 



An erect, glabrous annual with simple or sparingly branched stem, \Y 2 

 feet long, smooth, or slightly pubescent, hairs stellate; leaves erect, lanceolate 

 or arrow shaped, entire or nearly so; flowers small, yellow, pedicels in fruit 

 spreading; pod obovoid or pyriform, smooth reticulated, margined; seeds light 

 brown 1 line long, minutely pitted, cotyledons incumbent, caulicle prominent, 

 running lengthwise. On the addition of water, the seeds become mucilaginous. 



Distribution. It is common in Manitoba, south to Minnesota, Northern 

 Iowa, and the Dakotas, where it is a well known and a troublesome weed, in 

 flax and grain fields from Ontario to the Middle States across the continent. 



Poisonous properties. The plant has a disagreeable sharp odor and causes 

 counter-irritation. 



6. Lepidium (Tourn) L. Pepper Grass 



Erect or diffuse, annual, biennial or perennial herbs; leaves entire, or 

 pinnatifid; flowers racemose, white; petals small or none; stamens 6 or fewer; 

 pod roundish, flattened contrary to the partition, winged or wingless; seeds 

 solitary in each cell; cotyledons incumbent or rarely accumbent. About 65 

 species in temperate regions. The European L. campestre, native to Europe 

 cultivated for salad purposes, is occasionally spontaneous. The seeds of two of 

 our native species are used for bird food. 



