22 



N. Ord. CRUCIFER^. 

 Tribe Brassicete. 



Genus Brassica, Linn* B. & H., Gen. i, p. 84 ; Baillon, Hist., 

 iii, p. 185. Species variously estimated, 80 to 150, natives 

 of the temperate regions of the Old World. Includes 

 Sinapis, Erucastrum, &c. 



22. Brassica (Sinapis-\) nigra, Koch, in Rohling, Deutschl. 

 Flora, iv,p. 713 (1833). 



Black, Brown, or Red Mustard. 



Syn. Sinapis nigra, Linn,, and many authors. Brassica sinapioides, 

 Both. Melanosinapis communis, Spenn. 



Figures. WoodviUe, t. 146; Steph. & Ch., t. 42; Hayne, viii, t. 40; 

 Nees, t. 403; Berg, Charact., t. 84, f. 605; Berg and Sch., t. 30 e; 

 Syme, E. B., i, t, 85. 



Description. A large branching annual, often four feet high, 

 stem and spreading branches stiff, dark green, more or less 

 hispid below, usually glabrous above. Lowest leaves lyrate, 

 slightly hispid, with a large terminal segment, intermediate ones 

 irregularly pinnatifid, upper ones lanceolate, all stalked, dark 

 green, margin (except of the uppermost ones) faintly serrate. 

 Flowers in corymbose racemes, stalked, small (not J inch in 

 diameter), ebracteate, pedicels shorter than calyx. Sepals 4, 

 narrowly oblong, pale green, spreading almost horizontally. 

 Petals 4, alternating with sepals, with a narrow claw and 

 roundish blade, bright yellow, spreading. Stamens 6, hypo- 

 gynous, tetradynamous, the two with short filaments lateral, 

 inserted lower than the others, with a small gland placed ahove 

 the base of each, the four with longer filaments placed in pairs 

 antero-posteriorly, with a large gland at the base of each pair ; 

 anthers versatile. Pistil oblong-ovoid, tapering into a short style ; 

 stigma capitate, bilobed ; ovary 1 -celled, with two parietal 

 placentae; ovules several. Fruit a siliqua, about f inch long, 



* Brassica, the Latin name for a cabbage, 

 f Sinapis, Greek aivairi or vdirv, mustard. 



