MUSTARD FAMILY. Cruciferae. 



tinguish, smooth plants, often with a "bloom"; stems 

 branching; leaves often clasping at base, the lower ones 

 usually more toothed or lobed than the upper. The 

 flowers are very peculiar in shape, not like most Mustards, 

 but suggesting the shape of a Bleeding Heart flower; the 

 sepals usually colored like the petals, two or all of them 

 bulging at base, so that the calyx is broad below and con- 

 tracted above; the corolla regular or irregular, the petals 

 purple or white, with claws and narrow, wavy or crisp 

 borders; the stamens four long and two short, or in three 

 unequal pairs, the longest pair often united below; the 

 pods long, narrow, flattish or cylindrical, on a broad 

 receptacle; the seeds flat and more or less winged. These 

 plants are called Jewel-flower, but the name does not seem 

 particularly appropriate. 



Nothing about this odd-looking plant is 



pretty and it almost seems as if it were 

 Streptanthus . 



tortudsus trying to make up by eccentncity for its 



Yellowish, lack of beauty. It is common in dry, 



purplish sandy places in the mountains and our 



^ u mer . attention is first attracted to the tall, 



California 



branching stalks, because they are strung 



with such queer-looking leaves. In summer the upper ones 

 are bright-yellow or dull-purple and they clasp the stem 

 and curve over, so that they look like small brass shields, 

 pierced by the stem. There are three or four of these 

 curving leaves, very smooth and shiny, and several more 

 below, which are flatter and dark-green, and the stem, from 

 six inches to three feet high, is oddly twisted and leans to 

 one side. The small flowers are yellowish or mauve, veined 

 with purple, less than half an inch long and peculiar in 

 shape. The contrast in color between the flowers and 

 leaves is very odd and very ugly, but as if this were not 

 enough, later in the season the curious thing hangs itself 

 with ridiculously long, slender pods, like great hooks, and 

 looks queerer and more disheveled than ever. 



Prettier and not so queer-looking as the 



last. The leaves are arrow-shaped, clasp- 



Stwptdnthus * n & at base, rather leathery, bluish-green, 



Arizdnicus with a "bloom" and tinged with pui 



White on the backs, the lower ones toothed, at 



the pods are about two inches long, flat 



and tinged with purple. The flowers 



180 



