BeIErER ARTICLES. 
NOTES ON TWO SPECIES OF BRASSICA. 
Brassica SiNAPISTRUM Boiss. In the Synoptical Flora, i. pt. 1, 
134, it was stated that only the smooth-fruited form of this 
species had been introduced into North America, such being the 
inference derived from the specimens examined in the preparation 
of that work. During the present summer, however, the writer 
has found a number of specimens of this species, growing on rail: 
way ballast near West Cambridge, Mass., which have hispid fruit. 
This form occurred in company with the more typical plant, and 
appeared on close comparison to differ from it in no regard other than 
the one mentioned. F urthermore, the pubescence of the fruit, although 
more or less striking when well developed, passed in other specimens 
into minute sparse hairs, so that transitions to the smooth-fruited forms 
were by no means lacking. Indeed, in some cases, the pubescence of 
the different siliques on the same individual differed considerably, 
being somewhat more conspicuous upon the lower, earlier-formed 
fruit. In both the smooth-fruited and hispid-fruited forms the pedi- 
cels are often hirsutulous. Both forms of fruit have long been recog” 
nized in the Old World, but the differences have been rightly 
regarded as formal rather than varietal. 
B. yuNcEa Coss.—In May 1895, Professor Britton (Bud/. Torr. as 
Club 22: 225) called attention to the frequent occurrence of this Asiatic 
species in waste places of southern New York, Pennsylvania to Mich- 
- 'gan and Virginia. It had previously been found in several parts - 
New England, and has since proved locally abundant in on 
Massachusetts and in New Hampshire. After giving a good o 
tion of B. juncea, in the place cited, Professor Britton states that lt : 
“readily distinguished from Z. Sinapistrum Boiss. by the total absence 
of the hispid pubescence of that species and by its erect longer ee 
beaked pods.” Having had this summer excellent opportunitl : 
comparing many dozen specimens of each of these species ier 
a 
side by side, the writer would suggest that the distinctive char 
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es of 
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