CRUCIFER. 143 
Herbs, chiefly annual and biennial, with rather small flowers, 
most commonly yellowish, disposed in corymbs, lengthening into 
lax racemes, or more rarely in the axils of the leaves. 
French, Sisymbre. German, Ranke. 
The generic name is derived from act/3oc (sisibos), a fringe, as some of the species 
have fringed roots. The same name was also applied by Ovid to some aquatic plant, 
which he advises should form part of a nosegay to be presented to Venus. 
Sus-Genvus I.—EU-SISYMBRIUM. 
Seed-stalk (funiculus) filiform. 
SPECIES I—SISYMBRIUM OFFICINALE. Scop. 
Puate XCVI.* 
Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ. et Helv. Vol. II. Zetr. Tab. LX XII. Fig. 4401. 
Erysimum officinale, Zinn. Sm. Eng. Bot. No. 735. 
Chameplium officinale, Wall. Sched. Crit. p. 577. 
Leaves pinnatifid, sub-lyrate, with oblong segments. Pods 
sub-sessile, straight, subulate, adpressed, arranged in lax leafless 
racemes terminating the stem and branches. 
In hedgebanks, by roadsides, and in waste places and fields. 
Very common throughout Britain, where it appears to be absent 
from the Shetland Islands only. 
England, Scotland, Ireland. Biennial or Annual. Summer. 
Stem erect, 1 to 3 feet high, with spreading branches on the 
upper part. Radical leaves in a rosette, very deeply pinnatipartite, 
with 4 or 5 spreading lobes on each side of the midrib and a large 
one at the apex which is nearly semicircular or triangular and 
often again divided into 3; all the lobes more or less angulated 
or toothed; stem leaves runcinate-pinnatifid, with a few pairs of 
oblong toothed lobes and a long hastate terminal one. Pedicels 
extremely short. Flowers about } inch across, pale ochreous 
yellow. Pods hairy, about } inch long, gradually tapering from 
the base to the point, not beaded; valves 3-nerved; replum 
transparent, without a nerve. Plant dull green, with scattered 
hairs. 
This plant is very readily recognised by its peculiar habit, the 
pods being closely pressed to the stem and arranged in racemes 
which are almost spikes, of which the terminal one is the longest 
and erect; the lateral ones almost horizontal at the base, but 
* The Plate is E. B. 735, unaltered. 
