CRUCIFER. 189 
Sus-Genus I—EROPHILA. D.C, 
Petals bipartite. Seeds numerous. 
SPECIES I—DRABA VERNA. Linn 
Prate CXXXIV. 
Scape leafless. Radical leaves oblanceolate, toothed or entire, 
hairy. Petals deeply cloven. Raceme elongating after flowering. 
Pedicels ascending-spreading, much longer than the pods. Pods 
ovoid, generally compressed. Style almost none. 
Common Whitlow Grass or Cress, Nailwort. 
French, Drave Printaniére. 
Among medieval herbalists there was a great discussion as to whether this plant 
or some allied species was the true Whitlow Grass of the still more ancient herb doctors; 
but modern writers on Medical Botany have slighted the plant and all inquiries respecting 
it. The leaves were certainly used by old practitioners in the form of a poultice as an 
application to whitlows. 
Sus-Srecies I—Draba eu-verna. 
Puate CXXXIV. Fic. 1.* 
D. verna, Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ. et Helv. Vol. IL. Zeér. Tab. XII. Fig. 4234. 
Erophila vulgaris, D. C. Syst. Vol. II. p. 356. 
Erophila glabrescens (7), hirtella, stenocarpa, and majuscula, Jord. Pug. Pl. Nov. 
pp. 10,11; and Boreau, FJ. du Centre de la Fr. ed. iii. Vol. II. p. 64. 
Pods oval-elliptical, twice or more times as long as broad, 
slightly narrowed towards each extremity but more so at the base, 
compressed. Seeds 20 to 40 in each cell of the pod. 
On wall tops and dry banks and rocks. Very common. 
England, Scotland, Ireland. Annual or Biennial. Spring. 
No rootstock. Stems numerous, 1 to 8 inches high, erect or 
ascending, often curved at the base, slender, flexuous, generally 
simple. Radical leaves in a rosette, spreading, narrowed towards 
the base but not distinctly stalked, entire or with a few teeth on 
the edges. Flowers white, $ to inch across. Petals obovate- 
oblong, once and a half to thrice as long as the sepals, divided into 
2 lobes by a sinus extending rather more than half way down. 
Fruit pedicels ascending-spreading, ¢ to $ inch long. Pod varying 
* The Figure is E. B. 586. 
