CEtrCIFEK^. 85 



tlie flowers white or pink. Stigma capitate, or small. Pod narrow-linear ; 

 the valves flat, vrithout any conspicuous midrib, and Usually opening with 

 elasticity. Seeds apparently in a single row in each cell ; i-adicle accumbenc 

 on the edge of the cotyledons. 



A large and natural genus, widely spread over the temperate and colder 

 regions of both the northern and southern hemispheres. The white flowers 

 and pinnate leaves distinguish it from aU British Crucifers, except the 

 common Watercress and the Tootlioress, both of which differ in their pods. 



Petals large, oborate or oblong, spreading. 



Stem weak. Segments of the stem-leaves broad. 

 Kootstocks slender, with creeping oifsets. All the leaves 



pinnate 1. Bitter B. 



Eootstock thick and knotted. Upper leaves nearly entire, 



often with a bulb in their axil Bulbiferous Tootheress, 



Stem stiff and erect. Segments of the stem-leaves narrow . 2. Meadow B. 

 Petals small, nearly erect. 

 Stem tall and erect. Leafstalk with stipule-like appendages 



at the base 3. Najrr9v> -leaved S, 



Stem low and weak, or much branched. No stipnlar ap- 

 pendages 4. Hairy B. 



1. Ziarge Bittercress. Cardamine amara, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 1000.) 



Eootstock slender, with creejjing ofisets. Stem a foot high or more, 

 weak and ascending, or nearly erect. Leaves pinnate, with 5 or 7 distinct 

 segments, all ovate or orbicular, irregularly angled or toothed, the terminal 

 one often an inch long. Racemes few- flowered. Petals nearly as large as 

 in tlie meadow B., slightly spreading, of a pure white. Pod about an inch 

 long. 



In wet meadows, and along brooks and streams, generally distributed 

 over Europe and Russian Asia, except the extreme north, becoming a 

 moimtaua plant in the south. Widely spread over Britain, but not a 

 common or a frequent plant. Fl. spring and early summer. 



2. Meado'w Bittercress. Cardamine pratensis, Linn. 



(Eng. Bot. t. 776. Bittercress. Ladies' SmocTc. Cuckoofiotver.) 

 Rootstock short and perennial, often bearing small fleshy scales or tubers, 



like the Toothcresses. Stem erect, simple or branched, near a foot higli. 



Leaves pinnate, the segments of the lower radical ones ovate or orbicular, 



the terminal one the largest, those of the stem-leaves naiTow-oblong or linear. 



Flowers large and showy ; the petals obovate and spreading, sometimes of a 



pure white, but more frequently tinged with a pinkish purple. Pods more 



than an inch long. 



In moist meadows, and along brooks and streams, common throughout 



Eiu-ope, Russian Asia, and arctic America. Abundant in Britain. Fl. 



spring and early swmmer. 



3. Narro'wr-leaved Bittercress. Cardamine impatiens, Linn. 



(Eng. Bot. t. 80.) 

 An annual, with a stiff, erect, leafy stem, a foot and a half high, simple, 

 or with a few erect branches. Leaves pinnate, with numerous lanceolate or 

 almost ovate segments, j to ^ inch long, and often deeply toothed or cut ; 

 the common leafstalk has, on each side, at its base, a curved linear a^J- 

 pendage embracing the stem, and resembling a stipule. Petals very minute, 



I 



