162 CRUC1FER.E. 



Herbs low and spreading or tufted ; with entire or repand, 

 rarely pinnatifid, narrow leaves, usually canescent or hoary 

 with close stellate pubescence ; the showy yellow flowers in 

 ebracteate terminal racemes. 



Etymology. Name from vesica, a bladder; in allusion to the inflated or 

 bladder-like silicles. 



Geographical Distribution. A genus of a very few South European 

 species, of one subarctic American, and about a dozen other known species 

 (several of which are yet undescribed) belonging chiefly to the region be- 

 tween the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains, the greater portion Texan 

 Only one species (V. Shortii, Torr. <Sf Gr.) is found east of the Mississippi. 



Note. The section Physaria, Nutt. in Torr. Jir Gray, Fl. 1. c, found- 

 ed on V. didymoearpa, Hook., now confirmed by a second species (V. Gey- 

 eri, Hook.), must surely be raised to the rank of a genus, distinguished from 

 Vesicaria, and differing from the character of Alyssineae, by the strongly di- 

 dymous silicle with a narrow partition. (P. didymoearpa and P. Geyeri.) 



PLATE 70. Vesicaria Engelmannii, n. sp. ; — a small specimen of the 

 natural size (the sinuate-toothed radical leaves wanting), from 

 Texas, Lindheimer. 



1. Apex of a sepal, magnified, to show the stellate pubescence. 



2. One of the stellate hairs, more magnified. 



3. Diagram of the flower, in a cross section. 



4. A flower, enlarged. 



5. A sepal (inside view) ; and 6, a petal, more enlarged. 



7. Stamens and pistil, enlarged. (In the living plant the filaments are 



thicker at the base than is represented.) 



8. A stamen (wanting the base of the filament), more enlarged. 



9. Enlarged replum, with the style, &c, and one seed. 



10. Tissue from the partition, highly magnified. 



11. Transverse section of an enlarged silicle, and of the seeds. 



12. A magnified seed. 



13. Magnified embryo, detached entire. 



