TETRADYNAMIA SILIQUOSA. Ery'simum. 191 



Siliques numerous, long, slender. Fruit-stalks short in compa- 

 rison with the siUques : seeds protuberating a httle through the 

 valves, giving the appearance of a slightly jointed silique. 

 Flavour of the plant like mustard. 



S. Sophia. Fine-leaved H.^ or Fliw-weed.'^ Leaves 

 doubly wing-cleft, leaflets linear, a little hairy. Petals 

 smaller than the calyx. E. B. 963. Sophia Chirur- 

 gorum. G. E. 1068. 



Rubbish, dry banks, ivaste ground, dunghills. 



An. June. 



Stem about two f., erect, branched, very leafy. Ls. alternate, 

 spreading : last segment of leaflets spear-shaped, acute, entire, 

 terminal ones largest. Fl. very small, pale-yellow. Corymb 

 soon growing into a very long spike of numerous slender siliques, 

 parallel to the stalk, which are erect on spreading stalks. 

 The feathery segments of the Is. not devoid of symmetry. The 



pods retain the seeds all winter : food for small birds. Vermifuge. 



Strength of gunpowder said to be increased, by adding to it a tenth 



of the seeds. Fl. Suec. 



BARBARE'A.* Winter^cress. 



B. vulgaris. Bitter TV, Yellow Rocket. Lower leaves 

 lyre-shaped, the terminal lobe romidish ; upper inversely 

 egg-shaped, toothed. Barbarea. E. G. 243. Erysi- 

 mum Barbarea. E. B. 443. Sb. 202. 



Moist, waste ground, about hedges, or in marshy meadows. 



Per. May. 



Stem two or three f., simple, or branched, erect, angular. Ls, all 

 alternate, deep, shining gi'een, strongly veined, upper Is. stem- 

 clasping : leaf-rib broad. Fl. in terminal corymbs, soon length- 

 ening into a spike, numerous, yellow ; cal. also partly coloured. 

 A winter salad of the young Is. 

 Var. double fl. in gardens. 



ERY'SIMUM.3 Treacles-mustard. 



E. cheiranthoides. JVorm-seed Tr. Leaves spear- 

 shaped, obscurely toothed, roughish, with starry, three- 



> Flix-ioeed, i. e. flux, from its supposed quality in the seeds, (dose one 

 drachm,) of curing fluxes of the bowels. Formerly called " Sophia Chirurgo- 

 rum," " the wisdom of surgeons." Ger. observes the Paracelsians do brag 

 very much of an herbe called Sophia, &c. We must be content to accept of 

 this for the true Sophia, until some one point out the true one, &c. 



2 From St. Barbara. 



3 From eruo, Gr. to preserve, on account of its excellent qualities, 



* From its entering into the exploded Theriaca, or Venice Treacle. 



