146 BEASSICAGEAE. 



at tlie base. Petals 4, hypogynous, cruciate, nearly equal, generally 

 clawed. Stamens 6, rarely fewer, hypogynous, tetradynamous. Pistil 1, 

 compound, consisting of 2 united carpels, the parietal placentae united 

 ' by a dissepiment ; style generally persistent, sometimes none ; stigma dis- 

 coid or usually more or less 2-lobed. Fruit a silique or silicle, generally 

 2-eelled, rarely 1-celled, in a few geenra indehiseent. Seeds attached to 

 both sides of the septum; endosperm none; cotyledons incumbent, aecum- 

 bent or eonduplicate. About 200 genera and 1800 species, of wide geo- 

 graphic distribution. 



Pod a sillaue or silicle, dehiscent into 2 valves. 



Pod a flattened silicle. 1. Lepidium. 



Pod a short or long siliqne, not flattened. 

 Flowers yellow ; leaves lobed or tootlied. 

 Poc! elongated, beaked. 



Pod conie-beaked, its valves 1-3-nerved. 2. Brassica. 



Pod stout-beaked, its valves 3-5-nerved. 3. Sinapis. 



Pod short, beakless. 4. Radicula. 



Flowers white ; leaves entire. 5. Conringia. 



Pod indehiseent. 



Pod suborbicular, didymous. 6. Carara. 



Pod elongated, of 2 separating joints. 7. Cakile. 



1. LEPIDIUM L. Sp. PI. 643. 1753. 



Erect or rarely diffuse herbs, with pinnatifid lobed or entire leaves and 

 racemose white or whitish flowers. Stamens often fewer than 6. Petals short, 

 sometimes none. Silides oblong to orbicular, flattened contrary to the partition, 

 winged or wingless; valves keeled, dehiscent. Seeds solitary in each cell, 

 flattened; cotyledons incumbent or rarely aecumbent. [Greek, a little scale, 

 from the flat seale-like pods.] About 65 species, widely distributed. Type 

 species: Lepidium latifolium L. 



1. Lepidium virginicum L. Sp. PI. 645. 1753. 



Annual, erect, glabrous. Basal leaves obovate or spatulate in outline, 

 pinnatifid, generally with a large terminal lobe and numerous small lateral 

 ones, all dentate, glabrous or slightly pubescent; stem-leaves lanceolate or 

 oblong-linear, sessile, or the lower stalked; flowers 1-2 mm. broad, white; 

 petals generally present, sometimes wanting in the later flowers; pedicels slen- 

 der, spreading, 4-6 mm. long in fruit; pod fiat, short-oval or orbicular, 

 minutely winged above; cotyledons aecumbent. 



A weed of waste grounds and cultivated soils, throughout the archipelago 

 from Abaeo nnd Great Bahama to Andros, Turk's Islands, Ambergris Cay and 

 Inagua ; — ^Bermuda ; native of continental North America ; widely naturalized as a 

 weed in the West Indies, Mexico and Central America. Wild Peppeh-geass. 



2. BEASSICA L. Sp. PI. 666. 1753. 



Erect branching herbs, with pinnatifid basal leaves, and showy yellow 

 flowers in elongated racemes. Siliques elongated, sessile, terete or 4-sided, 

 tipped with an indehiseent conic, usually 1-seeded beak. Yalves convex, 1-3- 

 nerved. Seeds in 1 row in each cell, oblong, marginless; cotyledons eondupli- 

 cate. [Latin name of the cabbage.] About 80 species, natives of Europe, 

 Asia and northern Africa. Type species: Brassica oleraoea L. 



