30 III. CEUCIFERAE. \_Sisymbrmm. . 



3. SISYMBRIUM, Tourn. 

 Sepals suberect. Petals clawed. Pod terete, compressed or angled. 

 Stigma simple^ 2-lobed or cup-shaped. Seeds numerous, 1-seriate. Cotyledons 

 incumbent. Annual or biennial herbs with racemose flowers. 



Species, about 80, distributed through temperate and cold regions ; chiefly in the Northern 

 Hemisphere. 



Etym. An ancient Greek name for a plant supposed to have belonged to this family. 



Leaves iiearly all radical, short. Pods spreading . . . . .. 1. S. Novae- Zelandiae. 



Leaves chiefly cauline, finely dissected . . . . . . . . * S. Sophia. 



Leaves strongly toothed or pinnatifld. Pods appressed to the stem . . * S. officinale. 



1. S. Novae-Zelandiae, Hook.f., Handbk. 11. Erect, slender, 6in.-18in. 



high, simple or sparingly branched, glabrous or clothed with minute stellate 



pubescence. Leaves mostly radical, iin.-3in. long, narrow-obovate, oblong, or 



lanceolate, quite entire or sinuate-toothed or lobed or pinnatifld ; petiole 



usually short. Cauline leaves few, smaller. Racemes terminal. Flowers 



on slender pedicels. Stigma shortly lobed. Pods lin.— 2in. long or more, 



^0in.— jijin. broad; style very short, obtuse, glabrous. Cotyledons obliquely 



incumbent. 



SOUTH Island: Nelsori : Wairau Gorge, Trovers, Bough! Canterbury: Porter's Pass, Cole- 

 ridge Pass, and Broken River Basin, Enys and Kirk. Otago : Cape Whanbrow, Kurow, Waitaki, 

 Mount Ida and other ranges, Petrie ! Sea-level to 3,000ft. Dec, Jan. 



Except in Otago this is a remarkably local species. It bears considerable resemblance to 

 S. Thaliana, Hook., but is more robust and certainly perennial. 



* S. Sophia, L., Sp. PL 659. An erect sparingly-branched annual, more or 

 less pubescent. Leaves 2-3-pinnatifid ; segments narrow-linear, obtuse. Flowers in 

 terminal racemes, yellow. Pods on slender spreading pedicels, ascending, terete, 

 narrow ; style short. 



SOUTH Island : Naturalised in fields near Naseby and Cromwell, Otago. Petrie ! FUxweed. 

 Dec, Jan. Europe 



='=S. officinale, Scop., Fl. Cam. ed. 2, 824. An erect herb, lft.-2ft. high, with 

 more or less rigid, leafy, flexuous stems and branches ; pubescent. Leaves runcinate- 

 toothed, or unequally pinnatifld ; terminal lobe large, hastate, often sinuate. Flowers 

 yellow, small. Pods on very short pedicels, subulate, adpressed to the stem ; style 

 shortly lobed. 



NORTH and SOUTH Islands ; STEWART Island : Naturalised in fields, waste places, road- 

 sides, &c Hedge-mustard. Nov. to Jan. Europe. 



*CAMELINA, (Jrantz. 



Erect annuals with simple leaves. Sepals equal at the base. Petals obovate. 

 Pods obovate, inflated ; valves with a linear prolongation, which is produced 

 upwards until it becomes confluent with the persistent base of the style. Stigma 

 entire. Seeds 2-seriate. Cotyledons incumbent. 



* C. sativa, Crantz, Stirp. Austr. ed. \. fasc. i. 14. Erect, annual, branched 

 above. Lower leaves petioled, fugacious; cauline oblong-lanceolate, with lobed 

 auricles, obtuse. Flowers in terminal racemes, white or yellow. Pod rounded at the 

 apex or truncate. Seeds few. 



NORTH and SOUTH Islands : In cultivated fields, Auckland and Otago. Not infrequent, 

 but scarcely naturalised. Gold of pleasure. Dec, Jan. Europe, 



