VIII. CEUCIFERiE. 48 



especially in districts where there are no high mountain ranges. The Order is one of the most 

 easily recognised by the flowers or fruits, but to determine the genera and species it is 

 absolutely necessary to have the pod and the seed in a good state. — Benth. 



Series A. 



Pods long or short, dehiscing throughout their length, terete, 4-anglod or compressed dorsally 



(parallel to the septum). 

 Tribe I. A.rAl>iAoiB.--Pod.f narrow, loni). Seeds usually l-xcriate. Cotyledons accumbent. 



Sepals spreading, not saccate ; pods tumid. Seeds minute, 2-seriate. 



Flowers usually yellow 1. Nastuktiiim. 



Sepals not saccate ; pods flat, usually acute. Stamens simple. Flowers 



white or purple 2. Caedamine. 



Tribe II. Abyssineae. — Pods short, broad. Seeds usually 2-seriate. Cotyledons accum- 

 bent. 



Stamens often appendaged. Pods usually orbicular and 4-seeded. Hoary 

 herbs 3. Alyssdm. 



Tribe III. Sisymbrieae. — Pods usually sessile, long, narrow. Seeds usually 1-seriate. 

 Cotyledons straiylit,Jiat, incumbent. 



Sepals erect or spreading. Pods many-sSeded, valves 1 — 3-nerved. Seeds 

 usually 1-seriate. Hairs simple or none Sisymbeicm. 



Teibe IV. Camelineae. — Pods short or long. Seeds usually 2-seriate. Cotyledons flat, 

 incumbent. 



Fruiting racemes erect. Petals obovate, or if narrow erect and short. 



Septum broader than the transverse diameter of the pod 5. Blennodia. 



Fruiting racemes erect. Petals tapering into a long subulate, often twisted, 



point ^ 6. Stbnopetalum. 



Fruiting peduncle recurved, pod ripening underground 7. Geococcus. 



Teibe V. Brassicaas. — Pods short or long. Cotyledons longitudinally folded or deeply 

 grooved. 



Pods long. Seeds 1-seriate 8. Beabsica. 



Seeies B. 



Pods short, dehiscing throughout their length, compressed laterally (at right angles to the 



septum) . 



Teibe VI. Ziepidlnes. — Cotyledons incumbent, straight, curved, or longitudinally folded. 



Pods many-seeded^: valves not winged 9. Capsella. 



Pods either indehiscent or separating into 2 indehisoent cocci .... 10. Senebieea. 

 Pods few-seeded ; valves winged or not, dehiscent 11. Lepidium. 



Tribe VII. TlllaspideSB. — Cotyledons accumbent, straight. 

 Pods compressed, notched ; valves winged or keeled 12. Thlaspi. 



1. NASTURTIUM, R. Br. 



(Very old name for cress plant.) 



Sepals short, equal, spreading. Petals scarcely clawed. Pods nearly cylin- 

 drical, short or elongated, the valves convex, slightly 1 -nerved, the septum trans- 

 parent ; style short or long, with an entire or 2-lobed stigma. Seeds usually 

 distinctly ranged in 2 rows, small, turgid, with short free funieles. Cotyledons 

 accumbent. — Herbs, either glabrous or pubescent, with simple hairs. Leaves 

 entire, lobed, or pinnately divided. Flowers small, generally yellow. 



A considerable genuS, dispersed over the greater part of the globe, and very difficult both as 

 to the discrimination of its species and as to its distinction from other genera. The Australian 

 species is one of the most widely diffused. — Benth. 



Flowers yellow 1. N. palustre. 



Flowers white. Half -aquatic perennial. Petals obovate 2. N. officinale. 



1. N. palustre (found in marshy places), DC. Syst. Veg. ii. 191 ; Betuh. Fl. 

 Amtr. i. 65. An erect or decumbent or almost trailing annual or biennial, from 

 a few inches to 2ft. or more in length, quite glabrous or very rarely pubescent. 



