44 VIII. CRUCIFER^. [Kasturtiuni. 



Leaves toothed or pinnately lobed, or the lower ones sometimes lyrate, auriculate 

 at the base, the Idbes ovate, oblong, or rarely lanceolate, a,lways irregular, con- 

 fluent and usually sinuate or toothed. Eacemes short, loose, without bracts. 

 Flowers small, yellow, the petals scarcely exceeding the calyx. Style short. Pod 

 • sessile, turgid, oblong, obtuse, straight or slightly curved, generally 2 to 4 lines 

 long and about If line broad, but occasionally rather longer and narrower. — 

 Keichb. Ic. Fl. Germ. ii. 53 ; N. terrestre, R. Br. in Ait. Hort. Kew. ed. 2, iv. 

 110; Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. i. 21; F. v. M. Fl. Vict. i. 81 ; .V. xemipinnatifidum, 

 Hook. Journ. Bot. i. 246. 

 Hab. . Many parts of the colony, north and south. 



2. N. '^'offlcinale (oflScinal), B. Br.; Benth. Fl. Austr. i. 65. European 

 watercress. Stems creeping and floating, much branched. Leaves pinnate, the 

 upper with 3 to 7 pairs of leaflets and a terminal one which is usually larger, 

 varying from roundish to ovate or lanceolate, obtuse, sinuate, or dentate. Flowers 

 white, small, in short racemes. Petals longer than the sepals. Pods 4 to 12 

 lines long, stalked, spreading or curved upwards. Seeds small, 2-seriate. 



Hab. ; Naturalised in many mountain streams. 



2. CARDAMINE, Linn. 



(Named from supposed medicinal qualities.) 



Sepals equal at the base. Petals clawed. Pod elongated, linear, compressed ; 

 valves usually flat, without conspicuous nerves, opening elastically ; septum 

 transparent ; style short or long ; stigma entire or 2,-lobed. Seeds flattened, not 

 bordered, in a single row (except in C. emitylis). — Herbs, usually flaccid and 

 glabrous. Leaves entire or more frequently pinnately divided, in a few species 

 not Australian opposite Or whorled. Flowers erect or nodding, white, purple, or 

 lilac, not yellow. Pods usually slender. 



A large genus, widely spread over the temperate and colder regions both of the northern and 

 southern hemisphere. — Senth, 



Seeds reticulate and pitted, rather large. 

 Leaves entire or sinuate-toothed, the stem ones sagittate. Plant of 2 to Sft. 1. C. stylosa. 

 Petals very narrow, small, nearly erect. 



Seeds nearly the breadth of the septum, in a single row . 2. C. Iiirsuta. 



Seeds numerous, small, almost biseriate. Valves of the pod convex . . 3. C eiistylis. 



1. C. stylosa (style prominent), DC. Syst. Veg. ii. 248 ; Benth. Fl. Amtr. i. 

 68. A rather coarse glabrous herb, branching; and decumbent, or nearly erect, 

 usually 2 to 8ft. high and sometimes attainitig 5ft. Leaves obloag-lartceolate, 

 entire or sinuate, and minutely but remotely toothed, the lower ones narrowed 

 into a long petiole, the upper ones sessile but narrow below the middle and 

 clasping the stem by their sagittate base, the longest 3 to 5in. long. Flowers 

 small, white, with obovate spreading petals. Fruiting racemes long and rather 

 rigid, the pedicels very spreading, 3 to 4 lines long. Pods 1 to l^in. long and | 

 to 1 line broad, with a vety faint nerve on the valves. Seeds oval, dark-coloured, 

 reticulated with raised longitudinal nerves and trd,nsverse pits between them. — 

 Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. i. 18 ; F. v. M. PI. Vict. i. 34 ; ArdbU qigantea, Hook. Ic. t. 

 259 s C. divaricata, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Z. i. 18. 



Hab.: On ranges southern parts of the colony. 



2. C. hirsuta (Hairy), Linn.; DC. Prod. i. 152 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. i. 70. 

 A much-branched decumbent or tufted annual, seldom above Bin. high, eithet 

 quite glabrbus or slightly hirsute with short spJeadihg hairs. Leaves pinnately 

 divided, the lower ones with 1 ovate or mounded terminal segment and a few 

 smaller petiolulate lateral ones, oi sometimes reduced to the terminal one, the 

 upper leaves few with narrow lobes. Flowers very small, the petals narrow and 

 erect or scarcely spreading. Stamens often reduced to 4 (especially in European 



