Stmop,<tnl,wi.] VIII. CRUCIFER^. 49 



2. S. lineare (leaves linear), B. Br, in DC. Syst. Veg. ii. 613 ; Benth. Fl. 

 Austr. i. 78. Usually erect, slender, little branched and quite glabrous, f to l-|-l:t. 

 high. Leaves few, narrow-linear, 1 to 1-Jin. long, entire or occasionally pinnatifid, 

 with 1 or 2 short linear lobes on each side. Flowers small. Sepals not If line 

 long. Petals of a brownish-yellow, the narrow-linear exserted portion not longer 

 than the sepals. Fruiting racemes slender but rigid, with erect pedicels not half 

 so long as the pod. Pods erect, oblong, 2 to 3 lines long and scarcely 1 line 

 broad, glabrous, the valves usually showing the midrib. Seeds 8 to 12 in each 

 cell, small, ovate, smooth.— Hook. Ic. PI. t. 618 ; Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. i. 22 ; F. 

 V. M. PI. Vict. i. 49. 



Hab.: Interior of the colony, Darling Downs. 



3. S. nutans (nodding), F. v. M. Fragm. iii. 27 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. i. 79. 

 An erect annual, about Sin. high in the single specimen seen, slightly hoary with 

 appressed hairs. Leaves linear, entire or remotely toothed, about lin. long, 

 narrowed at each end. Racemes loose. Pedicels much longer than the calyx, 

 slender, erect when in flower, reflexed when in fruit. Sepals about If line long. 

 Petals with a filiform point of 4 or 5 lines. Pod broadly oval-oblong, about 4 

 lines long, very turgid, glabrous, ripening 3 or 4 seeds in each cell. 



Hab.: Inland localities, Cooper's Creek, &c. 



7. GEOCOCCUS, J. Drumm. 

 (From its burying its seed-vessels in the earth.) 



Sepals short, spreading, equal at the bp,3e. Petals small. Pod oblong, slightly 

 compressed, obtuse, the valves convex, with a prominent midrib ; stigma sessile, 

 entire. Seeds few, the two series rather distinct, oblong, not bordered, with long 

 funicles ; cotyledons incumbent. — A stemless herb, with radical pinnately-divided 

 leaves, ripening its pods underground. 



The genus is limited to the following species. 



1. Cr. pusillus (small), J. Drumm. in Hook. Keio Journ. vii. 52; Benth. Fl. 

 Austr. i. 80. A stemless, tufted annual. Leaves all radical, spreading. If to 3 

 in. long, pinnately divided, with triangular or shortly lanceolate lobes, the lower 

 ones distinct, the ultimate ones confluent. Flowers in our specimens imperfect, 

 on short, erect, radical peduncles. Petals, according to Drummond, oblong, not 

 clawed, shorter than the calyx. Fruiting peduncles lengthening to from f to 

 lin., recurved so as to bury the pod in the ground. Our pods are irregularly 

 ripened. 



Hab.: Inland localities. 



This curious little plant may possibly prove to he a condition of some species having usually 

 dimorphous flowers, in which the more perfect ones are not developed. If so, it may very likely 

 be a Blennodia,, of some species of which it has the radical leaves. — Benth, 



8. *BRASSICA, Linn. 

 (From the Celtic word for cabbage.) 



Sepals erect or spreading, lateral, usually saccate at the base. Pods elongated, 

 terete or angular, often with an indehiscent 1-seed beak ; valves convex, 1 — 3- 

 nerved, lateral nerves flexuose ; style beaked or ensiform : stigma truncate or 

 2-lobed. Seeds l-seriate, globose or sub-compressed ; cotyledons incumbent, 

 concave or conduplicate, the radicle within the longitudinal fold. Glabrous or 

 hispid herbs ; rootstock often woody. Leaves large, pinnatifid or lyrate, rarely 

 entire. Flowers yellow, in long racemes. 

 Distributed over the temperate regions of the Old World, 



