CRUCIFERyE 75 



Cardamine pinnata R.Br. (Dentaria ■pinnata Lamk.). 



Rootstock scaly, obtuse. Stem stout, i J-2 feet. Leaves pinnate, 

 with 5-9 leaflets which are opposite, ovate-lanceolate, and irregu- 

 larly toothed. No bulbils. Flowers large, lUac, rose, or white. 

 Petals 3 times longer than the calyx. SUiqua and pedicels erect, 

 spreading. 



Mountain woods in Switzerland, Central and Southern Europe 

 from Spain to Styria. Coste says, "Not in the west or north of 

 France and rare in the south." ^ April to June. 



Cardamine polyphylla 0. E. Schulz {Dentaria polyphylla Waldst. 

 and Kit.). 



Rootstock scaly. Stem with 2-4 leaves and 7-14 flowers. Leaves 

 pinnatisect, with lanceolate segments, very acuminate, and with 

 sharp teeth. Petals yellowish white. 



Bushy places among mountains, rather rare, up to 5000 feet. 

 April to May. 



Distribution. — Switzerland, rarely in a few Cantons only. 



In Switzerland Dentaria digitata is the commonest of the four 

 species found in the country. In Tyrol and the Eastern Alps 

 several other species occur in the lower moxmtains, viz. D. cunea- 

 phyllos L. with yellowish white petals and temate leaves in whorls 

 of three ; D. alternifolia Hausm. with yellowish white flowers and 

 temately-digitate leaves, and D. intermedia Sond. with lilac or 

 white flowers and leaves quinately digitate. 



The Dentarias, as they are stiU commonly called, are useful 

 spring flowers for shrubberies and shady borders. They do well in 

 sand and peat or in sandy leaf-mould, and can easily be increased 

 from the small tuber-like roots, or by planting the bulbils of 

 D. hulhifera. 



Matthiola Br. Stock. 



Annual or perennial shrubby plants covered with hoary tomen- 

 tum. Leaves entire or sinuate. Flowers usually purple or lilac, 

 never yellow, rather large. Petals spreading, on long erect claws. 

 Pod long and narrow. Stigmas sessile, erect, sometimes with a 

 horizontal horn at the base of each. 



Mostly sea-coast plants from the Mediterranean and Western 

 Europe, with two British species. 



Matthiola vallesiaca Boiss. 



Stem very leafy at the base, about a foot high, though sometimes 

 higher in older plants. Leaves linear, obtuse, entire, covered 

 with glandular and stellate hairs, lengthened at the base and 

 dilated into a sheath. Flowers reddish violet or mauve. Pod 

 compressed, tomentose. Stigma bilobed. 



1 Found in 1903, by the writer, in a wood above Carcaniires, Pyr. Or., at about 

 4000 feet. 



