32 CRUCfFER.'E 



secreting glands on the receptacle, one in front of each sepal. 

 There are two carpeh, united to form a dry pod-like fruit. This 

 is generally compressed and dehisces by yalves, when if elongated 

 it is termed a si/iqna, if short and broad, a silick. A partition, or 

 septum, dividing it into two chambers crosses its interior, either 

 parallel with the valves, /. e. across the linger transverse diameter 

 (lalisepf), or at right angles* with them [angustisept). 

 In some genera the pod is d'ivided into several trans- 

 verse, r-seeded joints, when it is termed a lovientiim. 

 The seeds are small, exalbuminous, and oily. Tlieir 

 relatively large lOfvIcdons a'rc variously placed with 

 reference to the i-adick or primary embryonic root, 

 this root being either iiu-nhi/viif, or folded against 

 the back of one cotyledon, or oiCiiiuhniU folded 

 SiUdeofShep- a^inst the edges of both. The plants of this 



herd b Puibc o D J- 



Order are rich in nitrogen and sulphur, and have an 

 unpleasant odour when boiling or rotting. In a wild state they 

 are almost always pungent and even acrid ; but none of them are 

 poisonous, and many of them have valuable stimulant properties, 

 besides their use in medicine as antiscorbutics, or remedies against 

 scurvy. Under cultivation many of them become more succu- 

 lent and form some of our most useful vegetables, such as the 

 cabbage, turnip, radish, cress, and sea-kale. There are at least 

 1,200 species, mostly natives of the temperate zone, chiefly in the 

 Old World. They form a considerable proportion of the vegeta- 

 tion of Arctic latitudes. 



Sub-ordc'r I. Si/iip/osa-. Fruit a latlsept sitiqiia 



Tril'g I. Araludea. Cotyledons accuiiibent 



* Stigma ideded 



I. MATTHfoL;\. — Stigma of two erect lobes ; flo'd'ers large, lilac 

 or violet. 



*2. Cheiranthus. — Stigma of two spreading lobes ; flowers 

 large, yellow ; pod compressed with two prominent longitudinal 

 ribs. 



** Stigma sma/t, undirided 



3. Radicula. — G?/i',\' spreading; /(/ii*cylindric ; Talves convex; 

 seeds minute, 2-seriate. 



4. Barbakea. — C(7/)',v erect ; /rt/ 4-ahgled ; seeds i-seriate. 



5. A kadis. — /W linear, flat, obtuse; ('tr/tV'.f with one longitu- 

 dinal rib or several veins, not elastic. 



