_'Capsella.] x. ceucifeh^. (Hook. f. & T. Anderson.) 159 



-28. CAPSEX.X.A, Mcencli. 



! Small branched annuals or perennials. Badical leaves entire or pinnatifid. 

 Flowers small, wMte, racemed. Sepals spreading, equal at the base. Petals 

 short. Fods obcordate cuneate ovate or oblong, laterally compressed ; valves 

 convex or boat-shaped ; septum very narrow ; style short. Seeds numerous, 

 2-seriate, narrowly margined : cotyledons incumbent.— DisteiB/ Species 6, 

 natives of N. and S. temperate regions. 



1. C. Bursa-pastoris, Mcench. ; leaves rosulate pinnatifid, pod trian- 

 gular or obcordate. H.f. & T. in Journ. Linn. Soc. v. 172. 



Cultivated places throughout temperate India. — DjaxKiB. A weed of cultivation. 



Glabrous or hairy ; hairs branched ; root long, tapering. Stems 6-16 in., branched. 

 Leaves pinnatifid, rarely entire, upper lobe triangular, cauline auricled. Flowers -fw in. 

 ■ diam. Pods J-J in. ; pedicels slender ; style short ; valves smooth. Seeds many, 

 oblong, punctate. 



2. C. elliptlca, C. A. M. ; Led. Fl. Ross. i. 199 ; annual, glabrous, stems ' 

 slender decumbent and ascending, leaves entire or pinnatifidj pods ovate- 

 oblong truncate. 'H.f.& T. in Journ. Linn. Soc. v. 172. C. prooumbens, 

 Boiss. Fl. Orient, i 340. Hutchinsia procumbens, Desv. 



Westeeh Tibet, alt. 14,000 ft., Thomson. — Dibtbib. Westward to S. Europe and 

 N. Africa (Australia, Chili, perhaps introduced). 



Stems 2-10 in., numerous from the root, filiform, flexuous. Leaves ^4 in., radical 

 petioled, oblong or spathulate; upper more sessile, linear, entire. Flowers minute, 

 white, in elongating racemes with a capillary rachis. Pods distant, J-|- in., on long 

 ' capillary horizontal pedicels ; valves boat-shaped. Seeds many, minute. 



3. C Thomsoni, H. f. in Journ. Linn. Soc. v. 173 ; perennial, hoary- 

 tomentose, branches spreading from the root, leaves pinnatisect, rac.emes 



; leafy, pod broadly oblong truncate at both ends. Hutchinsia tibetica, 

 Thomson in Hook Ic. PI, t. 900. 



Westers Tibet, alt. 16-18,000 ft., Nubra, Strachey ; Ladak, Thomson. 



Boot long, fusiform, almost woody, crowned by a short stock that emits many pro- 

 strate leafy branches, 2-6 in. Ion?, with ascending tips. Leaves sessile, j-1 in., linear- 

 oblong, segments lanceolate. Ploivers crowded, white, in the axils of leafy bracts, 

 very shortly pedicelled. Pods i in. ; valves much compressed, obscurely keeled 

 veined ; stigma sessile, minute. Seeds numerous, very small, funioles slender. — •-'V very 

 curious plant, quite unlike its congeners, with the habit of the Siberian Mytchinsia 

 ariyma,. Desv. {Smelowsida, C. A. M.) 



29. XiEFipiVia, Linn. 



Diffuse or erect herbs, undershrubs or shrubs, with entire or divided leaves. 

 Flowers small, vphite, ebracteate. Sepals short, equal at the base. Petals 

 sometimes 2-4 or 0. Stamens 6, 4, or 0. Pods ovate or oblong, rarely glo- 

 bose, usually orbicular, laterally much compressed, tip notched or entire ; 

 valves boat-shaped, keeled or winged ; septum narrow, membranous. Seeds 

 solitary in each cell ; cotyledons incumbent (in the Indian species). — Dis- 

 TEiB. Species about 80, chiefly European and Asiatic. 



Sect. I. Cardaxnum. Pods ovate or oblong, notched at the tip ; valves 

 winged. Cotyledons divided. 



1. Xi. sativum, Linn.; erect, radical leaves 2-pinnatisect, pods orbi- 

 cular-ovate, wings narrow. H.f. & T. in Journ. Linn. Soc. v. 174 (Cress.). 



