XIV. CRUCIFER^. 



231 



families). It also approaches Resedacees in habit, a3stivation, hypopetalism, parietal placentation, curved 

 ovule, and exalbuniinous seed. 



Cnicifercs are dispersed over the vrorld ; reaching, in the polar regions and on the highest mountains 

 the limits of phsenogamic vegetation. Most of the genera and species inhabit the South of Europe and 

 Asia Minor ; they are rarer in the tropics, in extra-tropical and temperate North America. 



The name Antiscorbutics, given by Crantz to the plants of this family, designates their most important 

 property. They contain, besides oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon, a notable quantity of sulphur and azote. 

 These elementary bodies form by their various combinations mucilage, starch, sugar, a fixed oil, albumine, 

 and especially the elements of a peculiar volatile and very acrid oil, to which Crucifers ovs^e their stimu- 

 lating virtue. When dead, these ternary and quaternary products rapidly decompose to form binary 

 compounds, and especially hydro-sulphuric acid and ammonia, the fcetid odour of which is insupportable. 



The principal edible species is the Cabbage (Brassica oleracea), which has been cultivated from the 

 most ancient times, and which yields varieties or races known under the names of Colza, Kail, Cabbage, 

 Savoy, Cauliflower, Broccoli, &c. The Rape (JB. Rapu) and the Turnip (B. Napus) have a fleshy root, rich 

 in sugar and albumine ; and their seeds eon- 

 tain a fixed oil, used for burning. The Eadish 

 ' (Raiihanus), of which two species are 

 cultivated, the one with a root black outside 

 and white within ; the other (Small Radish), 

 with a white, pink, or violet root, is used 

 as a condiment. 



At the head of the antiscorbutic 

 Crucifers must be placed the Cochharia 

 officinalis, a biennial herb which inhabits 

 the shores of the seas and salt lakes 

 of the .North of Europe ; its congeners of 

 the European Alps, the Mediterranean 

 region, Asia, and North America, possess 

 similar properties, but in a less degree. The 

 Garden Creiss {Lepidium sativum) andWater 

 Cress (Nasturtium officinale) are also used 

 as condiments. Lepidium oleraceum, which 

 grows on the shores of New Zealand, is 

 an excellent antiscorbutic, and also an 

 agreeable vegetable, which has proved 

 invaluable to seamen ; Cardamine hirsuta, 

 amara_ and pratensis, indigenous species, 

 which rival "Water Cress, have an acrid and 

 slightly bitter taste ; C. asurifolia replaces 

 Cochharia in Piedmont ; C. nasturtioides 

 is eaten in Chili as cress is in France ; 

 C. maritima, which grows on the shores of 

 the Atlantic and Mediterranean, has fallen 

 into disuse ; but C. americana has in North 

 America and the Antilles a great reputa- 

 tion as an antiscorbutic. Barharea vulga- 

 ris (Winter Cress), an indigenous plant, of 

 an acrid and piquant taste, has been unj ustly 

 abandoned. Sisymbrium officinale, another 

 common indigenous species, was formerly 

 used as a cough medicine. S. Alliaria, whose bruised leaves exhale a strong odour of garlic, was long 

 employed as a vermifuge, diuretic and depurative. 



Sea-kale {Crambe maritima), which grows on the shores of the Atlantic and British Channel, is now 



Rose of Jericho 

 {Anastatica hierochuntica.) 



