TETRADYXAMIA SILICULOSA 379 



L C. armoracia, L. Radical leaves oblong, crehate, stem-leaves 

 lanceolate, ilentate, or incised, sessile; silicle elliptic. Beck, Bot. p. 

 27. 



Va] g a— Horse-Radish. [bano picante. 



Gall— Moutarde des Capucins. Gemu-Der Meer-rcitig. Hisp.- Ra- 

 Root perennial, large,Jleshy, tapering, white, very acrid. Stem 2 to 3 feet high, 

 erect, angular-striate, smooth, with axillary branches above. Radical leaves 

 £ to 12 or 13 inches long, and 3 to 6 inches wide, oblong, rather obtuse, crenate, 

 smooth, petioles 4 to 10 or 12 inches long, channelled on the upper side, and some- 

 what margined; stem-leaves smaller, lanceolate, narrowed at base, sessile, the 

 lower ones often pinnatifidly incised, the upper ones incised-dentate, or sometimes 

 entire. Racemes corymbose when flowering, elongating ; pedicels 1 third to half 

 an inch long, slender. Petals white. Silicles elliptic, mostly abortive. 



Hab. Gardens, <$-c. frequent. Fl. May— June. Fr. June—July. 



Obs. Much cultivated for its pungent ly acrid root, which is iti general use as a 

 condiment ; and is, moreover, a valuable antiscorbutic :— a property highly char* 

 act eristic of the whole Class. The plant thrives best in moist situations. The C. 

 officinalis, or Scurvy Grass, is occasio?ially to be met within gardens: but is 

 scarcely eyititlcd to be enumerated among our cultivated plants. Hie " Scurvy 

 grass" of our Seeds-men, ami Gardeners, is the Barbarea praecox, of Ait. Qnd 

 DC. Hiere are no native species of Cochlcaria in the U. States. 



312. CAMELIXA. Cvantz. DC. St/st. 2. p. 514. 

 [Gr. C/tamai, dwarf, and Linon, (lax ; from a fancied resemblance in the plants.] 



Calyx equal at base. Petals entire. Filaments without teeth. Silicle 

 obovoid, or subgloboso, obtuse, entire, mucronate with the persistent 

 style. Seeds numerous, oblong, not margined ; cotyledons incumbent. 



1. C. sativa, Crantz. Leaves lanceolate, sessile, sagittate ; silicles 



obovoid-pyriform, inflated, margined, mucronate with the longish style. 



Beck, Bot. p. 27. 



Myagrum sativum. Willd. Sp. 3. p. 408. 



Alyssum sativum. Muhl. Catal. p. 60. FloruU Cestr. p. 73. 



Cultivated Camelum. Vulgo— Wild Flax. Gold of Pleasure. 



Gallice— Cameline cultiv^c. Germ.— Der Leindotter, Hisp.— Miagro. 



Root annual. Stem 18 inches to 3 feet high, erect, slender, terete, sub-pubescent, 

 simple, paniculate at summit. Leaves 1 to near 3 inches long, and 1 fourth to half 

 an inch wide, entire, or obsoletely denticulate, roughish-pubescent, sessile, sagit- 

 tate with acute amplcxicaul lobes at base ; pubesce?we of the stem and leaves often 

 branched, or bifurcate. Racemes corymbose-paniculate ; pedicels half an inch to 

 an inch long. Petals yellow. Silicles about 1 fourth of an inch long ; style about 

 half as long as the silicle, persistent, splitting with the dehiscent valves. 

 Hab. Cultivated grounds : not very common. Fl. May—June. Fr. July. 



Obs. This foreigner was formerly frequent in wheat fields,-and sometimes 

 abundant among Flax crops, when that plant was extensively cultivated : But ft 

 is now becoming rare. Some of our old-fashioned farmers were so benighted in 

 their notions, as to believe that it was a sort of degenerate flax, produced by sow- 

 ing flax-seed in a burnt soil I The plant is said to be cultivated, in Germany, for 

 the sake oi the oil afforded by the seeds. There are no native species in the U. 

 States. 



