50 Draba verna, 



or rather densely pubescent. Scapes numerous, forming a curve or 

 semicircle from the roots upwards, pubescent about half their length. 

 Flowers alternate, pedunculate, numerous. Peduncles at first short. 

 becoming elongated as the fruit is matured, when they are about 

 three-fourths of an inch in length and very slender. Petals white, very 

 small, bifid. Fruit an oval pod, consisting of two membranaceous 

 valves. Style very small. Stigma sessile. Seeds numerous, small, 

 brownish. 



The American species are six in number, of which the present 

 is the most common, often covering whole fields and acres of 

 unenclosed grounds in the vicinity of cities, giving them an entire 

 white appearance. Though this little plant is far from possessing any 

 beauty, it is nevertheless very interesting to those who take any in- 

 terest in plants, from the circumstance of its being the earliest har- 

 binger of the American Spring. It frequently is found in bloom when 

 not more than half an inch high, during the soft weather of February, 

 and constantly in March, about the 12th of common seasons. It drops 

 its seeds early in the season, which appear again to produce new plants 

 that flower in the autumn. 



The figure represents the plant of its natural size, culled in April. 

 By comparison with the European Draba verna. it may be ascertain- 

 ed whether the plants arc identical. This by Michaux and Dr. Barton 

 was supposed not to be the case. 



