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PLANTS GROWING IN WASTE SOIL. 297 
SHEPHERD’S-PURSE. 
Bursa Bursa-pastoris. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Mustard. White. Scentless. General. A pril-Sepieniber. 
Flowers: small; clustered in a long raceme. Calyx : of four sepals that 
fall early. Corol/a: of four cruciferous petals. Stamens: six, two of which 
are shorter than the others. /st/: one. ods: triangular; notched at the 
apex; two-valved. Leaves; those of the base, clustered, incised; those of 
the stem, arrow-shaped, partly clasping. Sve. branching. 
These insignificant little flowers crop out with much per- 
sistency along the wayside. ‘Their generic name is derived 
from the pouch-like shape of their seed-pods. The plants are 
widely distributed all over the globe, 
BLACK MUSTARD. 
Brassica nigra, 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Mustard. Yellow. Pungent. General. All summer. 
Flowers: small; clustered in racemes. /ods: half an inch long, the seeds 
dark, spicy to the taste. Stem: three to six feet high; branched. 
It is from the seeds of the black and white mustards that the 
well-known condimentismade. For this purpose the plants are 
extensively cultivated in Europe, and are sown as forage for 
cattle, when they are cut down and fed to them before the seeds 
are ripe. With us they flourish along the roadsides and are 
rather troublesome weeds in some parts of the country. 
Sinapis dba, or white mustard, has single seeds; the long 
hairy pods are beaked. 
VENUS’S LOOKING-GLASS. 
Specularia perfoliata. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Campanula. Purplish blue. Scentless. General. May-September. 
Flowers : growing with the leaves along the stem. Calyx: three to five- 
lobed. Corolla: wheel-shaped, with five almost linear lobes. Stamens: five. 
Pistil : one; stigmas, three. ods: triangular. Leaves: oblong with heart- 
shaped bases; clasping. Svem : hairy. 
This fancifully named little plant is one that bears cleistoga- 
