122 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



broad, with three broadly ovate dentate or somewhat lobed leaflets each 

 about 2 inches long; stem leaves usually two, opposite or nearly so, short 

 petiolcd and also three-divided, the leaflets often narrower than those 

 of the basal leaves. Flowers white, one-half to two-thirds of an inch 

 broad. 



In rich woods, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to Minnesota, south 

 to South Carolina and Kentucky. Flowering usually in late April and 

 in May. 



The Large Toothwort (Dentaria maxima Nuttall) has a 

 jointed rootstock and three stem leaves (sometimes two or as many as five 

 or six), alternate, with ovate and obovate toothed and cleft leaflets and 

 large pale-purple flowers. It is rare and local in distribution. 



The species of Dentaria are members of the Mustard family (Cruciferae) 

 which contains a very large number of small-flowered, inconspicuous plants, 

 many of them weeds, as well as a number of cultivated species which have 

 become naturalized or established throughout the State. 



American Sea Rocket 

 Cakile edentula (Bigelow) Hooker 



Plate 82a 



Plant very fleshy throughout, bushy branched from a deep, annual root, 

 the lower branches spreading or ascending, the center ones erect, a few 

 inches to a foot high. Leaves oblanceolate or obovate, obtuse, lobed or 

 toothed, narrowed at the base, the lower leaves 2 to 5 inches long, the 

 upper leaves smaller. Flowers light purple, less than one-fourth of an inch 

 broad, the four petals long-clawed, more than twice the length of the sepals; 

 fruit one-half to 1 inch long, the upper joint slightly longer than the lower, 

 ovoid, angled, flattened, narrowed above into a beak; lower joint obovoid, 

 not flattened. 



Sandy places along the seashore, Newfoundland to New Jersey and 

 Florida, and along the Great Lakes, New York to Minnesota. 



