CABBAGE FAMILY 49 



4. D. verna (Spring Whitlow-grass). — Stem a single, slender, 

 leafless scape ; leaves rosulate, lanceolate, hairy ; floivers minute ; 

 petals deeply bi-lobed ; pods varying very much in form and com- 

 pression. — Common on walls and dry banks. — Fl. February — July. 

 Annual. 



** Flowers yellow 



5. D. aizbides (Yellow Alpine Whitlow-grass). — Stem leafless, 

 1 — 5 in. high; leaves rosulate, linear, glabrous, ciliate ; petals 

 slightly notched. — On rocks and walls at Pennard Castle, near 

 Swansea, where it forms dense tufts with bright yellow flowers. — 

 Fl. March — May. Perennial. 



17. Cochlearia (Scurvy-grass). — Glabrous herbs, with simple, 

 often fleshy leaves ; small white flowers ; and 

 nearly globose pods, with prominent dorsal 

 veins. (Name from the Latin cochlear, a 

 spoon, from the shape of the leaves in some 

 species.) The plants of this genus derive 

 their English name from the relief which they 

 afford to sailors suffering from scurvy, in con- 

 sequence of their being debarred from the 

 use of fresh vegetables. This antiscorbutic 

 quality is shared to an equal degree by other 

 plants of the Order ; but these were most 

 readily available from growing near the sea. 

 Steam navigation and the consequent short- 

 ening of voyages, preserved vegetables, and 

 the use of limejuice have, however, rendered {Vernaiwhitiew-grass). 

 this dreadful disease much less common. 



1. C. officinalis (Common Scurvy-grass). — Stem often much 

 branched, 10 in. high ; radical leaves stalked, orbicular or reni- 

 form, cordate ; cauline leaves amplexicaul, lobed ; ..flowers in 

 rather large corymbs ; pod nearly globose. — On muddy sea- 

 shores ; common. — Fl. May, June. Annual. 



2. C. alpina (Alpine Scurvy-grass). — A smaller form with an 

 obovoid pod. — On lofty mountains. 



3. C. ddnica (Danish Scurvy-grass). — Another small form, with 

 stalked, deltoid leaves and an ovate pod.— Cliffs and hedges near 

 the sea ; common. — Fl. March — August. Biennial. 



4. C. dnglica (English Scurvy-grass).— Branches 10 — 18 in. 

 long ; radical leaves not cordate, fleshy ; flowers and pods larger 

 than in C. officinalis, the latter somewhat elongate, nearly \ in 

 in length. Muddy seashores ; common. — Fl. May — August. 

 Annual. 



