Hesperis. ] VI. CRUCIFERZ., 33 
VII. HESPERIS. HESPERIS. 
Coarse, erect herbs, more or less hairy, with toothed leaves, and 
rather large purple flowers, resembling those of Matthiola. Calyx erect. 
Petals on long claws. Pods long and linear, nearly cylindrical; the 
stigma oblong, erect, and very shortly divided into two parallel lobes. 
Seeds not winged, apparently in a single row in each cell; the radicle 
is incumbent. 
A genus confined to Europe and northern Asia, nearly allied to 
Matthiola, but with a somewhat different habit, and an incumbent 
radicle. 
1° H. matronalis, Linn. (fig. 69). Dame’s Violet.—Stems 2 to 3 
feet high, usually slightly branched. Leaves shortly stalked, or taper- 
ing at the base, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, 2 to 3 inches long, or the 
upper ones smaller. Flowers usually fragrant in the evening. Pods 2 
to 4 inches long, nearly cylindrical, but much contracted between the 
seeds. ° 
In hedges, bushy places, and open woods, in central and southern 
EKurope, and all across Russian Asia, and, having been long cultivated 
in cottage gardens, is frequently met with, apparently wild, further 
to the north. In Britain only as an escape from gardens. J. early 
SUMMEP. 
The Virginia Stock of our gardens, a sea-coast plant of southern 
Europe, is said to have been found on our own shores near Dover. It 
belongs to the genus Malcolmia, only differing from Hesperis in the 
more pointed lobes of the stigma, and the pod slightly thickened 
at the base. 
VIII. SISYMBRIUM. SISYMBRIUM. - 
Annual, or rarely perennial, erect herbs, glabrous, or with spreading 
hairs; the flowers small, yellow, or, in some exotic species, white. 
- Pod linear, nearly cylindrical, the lateral nerves of the valves more or 
less distinct; the stigma entire, small or capitate, closely sessile on the 
summit of the ovary. Seeds apparently in a single row, ovoid or oblong, 
not flattened ; the radicle incumbent. 
A numerous genus, spread over the northern hemisphere, with the 
yellow flowers and habit of Barbarea and Brassica, but differing essen- 
tially from both in the position of the radicle. Several species of the 
three genera are popularly known by the name of Rocket. 
Leaves deeply pinnatifid. 
Terminal lobe of the leaves broad and very obtuse, much larger 
than the others : : A : : : : : . Barbarea vulgaris. 
Lobes of the leaves lanceolate, the lower ones often curved backwards. 
Pods short, downy, closely pressed against the axis. . LS. officinale. 
Pods long, glabrous, spreading, and often turned to one side 2. S. Ivio. 
Leaves twice or thrice pinnate, with numerous small linear seg- 
ments. ‘ : 5 f ; : é ‘ P . 3. S. Sophia.’ 
Besides the above, the S. polyceratium, from continental Europe, is 
established in the streets of Bury, in Suffolk, and on ballast hills in 
Fife. It has the foliage of S. rio, with numerous shorter pods crowded 
in the axils of the upper leaves. 
1. S. officinale, Scop. (fig. 70). Hedge Mustard.—An erect annual, 
more or less downy, a foot high or rather more, with very rigid, 
spreading branches. Leaves deeply pinnatifid, with few lanceolate, 
C 
