Arabis. ] VI. CRUCIFERA. 31 
but seldom above 6 inches long. Radical and lower leaves obovate or 
oblong,-and stalked, most pinnately divided, with the terminal lobe largest, 
or some of them nearly entire; the upper leaves few, narrow, almost entire, 
tapering at the base. Flowers few, considerably larger than in D. hirsuta, 
white, or slightly purplish. Pod spreading, rather more than half an inch 
long, the seeds apparently in single rows. 
In the mountains of northern Europe, and in the higher ranges of central 
Europe, extending across N. Asia to N. America. In Britain, frequent on 
the higher mountains of northern and western Scotland, and has been found 
also in Cumberland and North Wales, and very rarely in north-west Ireland. 
Fl, summer. 
VI. CARDAMINE. BITTERCRESS. 
Herbs, either annual or with a perennial rootstock, glabrous, or bearing 
only a few simple hairs; the leaves pinnate, or, if undivided, on long stalks ; 
the flowers white or pink. Stigma capitate, or small. Pod narrow-linear ; 
the valves flat without any conspicuous midrib, and usually opening with 
elasticity. Seeds apparently in a single row in each cell ; radicle accumbent 
on the edge of the cotyledons. 
A large and natural genus, widely spread over the temperate and colder 
regions of both the northern and southern hemispheres. The white flowers 
and pinnate leaves distinguish it from all British Crucifers, except Nas- 
turtium officinale, which differs in its pods. 
Petals large, obovate or oblong, spreading. 
Stem weak. Segments of the stem-leaves broad. c 
Rootstock slender, with creeping offsets. Allthe leaves pinnate 1. C. amara, 
Rootstock thick and knotted. Upper leaves nearly une) oe 
with a bulb in their axil . 5. C. bulbifera. 
Stem stiffand erect. Segments of the stem- leaves narrow ‘ . 2. C. pratensis. 
Petals small, nearly erect. 
Stem talland erect. Leafstalk with stipule-like appendages at 
the base. 3. C.impatiens. 
Stem low and weak, or much branched. No stipular appendages 4. C. hirsuta. 
1, C. amara, Linn. (fig. 63). Large Bittercress——Rootstock slender, 
with creeping offsets. Stem a foot high or more, weak and ascending, or 
nearly erect. Leaves pinnate, with 5 or 7 distinct segments, all ovate or 
orbicular, irregularly angled or toothed, the terminal one often an inch 
long. Racemes few-flowered. Petals nearly as large as in C. pratensis, 
slightiy spreading, of a pure white. Pod about an inch long. 
In wet meadows, and along brooks and streams, generally distributed 
over Europe and north Asia (except the extreme north), and the western 
Himalaya, becoming a mountain plant in the south. Widely spread over 
Britain, but not a common or a frequent plant. Fl. spring and early 
summer. 
2, C. pratensis, Linn. (fig. 64). Meadow Bittercress, Ladies’ Smock, 
Cuckooftower.—Rootstock short and perennial, often bearing small fleshy 
scales or tubers. Stem erect, simple or branched, near a foot high. Leaves 
pinnate, the segments of the lower radical ones ovate or orbicular, the 
terminal one the largest, those of the stem-leaves narrow-oblong or linear. 
Flowers large and showy ; the petals obovate and spreading, sometimes of a 
pure white, but more frequently tinged with a pinkish purple. Pod more 
than an inch long. 
