,38 



THE CRUCIFER FAMILY. 



means of the leaf- stalks, which usually 

 terminate in delicate tendrils. Leaf- 

 segments small, ovate or oblong, and 

 often toothed or cut. Racemes or spikes 

 short and compact at the extremity of 

 the peduncles. 



Flowers small, white, with a slight yel- 

 low tinge, and a very short spur. Pod 2 

 or 3 lines long. 



In hilly districts and stony situations, 

 in western Europe, penetrating eastward 

 into northern Germany, and here and 

 there along the Mediterranean. Widely distributed over Britain, but 

 not common, except in some parts of western and northern England, 

 Ireland, and southern Scotland. Fl. summer. 



Fig. 46. 



VI. THE CEUCIFER FAMILY. CRUCIFER.E. 



Herbs, or rarely undershrubs, with alternate leaves and no 

 stipules; the flowers in terminal racemes, which are generally 

 very short or reduced to a corymb when the flowering com- 

 mences, but lengthen out as it advances. Sepals 4. Petals 4, 

 equal, or two (on the outer side) larger. Stamens 6, of which two 

 are generally shorter or very rarely deficient. Ovary solitary, 

 2-celled. Style single, often very short or almost none, with a 

 capitate or 2-lobed stigma. Fruit a pod, divided into 2 cells by a 

 thin partition, from which the valves generally separate at ma- 

 turity ; or, in a few genera, the pod is one-celled or indehiscent, 

 or separates transversely into several joints. Seeds without al- 

 bumen, attached, in each cell, alternately, to the right and left 

 edges of the partition. 



An extensive and very natural family, widely spread over the globe, 

 but chiefly in the northern hemisphere ; scarce within the tropics, and 

 in some districts entirely unknown. The number of sepals, petals, and 

 stamens readily distinguish Crucifers from all other British plants, but 

 the discrimination of the numerous genera into which they are distri- 

 buted is a much more difficult task. The characters are necessarily 

 derived chiefly from the pod and the seed, and are often very minute. 

 It is therefore absolutely necessary, in order to name a Crucifer, to have 

 the specimen in fruit, and to examine the seed it must be ripe ; it 

 should then be soaked and the outer coating carefully taken off, in 



