56 



THE CEUCIFER FAMILY. 



in cottage gardens, is frequently met 

 with, apparently wild, further to the 

 north. In Britain, probably only as an 

 outcast from gardens. Fl. early sum- 

 mer. 



The Virginia Stock of our gardens, 

 a seacoast 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 thick- 

 ened at the base. 



Fig. 67. 



IX. SISYMBRIUM. SISYMBKIUM. 



Annual, or rarely perennial, erect herbs, glabrous, or with spread- 

 ing 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 valves. Seeds apparently in a single row, ovoid or 

 oblong, not flattened ; the radicle incumbent on the back of one of the 

 cotyledons. 



A numerous genus, spread over the northern hemisphere, with the 

 yellow flowers and habit of Wintercress and Brassica, but differing 

 essentially from both in the position of the radicle. Several species of 

 the three genera are popularly known by the name of Roclcet. 

 Leaves deeply pirmatifid. 



Terminal lobe of the leaves broad and very obtuse, 



nmeh larger than the others Common Wintercress. 



Lobes of the leaves lanceolate, the lower ones often 

 curved backwards. 

 Pods short, downy, closely pressed against the axis 1. Common S. 

 Pods long, glabrous, spreading, and often turned 



to one side 2. Broad S. 



Leaves twice or thrice pinnate, with numerous small 



linear segments 3. Fine-leaved S. 



Besides the above, the S. polyceratium, from Continental Europe, 

 is said to have established itself in the streets of Bury, in Suffolk. It 

 has the foliage of the broad S., with numerous shorter pods crowded in 

 the axils of the upper leaves. 



