CBUCIFERiG. 



63 



3. Isle of Man Brassica. Brassica monensis, Huds. 

 (Fig. 7G.) 



(Sisymbrium, Eng. Bot. t. 962.) 



Either an annual or forming a stock 

 of two or three years' duration, glabrous, 

 or bearing a few stiff hairs at its base. 

 Stems sometimes barely 6 inches high, 

 with the leaves mostly radical, some- 

 times loosely branched above a foot high, 

 and more leafy. Radical leaves pin- 

 natifid or pinnate, the lobes or seg- 

 ments short and broad, and marked by 

 a few coarse teeth, the upper leaves 

 more deeply divided, with narrower seg- 

 ments. Flowers rather large, pale yellow. 

 Pods spreading, 1\ to above 2 inches 

 long, terminating in a thick beak, vary- 

 ing in length from a fifth to above a 

 third of the whole pod, and usually con- 

 taining 1 to 3 seeds above the valves. 



In western Europe, and chiefly in the Pyrenees and south-western 

 Alps, but extending up the west coast of France to Britain. FL 

 summer. The smaller and more stunted state is the most frequent in 

 sandy places on the western coasts of Great Britain as far north as 

 Bute, but the more luxuriant variety, often distinguished as a species, 

 under the name of Sinapis or Brassica Cheiranllius (Eng. Bot. 

 Suppl. t. 2821), has also been found in South Wales and the Channel 

 Islands. 



Fig. 76. 



4. Cabbage Brassica. Brassica oleracea, Linn. 

 (Fig. 77.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 637.) 



In the wild state the Cabbage has a thick, almost woody stock, pro- 

 bably of two or three years' duration, branching into erect stems 1 to 

 2 feet high. Leaves glabrous and glaucous, the lower ones large, 

 stalked, broad, sinuate, or lobed at the base, the upper ones oblong, 

 usually sinuate, clasping the stem by their broad base, but not project- 

 ing into auricles. Flowers rather large, pale yellow. Pod spreading, 

 1| inches or more in length. 



On maritime cliffs, indigenous round the Mediterranean, and re- 



