CRUCIFERiE. 



65 



6. Mustard Brassica. Brassica alba, Boiss. (Fig. 79 

 (Sinapis, Eng. Bot. t. 1677. Cultivated Mustard.) 



Stem 1 to 2 feet high, glabrous, or with 

 spreading, stiff hairs. Leaves pinnately 

 lobed or divided, more or less rough, the 

 lobes ovate or oblong, coarsely toothed, 

 the terminal one the largest. Flowers 

 rather large, fruit-pedicels spreading. 

 Pod f to 1 inch long, but more than 

 half occupied by a stout flattened beak, 

 often curved, with a single seed in its 

 base, the valves and lower part of the 

 beak very hispid with stiff white hairs 

 concealing the prominent nerves. 



In waste and cultivated places, in 

 temperate and southern Europe and 

 western Asia, and often cultivated for 

 salad or forage. Not unfrequent in some 

 parts of England and Ireland, more rare 

 in Scotland. Fl. all summer. j^ yg t 



7. Charlock Brassica. Brassica Sinapistrum, Boiss. 

 (Fig. 80.) 



(Sinapis arvensis, Eng. Bot. t. 1748. Charlock. Wild Mustard.) 



A coarse annual, 1 to 2 feet high, with 

 a few stiff spreading hairs. Leaves 

 rough with very short hairs, the lower 

 ones usually with one large oval or ob- 

 long coarsely -toothed segment, and a few 

 smaller ones along the leafstalk, the up- 

 per ones often undivided, oblong or 

 lanceolate. Flowers rather large. Pods 

 more or less spreading, \ to 1\ inches 

 long, of which rather more than a third 

 is occupied by a stout beak, often con- 

 taining a seed in its base ; the valves 

 glabrous, or rough with stiff renexed 

 hairs, the lateral nerves prominent. 



A native probably of southern Europe, 

 but now one of the most abundant weeds 

 of cultivation throughout Europe and 

 Russian Asia, and but too common all 

 over Britain. Fl. all summer. 



Fig. 80. 



