BRASSICA JUNCEA, R.f. & T.' 



IVide Plate XLI] 



English, none ; Vernacular, rai, sarson rai, also lahi, and sarson lahi, gohna sarson 

 (Lucknow), bari rai, barlai badshahi-lai, shahzada rai, and khas rai (Kumaun) ; Sanscrit 

 rajika.f 



Natural order Cruciferce, tribe Brassicece. A tall erect annual 3-5 ft. in height with bright 

 green foliage, rarely glaucous, more or less hispid towards the base. Steins much branched, smoohh, 

 terete, often tinged purplish red especially at the joints. Leaves not amplexicaul, the lower ones 

 stalked, lyrate or pinnatifid, margin variously serrate dentate, often very hispid especially when 

 young ; petioles channelled, upper leaves sub-sessile, linear lanceolate, smooth, dentate or the upper- 

 most quite entire. Racemes terminal ; flowers stalked ; pedicles elongating in fruit, divaricate. 

 Calyx with linear boat-shaped spreading sepals. Petals small, bright yellow. Pods slender, 1-2 in, 

 long, sub-compressed, torulose ; beak about ^ the length of the pod ; valves with a prominent mid- 

 rib. Seeds small, sub-globose, dark or reddish brown, with a rough reticulated testa. 



This species varies very much in height, some of the kinds attaining 5 feet or more. 

 It also varies in the shape of the pod; usually slender and nearly cylindrical, it some- 

 times becomes stout, laterally compressed, and less torulose than in the typical kinds, 

 whilst the distinctive characters of the foliage and seeds remain the same. In other 

 examples I have found the testa of the seed very indistinctly reticulate. The above 

 abnormal variations would seem to characterize such forms of B. juncea as being inter- 

 mediate betvj'een this species and the varieties dichotoma and Toria of B. campedris. 

 Mr. Atkinson observesj that Roxburgh's "S". ramosa is the " barlai" of Kumaun, and his 

 S. rugosa is the " badshahi-lai " or " bliotiya-lai " introduced by the Gorkhalis from 

 Nepal. 



Mustard is rarely grown alone, but is a common subordinate crop in fields of wheat, 

 barley and peas. Its cultivation in this manner is not, however, nearly as extensive a3 

 that of rape, and it is more generally restricted to the borders of fields than broad- 

 casted or sown in parallel lines across it. 



In the districts of the Benares Division it is not uncommonly grown on a larger 

 scale, being broadcasted in fields of peas. The mustard is sown first at the rate of about 

 3 lbs. to the acre, and the peas are put into the ground after it. When grown in this 

 manner its outturn is from three to four maunds of seed to the acre. 



Mustard seed yields less oil than rape-seed, the weight of oil being one-fourth 

 instead of one-third of the weight of seed. The oil is used for the same purposes as 

 that of rape, but is less esteemed as an article of food. The seed is very generally used 



* References :—Gaz. N.-W. P., Vol. x. 770. S. WilhlenovH, Boiss. Sinapis juncea, Linn. ; Boiss. Tl. Or. L 394. 

 8. intcgt ifulia, Willd. S. ramosa, rugosa, cuneijolia, Eo:kb. FL Ind. iii. 119-124. 

 f Pitldington Index 82. 

 X Gaz. N.-W. P. I.e. 



