BRASSICA JUNCEA. 



as a spice to give flavour to vegetables, but sometimes as a medicine. In Kumaun, ac- 

 cording to Mr. Atkinson,* it is cultivated cbiefly for its leaves, which are eaten as a 

 vegetable, cooked and dressed with spices and clarified butter. 



Mustard, like rape, is not uncommonly cut green in January and February, and 

 given to cattle should the supply of cattle fodder have run short. 



In addition to the oil-yielding Brassicas which have already been described, there 

 are three distinct species which are occasionally met with as cultivated plants in these 

 Provinces, viz., B. nigra, Koch, B. alba, H. /. and T., and B. chinensis. Linn. {Sinapis). 



B. nigra\ is the black mustard of commerce, the powdered seeds of which form one 

 of the ingredients of ordinary table mustard. It is sparingly cultivated in these Pro- 

 vinces. It is used medicinally as a rubefacient and vesicant, and probably also as a con- 

 diment like rai (5. junced). Samples of seeds w^ere received from the following districts : 

 — Agra (rai), Awa (makra rai), Bareilly (rai), Benares (Benarsi rai), Budaun (rai), 

 Bulandshahr (lain), Ghazipur (ghor rai), Ilamirpur (Benarsi), Kumaun (rai), Meerut 

 (rai), Mirzapur (jagrai sarson), Sabaranpur frai). The plant is easily distinguished by 

 its compact corymbs of small bright yellow flowers, and the short slender pods adpres- 

 sed to the stem. 



B. alha\ is the white mustard of commerce. It is used in this country for the same 

 purposes as the preceding. Plants were raised in the Saharanpur garden from seed sent 

 from the Kumaun Tarai, the only district from which it was received. It may be at 

 once recognized by the large pale yellow flowers, and the spreading hispid pods with the 

 large flat beak. 



B. chinensis^ is a handsome tall growing plant with the habit and many of the 

 characters o^B. jiincca. It has been cultivated in the Saharanpur garden for several 

 years ; seeds of this species have lately been received from Kumaun under the names of 

 " China rai," " badshahi rai," and " rai mustard." 



Explanation of Flate XLI. 



1. Flower seen from beneatb, j ^1;^^^,^ enlarged. 



2, Ditto, side view, ) 



Drawn from a living specimen gathered at Saharanpur 



3. Single pod, 



4. Upper portion of plant, 



5. Lower leaf, 

 0. Inflorescence, 



1 



nat. size. 



• References :— Gaz. N.-w. P. 1. c 



t Hook. Fl. Brit. Ind. i. 156 ; Bentley and Trim. Med. PI. 22 ; Gaz. N.-W. P. x. 729 and 769. S. nigra, Linn. S. erytimoidet. 

 Eoxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 123. 



X Hook. Fl. Brit. Ind. i. 157 ; Bentley and Trim. Med. PI. 23. Sinapig alba. Linn. 

 § Sinapii chinensis, Linn. 



