The BRITISH HERBAL. 
255 
GENUS IV. 
SINAPISTRUM. 
'"pHE flower is compofed of four petals, very fingularly arranged ; they do not expand tliemfelves 
crofs-ways, as the ofhers of this clafs ; but all incline upwards, and fpread out from one an- 
other : two of thefe petals are fmaller than the others. The cup is formed of four little leaves fpread 
opc», the lower leaf feparated as it were from the others ; and there are three little glandules at 
the bafes of the three other leaves of the cup. The fced-veflcl is long and rounded, and is compofed 
of two fides, but contains only a fingle cell ; the feeds are numerous and round. 
Linnffius places this among the letradynamia ftliquofa, but with fome repugnance to the charafters 
of that clafs. 
He fays, in the tetradpiamia four threads arc longer than the reft, and he gives them here as placed 
in the common manner ; but he is obliged to acknowledge, that, in one fpccies of this genus, there 
are twelve threads of equal length, fo that the charaifter of tetradymmia is wanting ; and in another 
the threads grow upon the ftyle : fo that the plant, according to his diftinftions, belongs to the 
gynandria ; a particular and altogether diftinit clafs. 
This (hews that no proper foundation of clalfes is to be found in thefe fmall parts of Sowers ; 
for himfelf is obliged to arrange the two plants we here fpeak of as fpecies of the fame genus, 
though, according to his fyftem, they belong to two utterly diftinft clafTes. 
This author a!fo takes away the -eftablifhed name of the clafs, and calls it ckome. We are no 
friends to thefe innovations, and have kept things here in their old channel. 
Red, five-leaved Sinapifl:rum. 
Sinapijlrum pefitaphylUum Jlore rubente: 
The root is compofed of many (lender fibres. 
The firll leaves are numerous, and have long 
and weak footftalks : they ftand five together on 
each of thefe, and are difpofed in a fingered man- 
ner : they are narrow, iharp-pointcd, and of a 
pale green. 
The ftalk is round, weak, redifh, and two feet 
high. 
The leaves on it have long footftalks, in the 
("ame manner as thofe from the root ; and they 
aifo (land five together ; and are oblong, narrow, 
and of a faint green. 
The flowers grow in a long fpike, with the 
pods at the top of the ftalks : they are large, and 
of a beautiful pale red. 
The fced-veflel is long and (lender, and eafily 
burfts with a touch, its valves or fides being very 
weaklyjoined ; the feeds are numerous, large, and 
roundifh. 
It is a ivative of Africa, and flowers in June. 
C. Bauhine calls it ^mquefolium lufim filial 
Others, Sinapifirum fentafhyllum. 
The feeds are accounted a fovereign remedy 
in obfl:rud:ions of the urinary pafTages ; but they 
are in this refpeft confined to the natural place of 
the plant's growth. We have it in gardens ; but 
its virtues are not regarded. 
The E N D o/ /fc F I F T E E N T H CLASS, 
THE 
