Raphanistrum siliquu articulata glabrA , majore et Kiinore, Ray’s Syn. p. 
296. — Rapistrum flare, luteo, siliquu. glabrA articulata, Ray's Syn. p. 296. 
Localities. — In corn-fields ; often a troublesome weed. 
Annual. — Flowers from June to August. 
Root simple, tapering, slender, fibrous ; of a pale brown colour. 
Stem from 1 to 2 feet high, upright, branched, hispid, leafy, of a 
somewhat glaucous colour ; its bristles prominent and pungent. 
Leaves alternate, petiolated, simply lyre-shaped, rough ; the lower 
ones with from 4 to 8, alternate, oblong, lateral lobes, and a large, 
rounded, terminal one ; upper leaves oblong, or spear-shaped, point- 
ed, undivided ; all bluntly serrated, or toothed, the teeth often 
purplish at the tip. Flowers corymbose, rather large. Cali/x ge- 
nerally bristly ; sepals strap-shaped, upright, parallel, closing 
together, except at the tip, where they are a little spreading. Corolla 
straw-coloured, or white, said sometimes to be purplish, but always 
veined with dark lines ; petals inversely egg-shaped, their claws a 
little longer than the calyx. Pods ( siliquce ) in long clusters, up- 
right, knobbed or apparently jointed, smooth, striated lengthwise 
when ripe, ending in a strap-shaped, flat, smooth beak. Seeds 
large, roundish, of a rusty-brown colour, very smooth, one in each 
joint of the pod. — Sir J. E. Smith says, the germen is divided into 
2 cells, but the partition is obliterated, and confounded in one 
spongy mass as the pod ripens. 
Wild Radish is a native, in corn-fields, throughout the whole of 
Europe. Linnaeus, in a dissertation in the Amcenitates Academics. 
(vol. vi. p. 433), informs us, that in wet seasons this weed abounds 
among barley in Sweden, and that being ground with the corn, the 
common people, who eat barley bread, are afflicted with convulsive 
complaints, or an epidemic spasmodic disease, called, from it, 
Raphania. — M. Villars, however, remarks that this weed is so 
common in some of the cold moist vallies of Dauphiny, that it must 
make great ravages there, if it were as dangerous as Linn.eus 
has represented it, and yet this spasmodic disorder is unknown in 
that country. Spielmann, Beckmann, and others, have written 
against Linnaeus on this subject; and Kroker has proved the 
plant to be harmless, and recommends it as a nutritious food for 
domestic quadrupeds, and as very agreeable to bees. — From expe- 
riments made by Linnaeus, it appears that horses eat it, but cows 
and goats refuse it. Professor Burnett thinks the deleterious 
effects ascribed to this plant in Sweden, are more probably owing 
to a morbid condition of the seeds, or to the growth of noxious 
fungi on them, than to any inherent unwholesome principle; if 
this is not the case it will be difficult to account for Raphania not 
appearing every year, as the Raphanus is constantly and abund- 
antly blended with corn, both in Sweden and in this country. In 
England, however, where the plant abounds, Raphania is unknown. 
Much valuable and interesting information respecting the nature 
and origin of Raphania and many other diseases, may be obtained 
from Professor Burnett’s “ Outlines of Botany;” a work which 
no botanical or medical Student should be without. 
