﻿l,ocAi.niF».— Iii waste ground, on walls, and amongst rubbish. Very rare. — 

 Ocfordth. Under Merlon M all, and in Uo-e Lane, Oxford: Dr. Sibtmorp, 



( 1794). 1 observed it in the same locality in 1818, but I have not seen it there 



since ; it has. however, become perfectly naturalized, along with Erodium ma - 

 ritimum. on the south side of the Danby Gate, entering the Botanic Garden: 

 VV. B July lfi, 18,75 — Bucks ; Road-sides near Eton: Mr. Gotobi-d. — Cun i- 

 bridyesh. On walls at Wisbeach : Mr. Skkimshirk. — Derbysh. Wingfield 

 Manor: Pi r. kings on.— Essex ; At Kaulkbourn: Ray. — Middlesex ; About 

 London in various places ; as between the city and Kensington : also about 

 Chelsea: Ray. On walls at Brompton : Mr. BoRtirn. About Haggerstone, 

 and near Chelsea: Mr. F.. Forster, jun. On a bank opposite Shoreditch 

 Woikhouse; and between CheNea and London, plentifully: L. W. Dkewyn, 

 Esq. in Rot. Guide.— Northumberland ; On the walls of Berwick-upon-Tweed : 

 Ray, and N. J Winch, E?q. Most abundant at the Pier-gate: Dr. John- 

 rtoN. — IRELAND. By way-sides, and in wasteplaces, common: Mackay. 

 Annual. — Flowers from June to September. 



Root small, whitish, simple or branched. Stem from 6 inches 

 to 2 feet high, upright, round, even, and generally smooth, though 

 occasionally somewhat downy, purplish towards the base, branched 

 at top, and often quite from the bottom, leafy. Leaves alternate ; 

 lower ones pinnatifid, runcinate*, unequally and variously cut, 

 toothed, or serrated, petiolated (stalked), spreading and flaccid, the 

 lobes generally pointed, the terminal one larger and longer ; the 

 upper ones spear-shaped, with an arrow-shaped base. Flowers in 

 corymbs, soon lengthening out into long racemes. Calyx spread- 

 ing and yellowish. Corolla small, yellow. Petals (fig. 4.) ob- 

 long, blunt ; claws upright, the length of the calyx ; limb widely 

 spreading. Pods slender, nearly cylindrical, about two inches 

 long, on short, hairy pedicels (flower-stalks). Seeds numerous, 

 very small, of a pale yellow colour, and being a little protuberant, 

 give the pods the appearance of being finely jointed ; a character 

 which readily distinguishes this species. The whole plant is of a 

 light green, with a hot flavour of mustard. 



That celebrated Naturalist, the Rev. John Ray, F. R. S., &c. remarks, 

 that after the great fire of London, in the years 1667 and 1668, it came up abun- 

 dantly among the rubbish in the ruins. Dr. Morisov, Professor of Botany at 

 Oxford, who was living at that time, was particularly struck with so singular an 

 appearance, and in his Piceludia Bctanica has a long dialogue on this very 

 subject; in which he seems to argue, though certainly very unphilosophically, 

 for its production by spontaneous generation, from the fixed and volatile salts, 

 sulphur, &e, A circumstance somewhat analogous to the above occurred, this 

 season, in the Oxford Botanic Garden. During the time the alterations were 

 going on in the garden last year ( 1834), the rubbish was removed to a piece of 

 ground on the outside of the walls; this rubbish, as it accumulated, was set fire 

 to fiom time to time, and was frequently burning for two or three days together, 

 so that in the course of the season a considerable quantity of ashes was pro- 

 duced. Having received, in the Spring of the present year (1835), a valuable 

 collection of cuttings of nearly all the species of British Willows, from \Y. 

 Bokrf.ii, Esq. of Ilenfield, Sussex, this was the only piece of ground whiclt we 

 could appropriate to a salicetum ; and in order to prepare it for the reception 

 of the cuttings, the ashes were spread regulaily over the surface, and the whole 

 of it was trenched over ; in a shoit time, the very spot on which the rubbish was 

 burnt, produced an abundant, and very luxuiiant crop of Sisymbrium Jrio, and 

 that on a part of the garden w here I tiever remember to have seen it before. 



* A leaf is said to be runcinate. when it is cut into several transverse, acute 

 fcegnye.ri.ta, whjch poji^t bagj.vr aids. 



