Root tapering, fibrous, whitish, with a peculiar scent somewhat 
like that of smoke. Stem from 6 to 18 inches or more high, 
branched, leafy, upright or spreading, nearly cylindrical, somewhat 
striated, rough, especially in the lower part, with prominent hairs. 
Root-leaves several, more or less deeply pinnatifid, toothed or notch- 
ed, the segments varying much in form, the terminal lobe usually 
triangular and acute ; stem-leaves oblong or strap-spear-shaped, 
pointed, toothed, clasping the stem with their arrow-shaped base ; 
all more or less hairy. Flowers small, in corymbs, lengthening out 
into racemes. Sepals membranous at the margin, sometimes smooth, 
sometimes with long scattered hairs. Petals entire, white, a little 
longer than the sepals. Germen roundish, compressed. Style very 
short. Stigma somewhat downy. Pouch triangular or inversely 
heart-shaped, smooth, a little tumid, blunt with a broad shallow 
sinus at the extremity, in which the short, permanent style is si- 
tuated. Partition narrow. Seeds several, from 5 to 10 or 12 in 
each cell, of a yellowish colour, each on a little stalk (umbilical 
thread), which connects it with the placenta. 
This plant is a native of almost every part of the world. Dr. 
Withering remarks, that it begins to flower long before it has 
attained its full size ; the flowers at first forming a corymb, which 
afterwards becomes a long spike-like raceme. The stem also, at 
first simple, in time becomes branched ; the first branches issuing 
from its upper part. 
March and April are the months in which it is most generally 
found in flower; yet, like the Groundsel f Senecio vulgaris ), and Poa 
annua, it may be found in this state at almost any time of the year. 
The radical leaves, as Mr. Curtis observes, differ so exceedingly 
in their appearance, that the most expert Botanist is often obliged 
to have recourse to its most striking character, the shape of its 
seed-vessels, before he can with certainty distinguish it. When it 
grows on walls, and in dry situations, the root-leaves are more 
deeply divided, and the segments become much narrower : in cul- 
tivated ground they are broader and less jagged ; and in a dry 
barren chalk the leaves are all entire. It is a strong instance of 
the influence of soil and situation ; sometimes not being more than 
2 or 3 inches high when it flowers and perfects its seeds, whilst in 
other situations it attains the height of as many feet. 
The young radical leaves are brought to market, in Philadelphia, 
and sold for greens in the spring of the year. Small birds are fond 
of the seeds. 
It is a bad weed in gardens, but is easily kept under by hoeing 
the ground in dry hot weather, at or before it comes into flower ; 
for if suffered to seed it will become very troublesome. 
A small, white, parasitic fungus, Uredo Thlaspi, Sow. Brit. Fungi, 
t. 340. ; U. Candida, Grev. Scot. Crypt. FI. t. 251. ; Baxt. St. Crypt. 
Oxon. N. 88. ; and Hook. Br. FI. v. ii. Pt. n. p. 384. ; is very com- 
mon on this plant about Oxford, often causing the stems to become 
very much distorted. Another minute white fungus, Rotrytis para- 
sitica, Hook. Br. FI. v. ii. Pt. ii. p. 343, is also common on this 
plant, being parasitic on those parts of it which are attacked by 
the Uredo. 
