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BRITISH WILD FLOWERS 
I. —THE COMMON SHEPHERD’S-PURSE. (Capsella Bursa Pastoris, Dec.') 
Synonymf.— Thlaspi Bursa Pastoris, Lin. Specific Character. —Radical leaves more or less pinnatifid; stem- 
Engravings. —Eng. Bot., t. 1485 ; 2d ed., t. 900. leaves lanceolate-sagittate. 
Description, &c. —This is one of the commonest of the British weeds, as it is to be met with everywhere. 
The flowers are small, and have no beauty ; but they continue appearing during the whole of the summer, and 
are succeeded, as they fall off, by the seed-pods, the shape of which has obtained for the plant its well-known 
appellation of the Shepherd’s Purse. No plant propagates itself more easily than this ; the seeds ripen and fall, 
while fresh flowers are expanding; and as they germinate almost as soon as they reach the ground, new plants 
spring up, which produce flowers and seeds with such rapidity, that four generations have been watched in a 
single summer. 
GENUS XXIII. 
THE PEPPER-WORT. (Lepidium, Lin.) 
Lin , Syst. TETRADYNAMIA SILICULOSA. 
Generic Character_ Silicula ovate, or somewhat cordate; valves keeled, or occasionally ventricose, dehiscing; cells one-setded. Seeds 
somewhat triquetrous, or compressed. Racemes terminal. Flowers white. {Dec.) 
Description, &c. —The plants belonging to this genus differ widely from each other, both in their 
appearance and in their habit of growth. Some of them are annuals, some perennials, and some undershrubs; 
some of the species are used as articles of food, such as L. sativum, which is the cress used in salads, and 
L. oleraceum, which is cultivated in New Zealand, and used as spinach; while the juice of L. piscidium is 
employed by the natives of the Society Islands for stupefying fish. The name of Lepidium is derived from lepis, 
a scale ; in reference, it is said, to the shape of the seed-pods. 
THE BROAD-LEAVED PEPPER-WORT, OR POOR MAN’S PEPPER. (L. latifolium, Lin.) 
This species is very abundant in wet shady places near the sea, along the east coast of England and Scotland. 
It has broad, and somewhat long leaves, of a light bluish green, slightly toothed at the edges, and terminating in 
a sharp point. The flowers are white, and are produced in long racemes. The plant has a somewhat tuberous 
underground stem, and both it and the leaves have a sharp, hot, pungent taste like pepper. It was formerly 
much used in medicine for cases of rheumatism, and it is said still to constitute a principal ingredient in the 
medicated baths used for the cure of that complaint. This was one of the herbs formerly dedicated to Mars, 
probably on account of its hot nature. 
THE NARROW-LEAVED PEPPER-WORT. (L. ruderale, Lin.) 
This species, which has a very unpleasant smell, is generally found in waste places near the sea, or among 
calcareous rubbish. The flowers are white, in very small racemes, and the calyx is white-edged. The leaves 
are glaucous, and somewhat fleshy. 
THE MITHRIDATE, OR FIELD PEPPER-WOltT. (L. campestre, R. Brown.) 
This species is common in corn-fields, and it is easily distinguished from the other kinds by some curious 
shining scales on the seed-pods, which are probably the origin of the name of Lepidium being applied to 
the genus. 
