38 
PLANTS INDIGENOUS TO 
[Crucifer#. 
spreading-, nearly half as long- or several times or many times shorter than the rather small slightly-compressed 
rostrate silique; seeds very numerous and very minute, forming almost two irregular rows in each cell, 
fulvous or brown, roundisli-ovate, turgid, smooth. 
Rare on the sandy and gravelly banks of the Lower Murray River. Besides only as yet found on the 
rivers flowing into the Gulf of Carpentaria, and there also of very rare occurrence. 
An erect or ascending- seeming-ly annual herb, from 1 inch high. Root simple, filiform, descending 
or casually also horizontal. Stems simple or branched, leafy or almost leafless. Petioles of the stem-leaves 
dilated at the base into leafy minute blunt appendages. Leaves tender, from less than 1 inch to frilly 3 
inches long, the radical ones long-stalked, the cauline ones on more or less elongated petioles. Segments in 
few pair, often decurrent, the terminal one the largest. Racemes bractless, few- or many-flowered. Flower¬ 
bearing pedicels about 1 line long, fruit-bearing ones generally 1J-2J lines long, but the lower ones of the 
latter sometimes extended to the length of J inch, or even, if singly arising from the base of the stem, 
attaining the length of 1 inch. Sepals greenish, about 1 line long. Petals narrow-spathulate or linear- 
oblong, white, very small, slightly or oftener considerably shorter than the calyx. Filaments linear-capillary, 
pale. Anthers oblong, only about l of a line long. Silique not much spreading, £-1 inch long, line 
broad, terminated by a style of i-l line length. Valves membranous, very finely veined, nerveless or faintly 
one-nerved towards the base. Replum very narrow. Septum nerveless, considerably broader than the seed. 
Funicles extremely short, either tooth-like or subulate. Seeds only about 1 line long, without a perceptible 
border. 
At first sight this remarkable species may be mistaken for Cardamine hirsuta, but the analysis reveals 
at once the decided discrepancy. It has likewise some habitual affinity to small forms of Cardamine impatiens, 
but the foliage is less divided, the stem not remarkably silicate, the petioles are not protracted into long- 
stipular appendages, the stamens in all flowers which were examined not 6 in number, nor-exserted beyond 
the calyx, the seeds are not as large nor arrayed into a single row equal to the width of the septum. By 
this latter note it differs widely from most congeners. 
Tribe II. NQTORRHIZEiE, Ccmd. Syst ii. 438. 
Cotyledons straight, with dorsal radicle. 
SISYMBRIUM. 
Linne, Gen. 813. — Hedge -mustard. 
Sepals erect or spreading, nearly always equal at. their base. Petals undivided, unguiculate. 
Stamens free, without teeth. Stigmas more or less united. Silique nearly cylindrical or compressed- 
terete , bivalved. Stipes exceedingly short, or generally wanting. Yalves three- or one-nerved, or 
nerveless. Septum without or with two nerves. Seeds in each cell several or numerous, umseriate 
or irregularly biseriate, without a border. Funicles free, filiform. Cotyledons incumbent , with their 
edges facing the septum. 
Annual, biennial or perennial herbs, or rarely suffruticose plants, extending over most parts of 
the globe, the intratropical regions excepted. Leaves most variable in form. Pedicels racemose, 
rarely bracteate. Petals yellow or white. — Ccmd. Syst ii. 458 ; Endl Gen, 874. 
A genus, subdivided by botanical authors into several distinct sections, on one side very closely 
approaching to Arabis and Cardamine, from which alone the embryo distinguishes it; on tile other 
hand very nearly allied to Erysimum, from which it is chiefly discernible in more cylindrical than 
quadrangular siliqu&s. The few Australian species hitherto known belong to the eastern half of the 
continent; in New Zealand and in Tasmania also none are found. 
