5. C. aùrea, Willd. (Golden C.) Corolla golden-yellow, ½´ long, the slightly decurved spur about half as long, shorter than the pedicel; pods spreading or pendulous, becoming torulose; seeds obtuse-margined.—Rocky banks, Vt. to Penn., Mo., Minn., and westward.
Var. occidentàlis, Engelm. Flowers rather larger, the spur nearly as long as the body; pods less torulose, on short pedicels; seeds acutish on the margin.—Neb. and Kan. to W. Tex. and westward.
4. FUMÀRIA, Tourn. Fumitory.
Corolla 1-spurred at the base. Style deciduous. Fruit indehiscent, small, globular, 1-seeded. Seeds crestless.—Branched and leafy-stemmed annuals, with finely dissected compound leaves, and small flowers in dense racemes or spikes. (Name from fumus, smoke.)
F. officinàlis, L. (Common Fumitory.) Sepals ovate-lanceolate, acute, sharply toothed, narrower and shorter than the corolla (which is flesh-color tipped with crimson); fruit slightly notched.—Waste places, about dwellings. (Adv. from Eu.)
Order 10. CRUCÍFERÆ. (Mustard Family.)
Herbs, with a pungent watery juice and cruciform tetradynamous flowers; fruit a silique or silicle.—Sepals 4, deciduous. Petals 4, hypogynous, regular, placed opposite each other in pairs, their spreading limbs forming a cross. Stamens 6, two of them inserted lower down and shorter (rarely only 4 or 2). Pod usually 2-celled by a thin partition stretched between the two marginal placentæ, from which when ripe the valves separate, either much longer than broad (a silique), or short (a silicle), sometimes indehiscent and nut-like (nucumentaceous), or separating across into 1-seeded joints (lomentaceous). Seeds campylotropous, without albumen, filled by the large embryo, which is curved or folded in various ways: i.e. the cotyledons accumbent, viz., their margins on one side applied to the radicle, so that the cross-section of the seed appears thus o==; or else incumbent, viz., the back of one cotyledon applied to the radicle, thus o||. In these cases the cotyledons are plane; but they may be folded upon themselves and round the radicle, as in Mustard, where they are conduplicate, thus o>>. In Leavenworthia alone the whole embryo is straight.—Leaves alternate, no stipules. Flowers in terminal racemes or corymbs; pedicels rarely bracted.—A large and very natural family, of pungent or acrid, but not poisonous plants. (The characters of the genera are taken almost wholly from the pods and seeds; the flowers being nearly alike in all.)
SERIES I. Pod 2-celled, regularly dehiscent by 2 valves.
[*] Pod compressed parallel to the broad partition. Seeds flat or flattish, orbicular or oval; cotyledons accumbent or nearly so.
[+] Pod large, oblong-elliptical, valves nerveless. Seeds in 2 rows. Flowers yellow.
1. Selenia. Leaves pinnatisect. Raceme leafy-bracteate. Seeds winged.
[+][+] Pod linear; valves nerveless. Seeds in one row. Flowers yellow only in n. 3.
2. Leavenworthia. Seed winged; embryo straight or nearly so. Annual; stem often scapose, 1–few-flowered.
3. Dentaria. Stem naked below, 2–3-leaved. Pod coriaceous, with thick placentas, long-styled. Seeds wingless; cotyledons thick, very unequal.
4. Cardamine. Stem leafy. Pod coriaceous, with thick placentas. Seeds wingless; cotyledons flattened, equal.
[+][+][+] Pod linear, or oblong, or orbicular; valves 1-nerved or nerveless. Seeds in 2 rows (except in species of n. 4).
5. Arabis. Pod long-linear, the flat or flattish valves more or less 1-nerved. Seeds winged or wingless. Flowers white to purple. Stems leafy, at least below.
6. Draba. Pod oval to narrowly oblong or lanceolate; valves flat or flattish, faintly nerved or veined. Seeds wingless, numerous.
7. Alyssum. Pod orbicular; valves veinless, somewhat convex with flattened margin. Seeds wingless, 2–4.
[*][*] Pod terete or turgid, or 4-angled by the prominent midnerves. Seeds wingless, more or less turgid.
[+] Pods short. (See also n. 10.)
8. Lesquerella. Pod globular-inflated, about 4-seeded; valves nerveless. Cotyledons accumbent. Flowers yellow.
9. Camelina. Pod obovoid, many-seeded; valves 1-nerved; style slender. Cotyledons incumbent. Flowers yellow.
10. Subularia. Pod ovoid or globular, few-seeded, valves 1-nerved; style none. Cotyledons long, folded transversely. Flowers white. Dwarf stemless aquatic.
[+][+] Pod linear (or oblong or even globular in n. 10).
[++] Cotyledons accumbent.
11. Nasturtium. Pod often short; valves strongly convex, nerveless. Seeds small, in 2 rows in each cell. Flowers yellow or white.
12. Barbarea. Pod somewhat 4-sided; valves strongly 1-nerved. Seeds in 1 row. Flowers yellow.
[++][++] Cotyledons incumbent or partially so.
13. Hesperis. Pod terete, elongated; stigma-lobes narrow, erect. Flowers large, purple.
14. Erysimum. Pod 4-sided; valves strongly 1-nerved; stigma broadly 2-lobed. Pubescence of appressed 2–3-parted hairs. Flowers yellow.
15. Sisymbrium. Pod angled or teretish; valves 1–3-nerved; stigma small. Flowers yellow or white, small.
16. Thelypodium. Pod teretish; valves 1-nerved; stigma entire. Cotyledons obliquely incumbent. Flowers rose-color. Leaves auricled.
[++][++][++] Cotyledons conduplicate.
17. Brassica. Pod beaked or pointed beyond the end of the valves, or tipped with a rigid style, nearly terete, or 4-sided. Flowers yellow or whitish.
[*][*][*] Pod short; the boat-shaped valves conduplicate or much flattened contrary to the narrow partition. Flowers white.
18. Capsella. Pod many-seeded, obcordate-triangular, wingless. Cotyledons incumbent.
19. Thlaspi. Pod several-seeded, obovate or obcordate, winged. Cotyledons accumbent.
20. Lepidium. Pod 2-seeded, flat, scale-shaped. Cotyledons incumbent or accumbent.
21. Senebiera. Pod 2-seeded, didymous; the valves rugose, separating at maturity from the little partition as 2 closed 1-seeded nutlets. Cotyledons incumbent, narrow.
SERIES II. Pods indehiscent, continuous or transversely jointed; joints 1-celled.
22. Cakile. Pod short, 2-jointed; joints 1-seeded. Cotyledons plane, accumbent.
23. Raphanus. Pod elongated, several-seeded, continuous, or constricted between the seeds and moniliform. Cotyledons conduplicate.
1. SELÈNIA, Nutt.
Pod large, oblong-elliptical, flat; the valves nerveless. Seeds in 2 rows in each cell, rounded, broadly winged; cotyledons accumbent; radicle short.—A low annual, with once or twice pinnatifid leaves and leafy-bracteate racemes of yellow flowers. (Name from σελήνη, the moon, with allusion to Lunaria, which it somewhat resembles in its pods.)
1. S. aùrea, Nutt. Lobes of the simply pinnatifid leaves entire or toothed; pod ½´ long, on elongated spreading pedicels, beaked by the long slender style.—Mo. and Kan. to Tex.
2. LEAVENWÓRTHIA, Torr.
Pod broadly linear or oblong, flat; the valves nerveless, but minutely reticulate-veined. Seeds in a single row in each cell, flat, surrounded by a thick wing. Embryo straight! or the short radicle only slightly bent in the direction which if continued would make the orbicular