9. A. dentàta, Torr. & Gray. Roughish pubescent, slender (1–2° high); leaves oblong, very obtuse, unequally and sharply toothed; those of the stem numerous, half-clasping and eared at the base, of the root broader and tapering into a short petiole; petals (whitish) scarcely exceeding the calyx; pods widely spreading, very slender, short-stalked; style scarcely any.—N. Y. to Mich., Minn., and southward. May, June.
6. DRÀBA, Dill. Whitlow-Grass.
Pod oval, oblong, or even linear, flat; the valves plane or slightly convex; the partition broad. Seeds several or numerous, in 2 rows in each cell, marginless. Cotyledons accumbent. Filaments not toothed.—Low herbs with entire or toothed leaves, and white or yellow flowers; pubescence often stellate. (Name from δράβη, applied by Dioscorides to some cress; meaning unknown.)
§ 1. DRABÆ̀A. Petals not notched or cleft; perennial or biennial, leafy-stemmed, flowers white, pods twisted when ripe.
1. D. ramosíssima, Desv. Diffusely much branched and forming many radical tufts, perennial (5–8´ high), pubescent; leaves laciniate-toothed, linear-lanceolate, the lower oblanceolate, racemes corymbosely-branched; pods hairy, oval-oblong or lanceolate (2–5´´ long), on slender spreading pedicels, tipped with a long style.—Cliffs, Harper's Ferry, Natural Bridge, etc., Va., to Kentucky River, and southward. April, May.
2. D. incàna, L. Hoary-pubescent, biennial or somewhat perennial, the radical tuft seldom branching; leaves oblanceolate or the cauline lanceolate to ovate, few-toothed or entire; pods oblong to lanceolate, usually acute and straight, often pubescent, on short erect pedicels; style very short or none.—Dry rocks, Willoughby Mountain, Vt.; also northward and far westward. (Eu.)
Var. arábisans, Watson. Caudex much branched; pod glabrous, acuminate or acute, twisted, beaked with a longer distinct style. (D. arabisans, Michx.)—N. Vt. to western N. Y. and the shores of the upper lakes.
§ 2. DRABÉLLA. Winter annuals; leafy stems short; flowers white (yellow in n. 5); style none. (Leaves oblong or obovate, hairy, sessile.)
3. D. Caroliniàna, Walt. Small (1–5´ high); leaves obovate, entire; peduncles scape-like; petals usually twice the length of the calyx; raceme short or corymbose in fruit (½–1´ long); pods broadly linear, smooth, much longer than the ascending pedicels.—Sandy and waste fields, E. Mass. to Minn., and southward. March–May.—Petals often wanting in the later racemes, especially in the var. micrántha, Gray, with minutely rough-hairy pods, which is found with the other, westward.
4. D. cuneifòlia, Nutt. Leaves obovate, wedge-shaped, or the lowest spatulate, toothed; raceme somewhat elongated in fruit (1–3´), at length equalling the naked peduncle; petals emarginate, much longer than the calyx; pods oblong-linear, minutely hairy, longer than the horizontal pedicels.—Grassy places, Ill. to E. Kan., and southward. March, April.