S. Sóphia, L. A similar hoary species, with decompound leaves; pods slender, 6–15´´ long, ascending; seeds 1-ranked.—Sparingly naturalized from Europe.
S. officinàle, Scop. (Hedge Mustard.) Leaves runcinate; flowers very small, pale yellow; pods awl-shaped, close pressed to the stem, scarcely stalked.—Waste places. May–Sept.—An unsightly branched weed, 2–3° high. (Nat. from Eu.)
S. Thaliàna, Gaud. (Mouse-ear Cress.) Leaves obovate or oblong, entire or barely toothed; flowers white; pods linear, somewhat 4-sided, longer than the slender spreading pedicels.—Old fields and rocks, Mass. to Kan. April, May.—A span high, slender, branched, hairy at the base. (Nat. from Eu.)
S. Alliària, Scop. Stout, erect; leaves reniform to ovate-cordate, coarsely repand-dentate; flowers white; pods tapering, 1–2´ long, ascending on very stout spreading pedicels.—Near Georgetown, D. C. (Nat. from Eu.)
16. THELYPÒDIUM, Endl.
Pod terete or teretish; valves 1-nerved; stigma mostly entire. Seeds in 1 row in each cell, oblong, marginless. Cotyledons obliquely incumbent.—Stout biennials or perennials, with mostly large purplish or white flowers. Leaves or petioles often auricled at base. (Name from θῆλυς, female, and πούς, foot, the ovary in some species being stipitate.)
1. T. pinnatífidum, Watson. Glabrous (1–3° high), often branched above; root-leaves round or heart-shaped, on slender petioles; stem-leaves auricled, ovate-oblong and ovate-lanceolate (2–6´ long), sharply and often doubly toothed, tapering to each end, the lower into a winged petiole, rarely bearing a pair or two of small lateral lobes; flowers purplish; pods 1–1½´ long, on short diverging pedicels, pointed by a short style. (Arabis hesperidoides, Gray.) Alluvial river-banks, Ohio to Minn., Mo., and southwestward. May, June.
17. BRÁSSICA (Brassica and Sinàpis), Tourn.
Pod linear or oblong, nearly terete or 4-sided, with a stout 1-seeded beak or a rigid style; valves 1–5-nerved. Seeds globose, 1-rowed. Cotyledons incumbent, folded around the radicle.—Annuals or biennials, with yellow flowers. Lower leaves mostly lyrate, incised, or pinnatifid. (The Latin name of the Cabbage. Sinapis is the Greek σίναπι, which is said to come from the Celtic nap, a turnip.)
B. Sinapístrum, Boiss. (or Sinàpis arvénsis, L., the English Charlock), with knotty pods, fully one third occupied by a stout 2-edged beak (which is either empty or 1-seeded), the upper leaves barely toothed, is a noxious weed in grain-fields, from N. Eng. to Penn. and N. Y. westward. (Adv. from Eu.)