The 4 petals of the small flower have slender bases, and spread their tips in the oblong-cross design which gives the family of Mustards its Latin name; their texture is delicate, and color a pure yellow; the pistil is green, with a yellow tip, and there are 4 yellow stamens; the 4 calyx-divisions are slender, greenish-yellow, and as long as the base of the petals which they hold loosely. The flowers form round club-like clusters, which prolong themselves as the blossoms mature.
The seed-pod is 4-angled, and tipped with the little tenacious pistil. These light and feathery flowers are seen to best advantage when, lifting their slender stems above the thickets that congregate in the lee of old buildings, they show their yellow against the weather-worn gray-lavender timbers. They love old cellar-holes also, and peep airily in at the blank windows of deserted houses.
WILD KALE: B. nigra.
| Pepper-grass. | Lepidium Virginicum. |
| Birds’ Pepper (Neb.). |
Found blooming inconspicuously from June to October, upon barrens and waste fields.
The often branching stalk is leafy above the first branch, though bare below, and grows from 6 to 24 inches in height according to its opportunities; it is slender but of a woody, tough fibre, and smooth; gray-green in color.
The narrow small leaf, with its tapering base, is only occasionally notched, and is of a dusty-green color. The leaves are set on the stalk alternately, and in little groups.
The very tiny unnoticeable flower has 4 thin, white petals, and 2 little stamens; the green calyx is barely visible. The flowers are set on thread stems, in loose, stiff, club-shaped and long clusters.
The most important feature of this plant is the seed; as the bloom moves upward it leaves behind a long stretch of maturing seed-pods, like little flat discs with a tiny notch at the top; a pungent flavor belongs to these pods, which is found acceptable by the cosmopolitan palate of childhood.