Chapter D: VERNA, L. (WHITLOW-GRASS.) Small (scapes 1--3' high); leaves all

radical, oblong or lanceolate; racemes elongated in fruit; pods varying from round-oval to oblong-lanceolate, smooth, shorter than the pedicels.--Sandy waste places and roadsides. April, May. (Nat. from Eu.)

7. ALYSSUM, Tourn.

Pod small, orbicular, with only one or two wingless seeds in a cell; valves nerveless, somewhat convex, the margin flattened. Flowers yellow or white. Filaments often toothed. Cotyledons accumbent. (Greek name of a plant reputed to check the hiccup, as the etymology denotes.)

A. MARITIMUM, L. (SWEET ALYSSUM), with green or slightly hoary linear leaves, honey-scented small white flowers, and 2-seeded pods, commonly cult., begins to be spontaneous southward. (Adv. from Eu.)

A. CALYCINUM, L., a dwarf hoary annual, with linear-spatulate leaves, pale yellow or whitish petals little exceeding the persistent calyx, and orbicular sharp margined 4-seeded pod, the style minute, occurs occasionally in grassland. (Adv. from Eu.)

8. LESQUERELLA, Watson.

Pod mostly globular or inflated, with a broad orbicular to ovate hyaline partition nerved to the middle, the hemispherical or convex thin valves nerveless. Seeds few or several, in 2 rows, flat. Cotyledons accumbent. Filaments toothless.--Low herbs, hoary with stellate hairs or lepidote. Flowers mostly yellow. (Named for _Leo Lesquereux_.)

1. L. globosa, Watson. Minutely hoary all over; stems spreading or decumbent from an annual or biennial root; leaves oblong or lanceolate with a tapering base, repand-toothed or nearly entire; raceme at length elongated, with filiform diverging pedicels; petals light yellow; style filiform, much longer than the small globose, acutish, about 4-seeded pod; seeds marginless. (Vesicaria Shortii, _Torr._)--Rocky banks, Ky. to Tenn. and Mo. May, June.

2. L. gracilis, Watson. Annual, slender; pubescence very fine; leaves narrowly oblanceolate; pods glabrous, suberect on ascending or curved pedicels, stipitate; style long. (Vesicaria gracilis, _Hook._)--S. Kan. to Tex.

3. L. Ludoviciana, Watson. Biennial or perennial; pubescence compact; leaves linear-oblanceolate, mostly entire; pods pubescent, pendulous on recurved pedicels; style long. (Vesicaria Ludoviciana, _DC._)--Minn. to Neb. and southwestward.

9. CAMELINA, Crantz. FALSE FLAX.

Pod obovoid or pear-shaped, pointed, flattish parallel to the broad partition; valves 1-nerved. Seeds numerous, oblong. Cotyledons incumbent. Style slender. Flowers small, yellow. (Name from [Greek: chamai/], _dwarf_, and [Greek: li/non], _flax_.)