50 Draba vema.
or rather densely pubescent. Scapes numerous, forming a curve or
semicircle from the roots upwards, pubescent about half their length.
Flowers alternate, pedunculate, numerous. Peduncles at first short,
becoming elongated as the fruit is matured, when they are about
three-fourths of an inch in length and very slender. Petals white, very
small, bifid. Fruit an oval pod, consisting of two membranaceous
valves. Style very small. Stigma sessile. Seeds numerous, small,
brownish.
The American species are six in number, of which the present
is the most common, often covering whole fields and acres of
unenclosed grounds in the vicinity of cities, giving them an entire
white appearance. Though this little plant is far from possessing any
beauty, it is nevertheless very interesting to those who take any interest
in plants, from the circumstance of its being the earliest harbinger
of the American Spring. It frequently is found in bloom when
not more than half an inch high, during the soft weather of February,
and constantly in March, about the 12th of common seasons. It drops
its seeds early in the season, which appear again to produce new plants
that flower in the autumn.
The figure represents the plant of its natural size, culled in April.
By comparison with the European Draba verna, it may be ascertained
whether the plants are identical. This by Michaux and Dr. Barton
was supposed not to be the case.