BRASSICA campestris.
Field Cabbage, or Wild JSfavezc.
TETRADYNAMIA Siliquosa.
Gen. Char. Cal. erect, partly cohering. Seeds
globular. Pod nearly cylindrical; the partition
prominent, awl-shaped. Glands 4.
Spec. Char. Root and stem slender. Leaves heart-
shaped, pointed, clasping the stem ; lowermost
- lyrate, toothed, somewhat hispid.
Syn. Brassica campestris. Linn. Sp. PI. 9 3 1 . Sm.
FI. Brit. 718. Scholl. Barb. 153.
B_. Napus ? Borrer in Turn. § Dilliv. Bot. Guide,
588. M r. Borrer.
G R E A T uncertainty has existed among British authors, even
from the time of Ray, concerning this plant. Possibly this is
the Napus sylvestris of that author, and his Rapum sylvestre
nun bulbosum, mentioned under it, may be our B. Napus,
t : 2146, to which the synonyms of Fuchsius and Bauhin,
quoted doubtfully under campestris in FI. Brit., seem rather
to belong. Hudson’s B. campestris is a mere yellow variety of
orientalis, t. 1804, which Ft. Dan. t. 550 may also be.
Mr. E. Forster, who favoured us with this specimen in August
last, assures us it is the common wild Navew, growing
abundantly by the sides of rivers, marsh ditches, &c., and
that our B. Napus is the Rape- or Cole-seed, which is so commonly
cultivated.
Our present plant agrees precisely with the Linnsean specimens.
The root is said to be annual, and is of a taper form.
Stem erect, branched, round, leafy, rather glaucous, sometimes
rough w'ith minute, bulbous, spreading bristles, such as are
found abundantly on the lyrate radical leaves, which commonly,
but not always, wither before the flowers come to
perfection. The stem-leaves are heartshaped, and clasp the
stem at their base, elongated, somewhat pinnatifid; the uppermost
quite entire. Flowers yellow. Calyx-leaves scarcely
cohering, but rather distant. Petals roundish in the limb.
Pods upright, cylindrical, or very obscurely quadrangular,
veiny, the seeds slightly projecting, the beak awlshaped,
striated, square at its base.