the replum, from which the 2 valves fall away at maturity; more rarely the pod is indehiscent or transversely jointed. Seeds without albumen, entirely filled by the large embryo, which is variously bent or folded, the radicle either lying along the edges of the cotyledons (accumbent) or placed along the back of one of them (incumbent).
The Crucifers form a large and extremely natural family comprising about 180 genera and between 1500 and 2000 species. The species are distributed over the whole world, but are most plentiful in the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, and especially so in southern Europe and Asia Minor. They are rare in the tropics, particularly where there are no mountain-ranges. Most of them possess antiscorbutic and stimulating properties, and many are staple articles of food. Not a few of the cultivated species (and others) have become naturalised in New Zealand, as will be seen from the list of introduced plants appended to this work. Of the New Zealand genera, Pachycladon and Nolothlaspi are endemic; the remainder are widely spread outside the colony.
| * Pods long and narrow. | |
| Pods terete, linear-oblong, tumid. Seeds in two rows in each cell. Cotyledons accumbent | 1. Nasturtium. |
| Pods flat, linear, acute; valves opening elastically from the base. Seeds in one row. Cotyledons accumbent | 2. Cardamine. |
| Pods terete or obtusely 4–6-angled, 1–3-nerved. Seeds in one row. Cotyledons incumbent | 3. Sisymbrium |
| ** Pods short and broad. | |
| Alpine herb with stellate pubescence. Pods compressed, boat-shaped, not winged. Seeds 3–5 in each cell | 4. Pachycladon. |
| Pods compressed, oblong to obcordate, valves turgid, keeled. Seeds numerous | 5. Capsella. |
| Pods much compressed, ovate to orbicular, often winged. Seeds 1 in each cell | 6. Lepidium. |
| Alpine herbs with sweet-scented flowers. Pods large, much compressed, obovate, very broadly winged. Seeds numerous | 7. Notothlaspi. |
1. NASTURTIUM, R. Br.
Glabrous or pubescent branched herbs. Leaves generally pinnate or pmnately lobed, sometimes entire. Mowers small, yellow or white. Sepals short, equal, spreading. Petals short, scarcely clawed. Stamens 2, 4, or 6. Stigma entire or 2-lobed. Pod almost terete, long or short; valves generally 1-nerved; septum thin, transparent. Seeds small, turgid, usually arranged in two rows; cotyledons accumbent.
A genus of between 20 and 30 species, some of them very widely dispersed, but most abundant in the temperate and warm regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
1. N. palustre, D.C. Syst. ii. 191.—A slender leafy branched herb with weak or decumbent stems 6–20 in. long, glabrous or slightly hairy. Leaves variable, usually lyrately pinnatifid, auricled at the base with the lobes toothed or irregularly lobed, sometimes
