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BRASSICACEAE

MUSTARD FAMILY

Reed C. Rollins, except as specified

Annual to subshrub
Leaves generally basal and cauline, alternate, generally simple; stipules 0
Inflorescence: generally raceme
Flower bisexual; sepals 4, free; petals (0)4, free, generally white or yellow, often clawed; stamens generally (2,4)6, generally 4 long, 2 short; ovary 1, superior, chambers generally 2, septum membranous, connecting 2 parietal placentas, style 1, stigma simple or 2-lobed
Fruit: generally capsule ("silique") with 2 deciduous valves, sometimes breaking transversely or indehiscent
Seeds 1–many per chamber
Genera in family: 300+ genera, 3000+ species: worldwide, especially cool regions; some cultivated for food (especially Brassica, Raphanus ) and ornamental
Recent taxonomic note: Recently treated to include Capparaceae [Rodman et al. 1993 Ann Missouri Bot Gard 80:686–699; Rollins 1993 Cruciferae of Continental North America. Stanford Univ Press]
Family description, key to genera by Robert A. Price.

HESPERIS

ROCKET

Biennial, perennial herb
Leaves entire to lobed
Inflorescence: bracts 0; pedicel base with a large gland on each side
Flower showy, fragrant; sepals erect, inner pair sac-like at base; petals clawed, white to purple
Fruit linear, cylindric to 4-sided, sessile above receptacle, tardily dehiscent; valves 1–3-veined; stigma deeply 2-lobed
Seeds many, 1 row per chamber; wing 0; embryonic root at back of 1 cotyledon
Species in genus: ± 30 species: Old World, especially Eurasia
Etymology: (Greek: evening, from time some flowers are most fragrant)

Introduced

H. matronalis L.

DAME'S ROCKET


Stems 1–few, 5–13 dm; branches 0–few; hairs simple and forked, some glandular
Leaves many, 5–20 cm, ± lanceolate, dentate, hairy; lower cauline petioled, upper ± sessile
Inflorescence: panicle of racemes
Flower: sepals hairy; petals 2–2.5 cm, purple, rose, or white; style < 4 mm, stigma lobes decurrent
Fruit 4–10 cm, ± cylindric, generally ± narrowed between seeds
Seed 3–4 mm
Chromosomes: 2n=24,26,28
Ecology: Roadsides, slopes
Elevation: 1000–1500 m.
Bioregional distribution: Klamath Ranges (Trinity Co.), n High Sierra Nevada (Plumas Co.), expected elsewhere
Distribution outside California: to Canada, e US; native to Europe

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