TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL (1993) |
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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 1many 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 80:686699; Rollins 1993 Cruciferae of Continental North America. Stanford Univ Press]
Family description, key to genera by Robert A. Price.SMELOWSKIA
Perennial, ± cespitose; caudex matted with leaves, leaf bases
Leaves soft, pliable, generally 1-pinnate; hairs dense, branched or not; basal petioled; cauline short-petioled to sessile
Inflorescence ± umbel-like, dense
Flower showy; sepal bases not sac-like; petals spoon-shaped, white to purplish
Fruit dehiscent, linear to ovate, ± flat parallel to septum to ± plump, hairy or not; stigma disk-like
Seeds several, 1 row per chamber; embryonic root at back of 1 cotyledon, sometimes obliquely so
Species in genus: ± 10 species: w North America, n&c Asia
Etymology: (T. Smielowski, Russian botanist, 17691815)
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