Cruciferae

Cruciferae (Lat., 'cross-bearing,' from the X-wise position of the four petals), an important order of thalamifloral dicotyledons, including about 1200 known species, mostly palæarctic, and specially abundant in Europe. No order is indeed more familiar or more widely represented; the Mustard, Shepherd's Purse, &c., are among the commonest weeds of cultivation, while the Turnip and Cabbage, the Radish and Cress, &c., are no less familiar and widespread in usefulness. As wild flowers, they are mostly inconspicuous, but the pretty Cuckoo-flower or Lady's Smock (Cardamine pratensis), and not a few others, might be mentioned as contributing some characteristic feature to marsh or cliff or copse; while a large number of genera are of the greatest value to the florist, for whom the exuberant masses of Iberis, Alyssum, Arabis, and Aubrieta are among the most admired resources of the rock-garden. Besides the Stocks and Wallflowers, &c., the old-fashioned Honesty and Gillyflower are among the most familiar inmates of every cottage-garden. The general character of the order is antiscorbutic and stimulating, with more or less acridity; the familiar flavour being due to the presence of a characteristic ethereal oil. Striking examples of these properties are given by the Scurvy-grass of our shores, so important to mariners in the days of long voyages and salt provisions; or more familiarly by the Common Water-cress; while a wide range of variation of flavour is presented by the flesh, rind, and leaves of the Common Turnip, especially in different varieties, soils, and seasons. A fixed oil is largely present in the seeds (see RAPE, COLZA), and the Woad Plant (Isatis, see WOAD) has been used from the earliest times as a source of indigo. The order was conveniently subdivided by Linnæus by the nature of its fruit as long and short podded (Siliquosæ and Siliculosæ), while later systematists have derived important characters from the mode of folding of the cotyledons within the seed. See Engler's Pflanzenfamilien, or other systematic work, and separate articles—e.g. CABBAGE, &c.