50. Cochlearia Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 647. 1753; Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 292. 1754.
Scurvy-grass [Latin cochlear, spoon, alluding to leaf shape of some species]
Ihsan A. Al-Shehbaz, Marcus Koch
Cochleariopsis Á. Löve & D. Löve; Glaucocochlearia (O. E. Schulz) Pobedemova
Annuals, biennials, or, rarely, perennials; not scapose. Stems erect or decumbent, unbranched or branched. Leaves basal and cauline; petiolate or sessile; basal rosulate or not, petiolate, blade margins usually entire, repand, or dentate, rarely sinuate-dentate; cauline petiolate or sessile, blade (base auriculate or not), margins entire, repand, or dentate. Racemes (corymbose), slightly to greatly elongated in fruit. Fruiting pedicels erect, divaricate, or ascending, slender. Flowers: sepals ovate or oblong; petals oblanceolate or spatulate, [oblong, lingulate, elliptic], claw not differentiated from blade; stamens subequal or slightly tetradynamous; filaments not dilated basally; anthers ovate; nectar glands lateral, 1 on each side lateral stamens. Fruits sessile, ovoid, ellipsoid, obovoid, orbicular, ovoid-orbicular, or elliptic to oblong, [sub]terete or angustiseptate; valves each with distinct midvein (sometimes inflated); replum rounded; septum complete, fenestrate, or absent; ovules [5-]8-14[-32] per ovary; stigma capitate. Seeds plump, not winged, ovoid-oblong or ovoid to subglobose [ellipsoid]; seed coat (smooth or papillose), not mucilaginous when wetted; cotyledons accumbent, rarely incumbent. x = 6, 7.
Species 21 (3 in the flora): North America, Europe, Asia, nw Africa.
SELECTED REFERENCES Koch, M. et al. 1998. Isozymes, speciation and evolution in the polyploid complex Cochlearia L. (Brassicaceae). Bot. Acta 111: 411-425. Koch, M. et al. 1999. Molecular phylogenetics of Cochlearia (Brassicaceae) and allied genera based on nuclear ribosomal ITS DNA sequence analysis contradict traditional concepts of their evolutionary relationship. Pl. Syst. Evol. 216: 207-230. Koch, M., H. Hurka, and K. Mummenhoff. 1996. Chloroplast DNA restriction site variation and RAPD-analyses in Cochlearia (Brassicaceae): Biosystematics and speciation. Nordic J. Bot. 16: 585-603. Pobedimova, E. 1969. Revisio generis Cochlearia L., 1. Novosti Sist. Vyssh. Rast. 6: 67-106. Pobedimova, E. 1970. Revisio generis Cochlearia L., 2. Novosti Sist. Vyssh. Rast. 7: 167-195.
