24. Erucastrum C. Presl, Fl. Sicul. 92. 1826.
[Genus Eruca and Latin -astrum, resembling]
Suzanne I. Warwick
Annuals or biennials [perennials, subshrubs]; not scapose; pubescent. Stems erect or ascending, unbranched or branched. Leaves basal and cauline; petiolate or sessile; basal rosulate or not, petiolate, blade margins dentate to lyrate-pinnatifid, [pinnatipartite]; cauline shortly petiolate or sessile, blade (base not auriculate), similar to basal. Racemes (corymbose, bracteate throughout or basally), greatly elongated in fruit. Fruiting pedicels ascending to divaricate [spreading], slender. Flowers: sepals erect, oblong [linear], lateral pair not saccate basally; petals yellow or white, obovate to oblanceolate or oblong, gradually attenuated to short claw, (apex rounded); stamens tetradynamous; filaments not dilated basally; anthers oblong or linear, (base sagittate, apex obtuse); nectar glands distinct, median glands present. Fruits siliques, dehiscent, subsessile, segments 2, linear, often torulose, subterete or 4-angled; (terminal segment stylelike, seedless); valves each with prominent midvein, glabrous; replum rounded; septum complete; ovules 10-60 per ovary; stigmas capitate, entire or 2-lobed. Seeds uniseriate, plump, not winged, elliptic [oblong, ovoid]; seed coat (usually reticulate), slightly mucilaginous when wetted; cotyledons conduplicate. x = 7, 8, 9.
Species 19 (1 in the flora): introduced; Europe, Asia, Africa.
SELECTED REFERENCE Luken, J. O., J. W. Thieret, and J. T. Kartesz. 1993. Erucastrum gallicum (Brassicaceae): Invasion and spread in North America. Sida 15: 569-582.
