Carrichtera DC.

Scientific Description

Family Brassicaceae.

Habit and leaf form. Herbs. Annual. Leaves cauline. Stem internodes solid. To 0.15–0.4(–0.6) m high. Mesophytic, or xerophytic. Leaves small to medium-sized; alternate; spiral; ‘herbaceous’; petiolate; non-sheathing; foetid, or without marked odour; simple; epulvinate. Leaf blades dissected; pinnatifid, or much-divided (bi- to tripinnatisect, the lobes blunt-linear); pinnately veined; cross-venulate. Leaves without stipules. Leaf blade margins entire, or serrate, or dentate. Leaves without a persistent basal meristem. Vernation not circinnate. Leaf anatomy. Hairs present (hispid); glandular hairs absent; complex hairs absent. Branched hairs absent. Extra-floral nectaries absent.

Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers hermaphrodite. Unisexual flowers absent. Plants hermaphrodite.

Inflorescence and flower features. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in racemes. The terminal inflorescence unit racemose. Inflorescences leaf-opposed. Flowers pedicellate; ebracteate; ebracteolate; small to medium-sized; regular; 2 merous; cyclic. Floral receptacle with neither androphore nor gynophore. Free hypanthium absent. Hypogynous disk present; of separate members. Nectariferous glands 4. Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; 8; 3 -whorled (K 2+2, C 4). Calyx present; 4; 2 -whorled; polysepalous; decussate; regular. Sepals lateral sepals saccate. Corolla present; 4; 1 -whorled; alternating with the calyx; polypetalous; imbricate, or contorted; regular; yellow (purple-veined). Petals clawed (claws long). Androecial members definite in number. Androecium 6. Androecial members branched (in that the inner whorl of 4 is derived from only 2 primordia); free of the perianth; markedly unequal; free of one another; 2 -whorled (2+4). Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 6 (2 outer, 4 inner); tetradynamous; all more or less similar in shape; hypogynous, on receptacle, outer stamens lateral. Filaments not appendiculate. Anthers basifixed; non-versatile; dehiscing via longitudinal slits; introrse; unilocular to bilocular; tetrasporangiate; unappendaged. Pollen shed as single grains. Gynoecium 2 carpelled. The pistil 2 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; eu-syncarpous; superior. Ovary plurilocular; 2 locular. Locules secondarily divided by ‘false septa’. Gynoecium transverse. Ovary sessile. Gynoecium stylate. Styles 1; apical. Stigmas 1 (or 2); 1 - lobed; capitate. Placentation parietal. Ovules 3–10 per locule (several); with ventral raphe; non-arillate; anatropous.

Fruit and seed features. Fruit 60–80 mm long; non-fleshy; dehiscent; a silicula. Capsules valvular. Fruit 2 celled; 6–8 seeded. Seeds 3–4 per locule. Seeds scantily endospermic, or non-endospermic; not mucous; small to medium sized. Embryo well differentiated. Cotyledons 2; folded; incumbent; conduplicate. Embryo bent.

Physiology, biochemistry. Mustard-oils present.

Special features. Fruit body distinctly differentiated into valve and beak regions. Beak seedless. Replum present and complete. The inner (lateral) pair of sepals saccate basally for nectar storage. Petals not peculiarly elongated as in Stenopetalum. Nectariferous glands lateral and median. Valves of the fruit neither winged nor keeled; conspicuously longitudinally veined; longitudinally 3 veined.

Etymology. After Bartholomaeus Carrichter von Redingen, who wrote two Herbals in 1575 and 1576.