BRASSICA TOURNEFORTII

Family and Genus:- See- CRUCIFERAE

Common Name:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- Brassica barrelieri subsp. tournefortii, Brassica

tournefortii var. leiocarpa, Coincya tournefortii, Erucastrum tournefortii.

Meaning:- Brassica (L) A name used by the Roman naturalist and philosopher

Pliny for various cabbage-like plants.

Tournefortii (L) For Joseph de Tournefort (1656-1708), renaissance

plant systematist.

General description:- Annual, rarely perennial.

Stems:-

1) Up to 50 cm.

Leaves:-

1) Lower, numerous, rosulate, very shortly petiolate, runcinate-pinnatifid, with 7-10

pairs of obtuse lobes, hispid, especially along the thick, white mid-vein, and

ciliate.

2) Cauline, few, sessile, more or less entire, glabrous.

Flowers:-

1) Remaining erect after anthesis.

2) Sepals, suberect, sparsely hispid or glabrous.

3) Petals, 5-7 mm, narrowly oblong-obovate, pale yellow, usually violaceous at the

base, becoming whitish.

Fruit:-

1) Siliqua, 35-65 x 2·5-3 mm, constricted at intervals, very shortly stipitate,

attenuate into a 0- to 2-seeded beak 10-20 mm long. 1/3-1/2 as long as the

valvar portion.

Key features:-

1) Beak of siliqua, 10-20 mm, shorter than the valves.

2) Flowers, remaining erect after anthesis.

3) Petals, 5-7 x 1·5 mm, small and narrow.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Sandy fields, dune slacks, wasteground, usually near the sea. 0-50(-350)

Distribution:- W. and C. Mediterranean from Portugal eastwards to Italy and

Greece, including N Africa. Very limited distribution on Crete mainly around the

east and west coastal regions.

Flowering time:- Mar to early May.

Photos by:- Dr. Armin Jagel