31. Calepina Adanson, Fam. Pl. 2: 423. 1763.
[Greek chalepaino, term used by Theophrastus probably in connection with weedy plants; some authors believe it derived from Arabic Haleb (erroneously rendered Chaleb by some), name for the Syrian city Aleppo, but highly unlikely since
Ihsan A. Al-Shehbaz
Plants not scapose. Stems erect to ascending, unbranched or branched. Leaves basal and cauline; petiolate or sessile; basal usually rosulate, petiolate, blade margins dentate to lyrate-pinnatifid; cauline blade (base sagittate or amplexicaul), margins dentate or subentire. Racemes (corymbose, several-flowered), considerably elongated in fruit. Fruiting pedicels divaricate or ascending, slender. Flowers: sepals ascending to spreading; petals oblanceolate, (apex obtuse or slightly emarginate); stamens slightly tetradynamous; filaments dilated basally; anthers ovate; nectar glands: lateral intrastaminal, median glands present (distinct). Fruits subsessile or shortly stipitate (gynophore relatively slender, fruit readily detached at maturity), nutlike, ovoid or ellipsoid, terete; valves reticulate and usually longitudinally 4-ribbed; replum rounded; septum absent; stigma capitate. Seeds (pendulous) plump, not winged, ovoid; seed coat (smooth), not mucilaginous when wetted; cotyledons involute in distal 1/2. x = 7.
Species 2 (1 in the flora): introduced; Europe, e, c, sw Asia, n Africa.
SELECTED REFERENCES Blake, S. F. 1957. A new cruciferous weed, Calepina irregularis, in Virginia. Rhodora 59: 278-280. Hardin, J. W. 1958. Calepina irregularis in North Carolina. Castanea 23: 111.
