51. Conringia Heister ex Fabricius, Enum. 160. 1759.
Hare’s-ear mustard [For Hermann Conring, 1606-1681, German professor of medicine and philosophy at Helmstedt]
Suzanne I. Warwick
Plants not scapose; (usually glaucous). Stems erect, unbranched or branched proximally. Leaves basal and cauline; subsessile or sessile; basal not rosulate, subsessile, blade margins usually entire; cauline blade (base cordate-amplexicaul or, rarely, auriculate), margins usually entire, rarely crenulate. Racemes (corymbose, several-flowered). Fruiting pedicels ascending, stout (almost as thick as fruit, or, rarely, much narrower). Flowers: sepals oblong; petals usually narrowly obovate, rarely oblanceolate, claw differentiated from blade [undifferentiated], (apex obtuse); stamens slightly tetradynamous; filaments not dilated, slender; anthers oblong (base slightly sagittate); nectar glands lateral, median glands often absent. Fruits sessile, linear, torulose, 4-angled or terete; valves each with prominent midvein; replum rounded; septum complete; stigmas capitate-flattened, entire. Seeds not winged, oblong [ellipsoid]; seed coat (papillose), copiously mucilaginous (granular) when wetted; cotyledons incumbent. x = 7 [9].
Species 6 (1 in the flora): introduced; c Europe, e Mediterranean region, Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan); introduced also in Mexico, nw Africa, Australia.
