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It is important to note that within the family of the crucifers the form of the capsule and the attributes of the valves and seeds are usually considered to furnish the characteristics of genera, and this point has been elucidated at some length by Solms-Laubach.
Can things sometimes be the same in the open fields, where I play none of my tricks? Can the family of the White Butterfly be settled on other Crucifers than the cabbage? I start a quest along the paths near the gardens and end by finding on wild radish and white mustard colonies as crowded and prosperous as those established on cabbage.
Hence the inference that crucifers are an exception to a general rule, and that they must have originated from other types which did comply with this rule, and accordingly were in the possession of floral bracts. Or, in other words, that the bracts must have been lost during the original evolution of the whole family.
Returning to activity the scapes at once show a full development, in no way inferior to that of the allied forms, and only unstable in respect to their length. A second example is afforded by the bracts of the crucifers. This group is easily distinguished by its cruciform petals and the grouping of the flowers into long racemes.
On the other hand, the leaves of the lettuce, the bean, the pea, the corn-salad are obstinately refused. Let us be content with what we have seen: the fare has been sufficiently varied to show us that the cabbage-caterpillar feeds exclusively on a large number of crucifers, perhaps even on all.
Bracts in the inflorescence of crucifers are ordinarily wanting, but may be seen in some genera, Erucastrum pollichii being perhaps the most widely known instance, although other cases might easily be cited. For our special purpose we may take up only the more simple cases that may be available for experimental work.
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