Tas. 4943. 
OROBUS FiscHert. 
Dr. Fischer's Bitter-Vetch. 
Nat. Ord. LeGumMInos#®.—DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA. 
Gen. Char. Calyx campanulatus, 5-fidus, lobis 2 superioribus brevioribus. 
Corolla papilionacea. Stamina diadelpha. Stylus gracilis, linearis, apice villosus. 
Legumen cylindricum, oblongum, uniloculare, bivalve, polyspermum. Semina hilo 
lineari—Herbee erecta. Stipulee semisagittate. Petioli in setam brevem simpli- 
cem desinentes. Folia abrupte pinnata, paucijuga. Racemi avillares, pedunculati. 
De Cand. 
Orosus Fischeri ; ‘glabriusculus, caule erecto gracili parce ramoso, foliis unijugis, 
petiolo perbrevi, foliolis linearibus brevi-acuminatis, stipulis auriculaque 
subulatis, racemis multifloris pedunculatis secundis, “leguminibus reticu- 
lato-venosis 6-7-spermis, seminibus subrotundis fuscis.” 
Orosus Fischeri, Sweet, Brit. Fl. Gard. v. 3. t. 289. Walp. Rep. Bot. Syst. v. 1. 
p. 123. 
Orosus atropurpureus. Fisch, MSS. (an Desf. Pl. Ail. 7) 
‘“OROBELLA vicioides. Presl, de Orobella, 8. t. 4. p. $8.” 
That this pretty Orodus is the O. Fischeri of Mr. Sweet there 
can be no question. It was introduced to our gardens by the 
late Robert Barclay, Esq., of Bury Hill, through seeds sent by 
Dr. Fischer under the name of O. atropurpurea of Desf., and it 
is doubtful if it be not a mere variety of that plant, having the 
leaves reduced to one pair of leaflets. That seems the only diffe- 
rence, but that is constant in the cultivated samples: and it is a 
plant that deserves a place in our gardens, is perfectly hardy, and 
a free-flowerer, and the flowers are highly coloured. Being sent 
from Russia by Dr. Fischer, Mr. Sweet considers that it is of 
Russian origin ; but there is no such plant in Ledebour’s ‘ Flora 
Rossica,’ and the probability is that its native country 1s the same 
as that of O. atropurpureus, viz. the south of Italy and opposite 
coast of Africa. 
Duscr. Stem erect, four-sided, more or less branched, slender 
and twiggy. Leaves on very short petioles, consisting of a single 
pair of narrow, linear, acuminated /eaflets, with a mucro between 
OCTOBER Ist, 1856. 
