

26S 



tea 



rigid fibres, and befet with long fliarp fpines : the leaves are plnnn 

 confiiling of about eight pairs of fmall oblong pinnule or | ^r * 

 which are attached to a llrong fpinous perfiftenrfootftalk 'or m'T n 

 the flowers are large, of a pale yellow colour, and terminate ^^' 

 branches in clofe clufters : the calyx is tubular and divided at the 



3 



fxve fliarp teeth : the corolla is of the papilionaceous kind 



the 



rim 

 con^ 



lifting of a vexlllim or upper petal, which is longer than the others^ 

 flraight, blunt, refleded at the fides^ and notched at the end • two 

 d<:t or lateral petals, which are of an oblong form, and a carina q>x 

 keel-fliaped under-petal : the filaments are ten, nine of which are 



ted, and one feparate : the antherac are fmall and round : th 



e eer- 



rnen is long and roundifh : the flyle tapering, and furniflied with a 

 blunt ftigma: the feeds are kidney-fliaped, and contained in a two- 

 celled pod. It flowers from May till July.,, 



This plant was cultivated in England in the time of Parkinfon, 

 (1640) : it is a native of Afiatic Turkey, and the Southern parts of 

 Europe, particularly of Italy, Sicily, and Crete. Tournefort dif 



U 



mp 



d it^ growing plentifully about Mount Ida,'' where he examined 

 the plant in the month of July, when both the bark and wood were 

 found diftended with gum Tragacanth, which by the intenfity of the 

 fun's heat forces its way through the bark, and concretes into irregular 



pieces, bent into a variety of ihapes, and 

 larger or fmall er In proportion to its quantity, and the fize of the 

 wounds from whence it iiTues. This gum is imported here chleilj 

 from Turkey : it varies in its colour; but that moll efleemed is white, 

 femitranfparent, dry, yet fomewhat foft to the touch. 



of the produdicn of this gum 

 diflers in fome refpeds from that of Tournefort*s. He fays, that he 

 vifited Mount Lebanon in Augufl, 1786, the feafon when the gum 

 Tragacanth is colleded : he then found the fnecies of Aftragahis 



M. de la B 



which afforded it^ to be different from that figured and defcribed b/ 



a 



Voyage^ T. i. p. 21. 



>> See Defcriptlon d'une nouvelle efpece d'aftragale, qui produit au Liban la gommz 

 adragant, Hi/i, de PJcacLR. des Saen, du j6 Dec, 1788. etRozier^ Obfcrv.fur laphJn''-^ 

 'pour Janvie^y 1 790. 



^ w 



T * 



Tournefort, 



>.. •J 



