OF BEITISH PLANTS. 135 



I Lave very recently, with the kind assistance of Mr. Kippist, 

 looked over the species of Astragalus, which are preserved in the 

 Linnean and Smithian Herbaria. In Linn8eu8*s collection I did 

 not see any foreign plant at all resembling it ; but in Smith's own 

 Herbarium, in the sheet of paper containing many dried spe- 

 cimens of A. hypoglottis, the variety marked No. 6 approaches my 

 plant" in the form of its leaflets, though not in the number of 

 their pairs. This variety is an Asiatic one, being underwritten 

 " Caucasus," communicated doubtless by Fischer. It is evi- 

 dently a mere variety of our English A. hypoglottis, and retains its 

 chief characters, the leaves excepted. 



I next examined the plates in DeCandolle's beautiful * Astra- 

 galogia,' and observed in his engraving (Tab. 12) of Astragalus 

 purpureus, a very considerable resemblance to my plant in its 

 length of stem, its somewhat straggling character, and its general 

 appearance ; although its head of flowers is not represented so 

 large, or its leaflets sufficiently long. It is a native of the South 

 of France, chiefly growing in the mountains of Provence. 



I will now briefly add DeCandolle's distinctions between A. Jiy- 

 poglottis and A. pwrpureus. In his later work, the ' Prodromus 

 Syst. Naturalis,' tom. ii. p. 281, he describes, No. 1, A. hypoglottis, 

 .... as " piloso-subvillosus ". . . . "foliolis obovatis oblongis, ssepe 

 emarginatis 8-10 jugis;" and its pod with one seed in each cell 

 or division ; whilst No. 3, A. purpureus, he details as being " sub- 

 viUosus ". . . . *' foliolis obovatis apice bidentatis," and its pod as 

 having in each division three seeds. Hence the chief differences, 

 besides the seeds, between A. hypoglottis and A. purpureus, so 

 pointed out, are the less hairiness of the latter plant, and the 

 leaflets furnished at their tips with two small teeth : and, since 

 the leaflets are more fully described in the ' Astragalogia,' I will 

 here give the passages relating to them : — 



" A. hypoglottis. — . . . . foliola 19-29, opposita, ovata aut ovato- 

 oblonga, 3-8 millim. longa, obtusa aut ssBpe in eadem planta apice 

 emarginata, subtus incano-villosa ; superne glabra aut pilis qui- 

 busdam onusta." (p. 118.) 



" A. purpwreus. — . . . . foliola 23-29 opposita, ovato-oblonga, 

 apice emarginata, vel potius bidentata et in sinu brevissime mu- 

 cronata, pubescentia, aut villosa, 7-9 millim. longa." (p. 117.) 



In the number of pairs of leaflets in the former plant there 

 seems to be some error, for DeCandolle makes them 9-14, with 

 an odd one, whereas in our English plant the pairs are only 6-12 

 at most, with an odd one ; and in the ' Prodromus,' the author 



