of the British Flora of Sir J. E. Smith. 441 



" sive Cracca major" to the name, and substituting the very block 

 of Dodoens's Cracca primum genus, which is generally supposed 

 to be Vicia angustifolia ; and from the breadth of the leaflets I 

 have been induced to refer to it as such, notwithstanding that 

 the pods are solitary. 



Lyte in his Niewe Herball, or Historic of Plants, 1578, which 

 is a translation of a French version of the Cruydeboeck of Do- 

 doens, has this plant : the figure it is true is not very good, 

 and is the same as Turner in his Herball, 156'8, puts for the 

 cultivated Vetch ; yet his description leaves no doubt on the 

 subject: "Arachus is much lyke to the Common Vetche, in 

 stalkes, leaves, and coddes, but in all these much lesse. The 

 stalkes be tender, weake and slender, with cornered trayles or 

 square crested edges. The leaves are spread abroade like the 

 other Vetche, but cloven and parted above at the endes, into 

 two or three clasping tendrelles. The flowers be smal, of a 

 light purple, or incarnate colour, and do growe uppon the 

 stalke selfe, as the flowers of beanes or common Vetches do, 

 without any foote stalkes. The coddes be small, long and nar- 

 rowe, wherein is couched sixe or seven seedes of a blackishe 

 colour, harde and smaller than Vetches.^' 



John Bauhin observes : " A Vici^ sativd semine potissimi^m 

 difFerre videtur, quod admodiim parvum et rotundum, copi- 

 osum (ad octona eximere memini) in siliquis angustioribus, lon- 

 gioribus, magisque teretibus, quam viciae sepium, minus hir- 

 sutis et fer^ glabris, quae siccae nigrescunt." 



Ray says : " Hujus speciem seu varietatem majorem obser- 

 vavimus (ego et D. Dale) in marginibus agrorum quorundam 

 supra molam fullonicam Bockingse in Essexia." What this is I 

 know not. Then follows in another paragraph, copied from his 

 edition of I69O, in which the discovery of the large variety is 

 not noticed : " Viciae sativae similis est ; flores habet pulchr^ 



3 L 2 purpureos, 



