FABACE^, OR LEGUMINOS^. 



ALHAGI. 



Calyx 5-toothed, the teeth small and nearly equal in size. 

 Corolla papilionaceous : petals about equal in length ; vexillum 

 obovate, folded together ; keel straight, obtuse. Stamens dia- 

 delphous (9 and 1). Ovary linear, with several ovules. Style 

 filiform, glabrous, acute. Legume stalked, somewhat woody, 

 terete, contracted here and there irregularly with partitions, not 

 separating into distinct pieces when ripe. Seeds reniform. — 

 SufFrutescent or herbaceous spiny plants. Leaves simple. 

 Stipules very small. Flowers few, reddish, arranged singly 

 along the axillary spines. 



518. A. Maurorum Tourn. cor. t. 489. DC. prodr. ii. 352. 

 W. and A. i. 232. — Hedysarum Alhagi Linn. sp. pi. 1051. 

 Roxb.Jl. ind. iii. 344. Manna hebraica Don prodr. ji. nep. 246. 

 ■ — Deserts of Egypt, Syria, Persia, Mesopotamia, India. (Camel's 

 thorn.) 



An erect, spiny shrub, when allowed to grow uninjured, but so con- 

 tinually eaten to the ground by cattle as to be more frequently spreading 

 and herbaceous. Leaves in strong plants oblong or obovate, thick, 

 entire, covered with a fine down, as long or longer than the spines ; in 

 weaker or starved specimens, the leaves are much narrower, very much 

 tapering to the base, and considerably shorter than the spines ; some* 

 times the leaves are reduced to mere scales ; stipules linear, subulate, 

 ciliated. Spines axillary, in strong plants very straight and rigid, in 

 weak plants slender and flexuose. Flowers alternate, scattered singly 

 upon the spines, red. Calyx silky, with triangular acuminate teeth. 

 Ovary tomentose. Legumes silky, extremely uncertain in size, some 

 with a single joint, others with 2, and some with as many as 9 or 10, 

 contracted between the seeds in a most irregular manner, stipitate or 

 sessile. — From the branches of this plant there exudes a sweet sub- 

 stance of the nature of Manna, the Terengjabim of the Arabs, which is 

 gathered by merely shaking the branches. Some writers are of opinion 

 that this was the Manna on which the children of Israel were fed in the 

 wilderness. See Tourn. voy. Levant, i. 247, 2-t8. 



ERVUM. 



Calyx deeply 5-cleft ; segments nearly equal, linear, acute, 

 about as long as the corolla. Corolla papilionaceous. Stamens 

 diadelphous (9 and 1 ) : alae longer than the keel but shorter 

 than the vexillum. Style filiform. Stigma glabrous. Legume 

 oblong, 2-4-seeded. Seeds orbicular or globose. — Leaves ab- 

 ruptly pinnated, terminated by a tendril. 



519. E. Ervilia Linn. sp. pi. 1040. DC. prodr. ii. 367. 

 Sturm. Deutschl.fl. i.fasc. 32. ic. — Vicia ervilia Willd. iii. 1103. 

 . — South of Europe. (Bitter vetch.) 



250 



