ERVUM. 



Smooth, annual. Leaves somewhat cirrhose; leaflets numerous, 

 oblong, mucronulate. Flowers stalked, in pairs. Stipules somewhat 

 lanceolate, toothed. Segments of the calyx equal, very narrow, much 

 longer than the tube. Legumes torulose, 4-seeded, smooth, trans- 

 versely and finely netted. Seeds roundish, angular. — -Seeds poisonous; 

 mixed with flour and made into bread they produce weakness of the 

 extremities, especially of the limbs; horses become almost paralytic. 

 Virey quoted by Christison, 841. 



LATHYRUS. 



Calyx campanulate, 5-cleft ; the 2 upper lobes the shortest. 

 Stamens diadelphous. Style flattened, dilated at the apex, 

 shaggy or downy in front. Legume oblong, many-seeded, 

 2-valved. Seeds globose or angular. — Usually climbing her- 

 baceous plants. Stipules half-sagittate. Leaves cirrhose. Leaf- 

 lets 1-3 pairs. Peduncles axillary. 



520. L. Aphaca Linn. sp. pi. 1029. Eng. Bot. t. 1167. FL 

 Lond. t. 51. Sm. Eng. FL iii. 274. DC.prodr. ii. 372. — A 

 common European field-plant. 



A little, smooth, pale glaucous-green annual, branching from the 

 root into several weak stems, either procumbent, or climbing by means 

 of numerous, alternate, simple tendrils, each of which springs from 

 between a pair of large stipules, of a broad arrow-shape, nearly entire. 

 There are no true leaves or leaflets, except that now and then, on 

 young plants, near the root, a pair of an elliptical shape, on 1 or 2 

 rudiments of tendrils, very rarely on a real tendril, may be observed ; 

 but these soon wither away. Flowers solitary, on long simple stalks, 

 accompanying some of the tendrils, small, drooping, lemon-coloured. 

 Bracts in pairs, awl-shaped. Teeth of the calyx long and lanceolate, 

 ribbed. Legume about an inch in length, somewhat cylindrical, smooth, 

 with about 6 round seeds. Smith. — Seeds narcotic, producing ex- 

 cessive headach, if eaten abundantly in the ripe state. Young and 

 tender they are served sometimes at table like green peas, and then are 

 harmless. 



521. L. Cicera Linn, sp.pl. 1030. Jacq. eel. t. 115. Willd. 

 iii. 1079. DC. prodr. ii. 373. — Spain. 



Nearly smooth. Stems spreading, winged. Leaflets 2, linear-oblong; 

 tendrils 3-4-fid ; stipules half-sagittate, lanceolate, somewhat toothed, 

 ciliated, the length of the petiole, which is not membranous at the edge. 

 Peduncles 1 -flowered, longer than the stipules. Bractlets very small. 

 Calycine segments lanceolate, leafy, almost 3 times as long as the tube. 

 Corolla red. Legumes broad oblong, irregularly reticulated, channelled 

 not winged at the back. Seeds 3-cornered, somewhat truncate, brown, 

 smooth. — Flour with which the seeds have been ground up is poison- 

 ous. See Christison, p. 841. 



ABRUS. 



Calyx campanulate, obsoletely 4-lobed, with the upper lobe 

 the broadest, or 4-toothed with the upper tooth bifid. Corolla 

 251 



