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DIADELPHIA— DECANDRIA. Astragalus. 29J 



Caput giiUinaccum Belgarum. Lob. lev. 2. 81./. 

 Polygala multorum. Da lech. Hist. 488./. 

 Polygalon Gesneri. Bauh. Hist. v. 2. 335./. 



On dry chalky hills and open downs, in various parts of England. 



Perennial. June, July. 



Root rather woody. Stems several, recumbent, 2 or 3 feet in 

 length, round, furrowed, smooth, leafy, not much branched. 

 Leaves of many pairs of elliptic-oblong, uniform, pointed, entire 

 leaflets 3 smooth above j often a little hairy beneath j the termi- 

 nal one like the rest. Stipulas ovate, pointed, entire. Flower- 

 stalks axillary, ascending, longer than the leaves, each bearing 

 a dense tapering spike, rather than a cluster, of handsome, va- 

 riegated, crimson ^ozrer*-, with numerous narrow memliranous 

 hracteas interspersed. Legj<?«es erect, semiorbicular, hard, bor- 

 dered with sharp flat teeth, hairy at the sides, and strongly re- 

 ticulated with prominent, partly spinous, ribs or veins. 



A well-known object of cultivation, as fodder for cattle, on dry, 

 barren, especially clialky or marly, ground, in open situations. 

 It fails where the soil is damp, or the field overshadowed with 

 trees. Having been first introduced to the farmer from France, 

 the plant brought its French name of Saint-foin along with it; 

 and Cock's-head, by which it was before known as a native of 

 England, is become obsolete. 



3G5. ASTRAGALUS. Milk-vetch. 



LiMH. Ge«. 385. Juss. 3jS. Fl.Dr.779. Tourn. 1,233. Lam. 

 t.G22. Gcertn.t. \54. 



Cal. tubular, permanent, with 5 acute teeth ; the lower ones 

 gradually longest. Cor. of 5 petals; standard ovate-ob- 

 long, obtuse, erect, longer than the rest ; v/ings oblong, 

 somewhat half-ovate, obtuse, shorter than the standard; 

 keel of 2 combined petals, as long as the wings, I'ounded 

 in front, their claws separate. Filam. 10; 9 in one com- 

 pressed tube, open above ; tlie tenth capillary, usually 

 shorter, quite distinct. Anth. roundish. Germ, linear- 

 oblong, compressed. Sitylc awl-shaped, ascending. Stig- 

 ma obtuse. Legume variously shaped, more or less tumid, 

 of 2 longitudinal cells ; the partition double, more or less 

 complete, from the inflexion of the margin of each valve, 

 opposite to the receptacles. Seeds one oi' more, kidney- 

 shaped. 



A vast genus of herbaceous or shrubby plants, seldom an- 

 nual, natives of every quarter of the globe, but mostly of 

 Europe, or the north of Asia. Leaves alternate, nume- 

 rously pinnate, uniform, entire, with a terminal leaflet ; 



