DIADELPHIA— DECANDRIA. Vicia. 283 



German as well as English botanists have so much confounded the 

 synonyms of the present plant, with starved varieties of the V. 

 sativa, and even with the more decidedly distinct V. lathyroides, 

 that their characters have misled me. The observations of Mr. 

 T. F. Forster induced me to re-examine the matter, and indeed 

 to rely on my own original opinion. 



5. V. lathyroides. Spring Vetch. 



Flowers solitary, nearly sessile. Leaflets elliptic-oblong ; 

 lower ones inversely heart-shaped. Tendrils simple, 

 shorter than the leaflets. Seeds cubic, warty. 



V. lathyroides. Lmw. %P/.1037. W^^/W.^^3. 1106. Fl.Br.77\. 

 Engl. Bot. V. 1 . t. 30. Hook. Scot. 215. Jacq. Misc. v. 2. 299. 

 t. 18. FL Dan. t. .08. Ehrh. Herb. 28, 



V. n. 10. Gerard Gallopr. 498} from the author. 



V. n. 4. Guettard Obs. v, 1 . 235. 



V. minima prsecox Parisiensium. Dill, in Rail Syn. 321. Tourn. 

 Inst. 397} according to his herbarium. 



V. minima. Riv. Tetrap. Irr. t.5^). 



V. pratensis verna, seu prsecox Soloniensis, semine cubico, seu 

 hexiiedron referente. Moris.v. 2. 63. sect. 2. t. 4./. 14 j very bad. 



Ervum soloniense. Linn. Sp. PL 1040. Huds. ed. 1. 279. 



In fallow fields on a gravelly soil, in chalky pastures, or on dry 

 banks. 



About Norwich, and in Hyde Park ; also in the King's park and 

 various other places round Edinburgh. 



Annual. April, May. 



Root fibrous, beset with minute fleshy tubercles. Stems several, 

 procumbent in opposite directions, branched at the bottom only, 

 3 or 4 inches long, angular, leafy% finely downy like the rest of 

 the herbage. Footstalks channelled, each ending in a very short 

 simple tendril, or none at all. Lcajiets of the lower leaves 2 or 

 4, short, broad, inversely heart-shaped ; of the upper ones 4 or 6, 

 elliptical, obovate, or lanceolate, pointed ; all finely liairy on 

 both sides. Stipulas half- halberd-shaped, for the most part en- 

 tire, rarely with a lateral tooth, and quite destitute of any disco- 

 loured impression. FL small, solitary, of a light blueish purple, 

 occasionally white. Stigma bearded in front, like a true f'icia. 

 Leginne not an inch long, rather tumid, dark brown, destitute of 

 all pubescence, but very minutely dotted all over. Seeds about 

 6, small, (lark brown, cubical, covered with prominent warts or 

 granulations, by which, and their shape, this species, so generally 

 misunderstood, may be clearly distinguished from all to which 

 it is allied. 

 y. lathyroides of AUioni, FL Pedcrn. /.59./. 2, mentioned by U'ill- 

 dcnow, is totally diftcrent from this, and perhaps belongs to our 

 nngnstifolia. 



