Omilhopus.] ROSACEA. 85 



often eaten by the Highlanders, by whom it is known by the name 

 Cormeille. Stem one foot high, winged. Flowers in long-stalked 

 axillary racemes, purple-veined. Legume long, pendulous, cylindrical, 

 black. 



§ Hedysarece. De Cand. 



Corolla papilionaceous. Stamens usually monadelphous ; 

 sometimes diadelphous, 1 and 9, or 5 and 5. Legume divided 

 transversely into I -seeded joints. Cotyledons thin, in germina- 

 tion rising above the ground, and acquiring a green colour. 



16. Ornithopus. Linn. Bird's-foot. 

 Legumes somewhat cylindrical, curved, of many close, single- 

 seeded joints. Keel very small. — Name ; opvis, opviOos, a bird, 

 and 7tov}, a. foot, from the similarity of the seed-vessels to a 

 bird's-foot. Diadelphia. Decandria. 



1. O. perpusillus, Linn. Common Bird's-foot. Leaves pin- 

 nated with 6 — 9 pairs of leaflets, and a terminal one ; flowers 

 capitate, bracteated ; legumes curved upwards. Br.Fl.].p. 

 326. E. Fl. v. iii. p. 290. E. Bot. t. 369. 



Sandy and gravelly soils. On the bare grassy pastures on the Sutton 

 side of the Hill of Howth, above Mrs. Hannyngton's house, and near 

 the coast immediately under it, in great quantity. Fl. June. 0. — 

 Stems from two to six inches high, much branched at the base and 

 spreading. Leaflets oval. Flowers white, with red lines. 



Ord. 27. ItOSACE/E. Juss. Rose Family. 



Sepals 5, below more or less combined into a tube, and thence 

 5-lobed, generally persisting, free or adherent with the ovary. 

 Petals of the same number, rarely wanting, inserted upon the 

 calj'x; estivation imbricated, mostly regular. Stamens in- 

 serted with the petals, usually indefinite ; filaments with an in- 

 curved sestivation; anthers 2-celled, opening longitudinally. 

 Carpels numerous, sometimes reduced and solitary, sometimes 

 united among themselves, or with the tube of the calyx into one. 

 Ovaries 1-ceIIed. Styles simple, dilated upwards into variously 

 formed stigmas, frequently lateral, distinct or rarely combined. 

 Seeds 1 — 2, rarely more in each carpel, erect or inverted, 

 without albumen (except in HirteHa and Neillia). Embryo 

 straight : cotyledons leafy or fleshy. — Herbs or trees. Leaves 

 alternate, simple or compound, with two stipules at the base. In- 

 florescence various. 



§ I. SpircBaceos. De Cand. 

 Follicles several, invested by the calyx. Seeds from one to 

 six, suspended from the inner edges of the follicle. 



