A NEW VICIA FEOM TENERIFE. 

 By the Eev. R. P. Murray, M.A., F.L.S. 



Vicia scandens, n. sp. V. glabrescens, caule scandente, iiitri- 

 catissimo, foliis 3-5-jugis, cirrhosis, cirrhis ramosis, foliolis lineari- 

 oblanceolatis vel lineanbus, stipulis hirsutis, lanceolatis, plus minus 

 dentatis ; pedunculis quam folia loiigioribus, multifloris ; vcxillo 

 angusto, alarum longitudine ; ovario stipitato ; leguminibus latis, 

 compressis, uervosulis, 4-6-spermis. 



Perennial? climbing. Stems glabrescent, angular, furrowed, 

 branched. Leaves with 3-5 pairs of leaflets, cirrhose, tendrils 

 branched. Stipules hairy, lanceolate, toothed at the base (semi- 

 hastate), the upper ones broader, sublaciniate towards the tip. 

 Leaflets ^-1^ in., linear-oblanceolate to linear, obtuse, apiculate, 

 very thinly hairy on both sides, shortly stalked. Flowers i^-6 

 lines, in a secund raceme. Peduncle usually exceeding the leaf, 

 many- (6-18) flowered. Calyx subcylindric, gibbous at base, 

 thinly hairy. Teeth very unequal ; 2 upper very short, broadly 

 triangular ; intermediate triangular-acummate (nearly equalling 

 the tube) ; lowest subulate, a little exceeding the tube. Corolla 

 cream-coloured ; standard only slightly dilated upwards, about 

 equalling the wings, and slightly exceeding the keel. Pod 1 in. 

 9 lines to 2 in. long, 4 lines broad, stipitate, gradually narrowed 

 to the base, shortly acuminate at the tip, glabrous, reticulate, much 

 compressed, about 5-seeded. Seeds (immature) about 2| lines in 

 diameter. 



The present species differs from V. cirrhosa Chr. Sm. in the 

 structure of the calyx (in V. cirrhosa the teeth are almost obsolete), 

 and in the much broader and larger pods, which contain larger and 

 fewer seeds ; and in other respects. It is, I think, more nearly 

 related to V. varia Host, and may possibly be identical with the 

 " V. dasyairpa Ten." of the Phytographia Canariensis, which Webb 

 once found "in dumetis insulae Palmar." I do not know Teuore's 

 plant, but Cannot think that the Tenerifan species can be referred 

 to any form of V. varia, though the resemblances are certainly 

 striking. One is an annual plant ; the other (I believe) perennial : 

 that has a violet standard, this cream-coloured flowers (though 

 I made no note of colour from the fresh plant, and have to trust to 

 memory). More important are the differences in the shape of the 

 upper stipules, and in the characters derived from the pods, which 

 are much longer and less abruptly stipitate in V. scandens than in 

 F. varia. 



The only place where I have seen this plant is the almost pre- 

 cipitous wood fringing the base of the cliffs known as "Los Organos," 

 above Agua Mansa, in the island of Tenerife, at about 4500 ft. above 

 the sea. Here it is extremely luxuriant, and forms one of the 

 greatest ornaments of the vegetation, covering the under-shrubs 

 with a dense mat. It flowers in May and June. 



