46 



BRITISH FLORA 



blunt, lliL- leal-stalk bk-iuler. The flowers are 

 ffrccn or yellow, in a cormyb, on short stalks. 

 The petals are linear-oblong-, hairy, and the 

 sepals are similar, broader. The horizontal wings 

 of the frnit are linear-oblong, curved, downy. 

 The stamens are as long as the corolla. The 

 Common Maple is 10-30 ft. in height, flowering 

 in May and June, and is a deciduous tree. 



Sycamore {Acer Pseiidoplataniis, L.). — The 

 habitat of this tree is plantations, hedges, even 

 in the N. of Scotland. The Sycamore has the 

 tree habit. The trunk is stout, with smooth, 

 cracked bark, which falls oft' with age. The 

 leaves, yellow at first, are 4-5-lobed, with unequal 

 teeth, 5-angled, opposite, bluish-green below, the 

 lobes scalloped or toothed. The flowers are in 

 long pendulous racemes, with short flower-st:ilks. 

 The stamens arc twice as long as the corolla. 

 The wings of the fruit, a scimitar-like samara, 

 are spreading. The Sycamore grows from 40-60 

 ft. in height, and flowers in May and June. It is 

 a deciduous tree. 



Order Leguminos.s 



Bitter Vetch (VU-ia Orobus, D. C). — The 

 habitat of this plant is northern rocky woods or 

 western wooded rocky districts. The habit is 

 erect or ascending, the stem downy, stout, with 

 tendrils or petioles reduced to a short slender 

 point or wanting. The leaves are stalkless, 

 the leaflets are egg-shaped, oblong, linear, acute, 

 hairy, in 7-10 pairs. The stipules are half-arrow- 

 shaped, toothed below. The 6-20 flowers are 

 white with a purple tinge, in loose racemes, 

 ranged on one side. The flower-stalk is longer 

 than the leaves. The calyx teeth exceed the 

 tube, the upper two being triangular and longer 

 than the flower-stalks. The pods are oblong, 

 lance-shaped, acute below and above, smooth. 

 The seeds are 3-5. The plant is 1-2 ft. in 

 height. It flowers in May and June, and is a 

 herbaceous perennial. 



Pencilled Wood Vetch ( Vicia syl-jalica, L.). — 

 The habitat of this plant is w^oods, thickets, rocky 

 woods, and cliffs, &c. The habit is trailing. The 

 rootstock is creeping. The stem climbs by forked 

 tendrils. The leaves are stalkless, the leaflets 

 oblong, blunt, with a blunt point, smooth, mem- 

 branous, in eight pairs. The stipules are moon- 

 shaped, toothed below, the teeth bristle-like, 

 spreading. The flowers are white with blue veins, 

 in loose racemes, 6-18, ranged all one side. The 

 flower-stalk exceeds the leaves, and the ultimate 

 stalks are as long as the calyx tube, which is in- 

 flated on the upper side. The calyx teeth are not 

 so long as the tube, awl-shaped. The pods are 

 oblong, lance-shaped, with a long point, each end 

 curved, with 3-4 seeds. The height of the plant 

 is 2-6 ft., and it flowers from June to .'\ngust, 

 being a herbaceous perennial. 



Wild Pea (Lathyrus sylvestris, L.). — The habi- 

 tat of this species is woods, thickets, rocky thickets, 

 and sea cliffs. The habit is climbing, the root- 

 Stock creeping. The stem is winged, the plant 



being smooth, bluish-green. The leaflets are 

 large, broad, sword-shaped, with parallel veins, 

 line;ir-lance-sh:i])ed. The stipules are half-arrow- 

 shaped, sickle-like, with lance-shaped bas.il lobes. 

 The leaf-stalk is sometimes also winged. The 

 tendrils are slender and branched. The bracts 

 are thread-like. The flowersare purple, in a raceme, 

 3-10, on long flower-stalks, the ultimate stalks 

 longer than the calyx. The st.-indard is rose- 

 colour, the wings purple. The calyx teeth are 

 awl-shaped, triangular. The smooth pods are 

 stalkless, winged above, with 10-14 seeds half- 

 enclosed by the hilum and flattened along the 

 border, rough, with few distant wart-like knobs. 

 The plant is 5-6 ft. in height, flowering from July 

 to September, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Common Bitter Vetch (Lalhyrus macrorhisus, 

 Wimm. = ?no/i/annSj Bernh.). — The habitat of this 

 vetch is woods and bushy places, thickets, copses. 

 The stem is winged and simple, without tendrils. 

 The leaves have lobes each side of a common stalk, 

 the leaflets in 2-4 pairs, though green below, with 

 nerves, oblong, elliptic, smooth, bhnit. The stij)- 

 ules are half-arrow-shaped, toothed below. The 

 2-4 flowers are variegated red and blue, turning 

 green or yellow when faded, on slender stalks, as 

 long as, or longer than, the leaves, the ultimate 

 stalks less than the calyx, with triangular teeth 

 less than the tube. The pods are cylindrical, with 

 round seeds, partly surrounded by the hile. The 

 plant is 6-15 in. in height, and flowers from May 

 to August, being a herbaceous perennial. 



Order Rosace.* 



BuUace {Prunus insitHia, L.). — The habitat 

 of this plant is woods and hedges. The habit is 

 that of a shrub, in general like that of the Sloe, 

 which it resembles (though it is taller), but the 

 str;iight branches are not, or verv slightly, spinous, 

 the bark brown, the leaves oblong, inversely egg- 

 shaped, larger and broader, with blunt teeth, 

 downy below, the flowers appearing usualh" with 

 the leaves with broader petals, the flower-stalk 

 downy, the fruit a drupe, round, drooping, black or 

 yellow. The height is 6-15 ft. It flowers in March 

 onward till May, and is a deciduous shrub. 



Gean (Prunus Avium, L.). — The habitat of this 

 tree is woods. The habit is the tree habit. There 

 are no suckers. The branches are rigid, short, 

 stout, ascending. The lea\es are drooping, limp, 

 large, pale-green, oblong, inversely egg-shaped, 

 downy below, long-stalked, the margin toothed. 

 The leaf-buds have the outer scales bent back, 

 the flower-buds are not leafy. The flowers are 

 white, in nearly stalkless umbels, the petals divided 

 into two nearly to the base, and stalked, the 

 corolla open, and limp, the tube of the calyx nar- 

 rowed above, the sepals entire. The fruit is heart- 

 shaped, sweet or bitter, the juice staining black. 

 The tree is 20-30 ft. high, flowering in May, and 

 deciduous. 



Bird Cherry (Prunus Padus, L.).— The habitat 

 of this tree is woods and hedges, especially in 

 North Britain. The Bird Cherry has the tree 



