22 FLOWERS OF THE HILLS AND DRV PLACES 



No insect or fung^al pests iniest this plant. 



This plant has the specific name arveiise because it is associated 

 largely with arable land. 



It is called Hare's-foot Clover, Uogs-and-cats, Mare's l-"oot. 



Essential Specific Characters: — 



79. Trifoliiim arvcnsi\ L. — Stem erect, Ijranched, leaflets linear, 

 obovate, terminal flowers in cylindrical heads, softl\- hairy, pink, small, 

 calvx teeth subulate, setaceous, longer than corolla. 



Kidney Vetch (Anthyllis X'ulneraria, L.) 



The recent distribution (of which alone anythin;^' is known) of this 

 plant is circumscribed by the North Temperate and the Arctic Zones 

 of Arctic Europe, North Africa, Western Asia. It is not found in Great 

 Britain in S. Esse.v, Hunts, Carmarthen, Mint, Brecon, Radnor, Moiit- 

 oomery, Merioneth, Wigtown, Peebles, Selkirk, Mull, West Ross, north- 

 wards towards the Shetlands, but elsewhere oenerally, and ascends up to 

 2400 ft. in the Highlands, and is found in Ireland and the Channel Isles. 



The Kidney \ etcli is a lover of dry chalky soil or hill-sides, being 

 largcK' a .South of England plant, where also it grows 1)\' the sea; but 

 it occurs in many other districts also as a well-established ])]ant. 

 especially in the vicinity of brickyards and similar places, where it is 

 frequently associated with Sainfoin, Lucerne, and Hare's Foot Trefoil. 



Herbaceous, tall, and ha\ing a silky appearance, this plant has 

 a woody rootstock, suberect stem, with leaflets each side of a common 

 stalk, with a larger terminal leaflet, l)luish-white foliage (another I'^ng- 

 lish name, Lady's Fingers, may refer to the foliage). Anthyllis, 

 meaning Beard Flower, refers to its silky appearance. 



The flowers are yellow, lateral, an<l in pairs. The caly.\ is egg- 

 shaped, with pointed teeth, membranous, e.xceeding the petals, the 

 heads many-flowered, the flowers long-tubed. The pods are on long 

 stalks, acute, smooth, netted, containing one seed. 



This strikingly beautiful plant is from 6 in. to i ft. in height. It 

 flowers in May right on up to August. It is perennial, and propagated 

 by division. 



The flower is like that of Lotus, with a long tLibc, and CcUi only be 

 reached by bees with a long proboscis. W'hen the flower is young the 

 stigma is dry though tin- keel encloses the pistil, and no pollen adheres, 

 but when the bulk of the pollen has been removed the stigma is 

 clammy, and pollen then adheres to it. The flower is pollinated by 

 aid of the piston-mechanism, and the swollen and hairy calyx surrounds 



