24 FLOWERS OK THE HUA.S AND DRY PLACES 



Kidney Vetch is a lime-loxiiii^- plain, bcin^;- acklicled to a lime soil, 

 growing as a rule on chalk or other calcareous rocks. 



This choice' wild Hower is infested by a cluster-cup fungus, U^'omyces 

 anlhy/lidis. A Ijcetle, Tycliius sclieidcri; a butterlly (the Mazarine 

 Blue), a moth, Geleckia anthyllidclla, and two Heteroptera, Lopus 

 sitlcatits, HoplouiacliHS llnnihcroi, feed on it. 



Anthyl/is, Dioscorides, is from the Cireek anikos, flower, ioiilos, 

 down, from the silky bristles of the caly.x, and Vii/ncraria because it 

 was supposed to be a cure for wounds, from the Latin vuluiis, wound. 



Names applied to this plant include Cat's-claws, Crawnebs, Yellow 

 Crow's-foot, Jupiter's Beard, Kidnc\ X'ctch. Lady's Fingers, Luck. 

 Lamb's-toe, Staunch, Womidwort. 



Being named Our Lady's I-ingers, it was connected with Scriptural 

 things. Gerarde says it "shall prevayle much against the strangury 

 and the payne of the veynes ". It has been utilized as a yellow dye. 

 The excellence of South Down mutton has been ascribed to the [)reva- 

 lence of this plant in the pastures where sheep feed in the south, and 

 it is undoubtedly a good fodder plant. The colour of the flower varies 

 considerably according to the nature of the soil. 



Essential Si'I-xific Characters: — 



83. Aiitliyllis I'ulnci-aria, L. — Stem erect, radical leaves simple, 

 oblong, upper pinnate, leatlets unequal, glaucous, terminal leaflet 

 largest, flowers yellow, in a dense head, two on each stalk, caly.x in- 

 flated, woolly, bracts large. 



Yellow Mountain Oxytropis (O.xytropis campestris) 



There is no trace of this plant in early seed-bearing beds. It is 

 a member of the flora of the North Temperate and Arctic Zone, oi 

 Arctic and Alpine Europe, Siberia, and America. In Great Britain it 

 is found in Forfar, E. Perth, at altitudes of 2000 ft. It is confined to 

 Scotland. 



The silky or Yellow Mountain \"etch is found only on the moist 

 mountain heights of Clova, where Oak-leaved Mountain .Avens anti 

 other plants, such as Yellow Balsam, Winter Cireen, lUitterwort, and 

 other alpine or subalpine species, delight to grow. 



It has much the same habit as Astragalus, but the stems are 

 prostrate or the plant may have no aerial stem. The plant is silky or 

 softly hairy. The leaves have the leaflets arranged each side of a 

 common stalk, with lance-shaped acute leaflets, in about twelve pairs, 

 with a terminal leaflet e.xceeding the flowering stems. 



