LEGUMINOS^ 



55 



Bean-bush — Cytisus capitatus 



(Plate XXIV) 



This is a handsome shrub (allied to the Laburnum, 

 or Golden Rain as the Germans call it), which, 

 though not British, is common in hilly districts in 

 Central Europe, especially on a calcareous soil. 

 It flowers in June and July. The root throws up 

 several unbranched woody stems. The stems are 

 dark coloured, and set with short hairs. The 

 leaves are trifid, and placed alternately on short 

 hairy stalks, intermingled with smaller leaves. 

 They are of a long oval shape, dark green, with 

 a short spine at the tip, and furnished with a few 

 long soft hairs on both sides. The flowers stand 

 at the end of the stem on short hairy stalks, in 

 clusters of 6 or 8 together. The calyx is inflated, 

 pale green, hairy, bilobate, with the upper lobe 

 broadest, and bifid ; the lower is trifid. The corolla 

 is golden-yellow, with a large oval veined and 

 indented standard, larger than the wings and keel. 

 The pod is long, flattened, brown, and very hairy ; 

 the oval seeds are brownish. 



On waste ground we often meet with the 

 Rest-harrow (Ononis spinosa), a creeping woody 

 plant, under a foot high, with pretty pink flowers 

 and strong spines. It is so tough that it is difficult 

 to break the stalks with the finger. 



Meadow Clover — Trifolium medium 



(Plate XXV) 



This species prefers dry hilly pastures, and 

 flowers in June and July ; it is a perennial. The 

 stalks are three-sided below, and more rounded 

 above, erect, but throwing out side-stems at an 

 angle, from a thickening at the base of each. 

 The leaves are long and narrow, smooth, and 

 diverging from the stalk. The leaflets become 

 more lanceolate with age. On the upper surface 

 they are only slightly veined, and are often marked 

 with two pale crescent-shaped longitudinal spots. 

 On the under surface they are greyish green, more 

 distinctly veined, fringed with rather long slender 

 hairs, and finely denticulated. The flower-head is 

 round at first, but afterwards becomes more oval. 



