LEGUMENIFERZ. real 
SuB-Tripe ITI.—TRIFOLIE A. 
Stamens diadelphous, the upper one being free from the other 9. 
Pod 1-celled, without spurious partitions. Stem generally herba- 
ceous. Leaves trifoliate, generally with denticulate margins and 
numerous excurrent nerves. 
GENUS VI—MEDICAGO. Linn. 
Calyx bell-shaped, 5-toothed ; teeth elongated, equal or the 
upper ones shorter. Corolla deciduous. Standard scarcely spread- 
ing, longer than the wings and keel. Wings not cohering at the 
apex. Keel obtuse. Stamens diadelphous, not adhering to the 
petals. Filaments not dilated towards the apex. Style glabrous, 
with a capitate stigma. Pod exserted, reniform, sabre-shaped, 
or (most commonly) rolled up like a compressed spiral spring, 
many-seeded, rarely 1-seeded, indehiscent or opening only at the 
external suture. 
Herbs, often annual or biennial, more rarely undershrubs or 
shrubs, with the leaves pinnately-trifoliate, with herbaceous stipules 
adhering by their bases to the petioles. Flowers yellow, more 
rarely purple, usually in stalked axillary heads or short racemes ; 
more rarely the inflorescence is reduced to sub-solitary flowers. 
The name of this genus is said to come from Medike, a name given by Dioscorides 
to a Medean grass. 
Secrion I1.—FALCAGO. Reich. 
Pod many-seeded, dehiscent, sabre-shaped, or twisted into a 
loose helix leaving an aperture in the centre of the coil, without 
spines, and without a concentric extra-marginal nerve. 
SPECIES I—MEDICAGO SATIVA. Linn. 
Pirate CCCXXXIV. 
Fries, Mant. IIT. p. 91. 
Rootstock woody. Stems hollow, erect, much branched; , 
branches ascending. Flowers numerous, in oblong rather loose 
racemes; standard streaked with violet lines. Pods downy, twisted 
into a loose spiral of 2 or 3 turns. 
On pastures, dry banks, and borders of fields. Not uncommon 
