LEGUMENIFERZ. oo 
Sus-Srecres L—Medicago sylvestris. ries. 
Puate CCCXXXV. 
M. sylvestris, ries, Mant. III. p. 92. Bab. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. v. p. 75. 
M. falcata, var. Hook. & Arn. Brit. Fl. ed. viii. p. 98. Benth. Handbook Brit. Fl. 
p- 161. 
M. media, “ Pers.” (falcato-sativa), Reich. Fl. Germ. Excurs. p. 504. 
M. falcato-sativa, Gr. & Godr. Fl. de Fr. Vol. I. p. 382. 
M. falcata, 3 versicolor, Wadllroth, Sched. Crit. p. 398. Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ. et Helv. 
ed. ii. p. 176. 
Flowers in a short raceme, yellow changing to blackish green, 
finally becoming purplish at the tips; standard striped with dark- 
ereen lines. Pod coiled into a semicircle or into a complete flat 
ring. 
In sandy and gravelly places. Rare. Confined to the counties 
of Cambridge, Norfolk, and Suffolk, where these three are con- 
tiguous, in the neighbourhood of Chippingham, and Thetford, and 
at Cromer. 
England. Perennial. Summer and Autumn. 
Stems weaker, more branched and diffuse than in M. sativa. 
Leaflets generally smaller and narrower. Flowers in shorter heads, 
and the pods not coiled, never making more than a single turn and 
sometimes less. 
The greater number of botanists consider this plant either as 
a hybrid between M. sativa and M. falcata, or as a variety of 
the latter, to which it appears to be really more nearly related. 
Fries gives as a distinguishing character the pith being inter- 
rupted, not contiguous so as to make the stem perfectly solid as in 
his M. falcata; but this does not appear to be the case in the few 
specimens which have come under my notice. Fries emphatically 
denies the possibility of its being a hybrid, giving, however, no 
reason for his opinion. But as in this country it appears to be 
found in places where M. sativa does not occur, this may be one of 
the grounds on which he has arrived at this conclusion. 
The pod, though generally making one complete turn, is occa- 
sionally very little more curved than in the ordinary form of 
M. eu-falcata of this work; and the disposition of the flowers is 
also variable. 
As I have never seen the plant alive, I do not feel competent 
to give any decided opinion on the distinctness of M. sylvestris as 
a species; so I have adopted the middle course of considering it as 
a sub-species of M. falcata, of which, however, it is possible that 
it is merely a variety; this, however, can only be tested by long- 
continued cultivation from seed. 
Fries’ Lucerne. 
