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LEGUMINIFERZ. oT 
coils sharp, with a strong marginal nerve and another a little way 
from it on either side. Spines variable in length, in 2 rows, each 
spine connected both with the dorsal nerve and also with the one 
on that side towards which the spine is directed, so that its base 
interrupts the furrow that runs between these nerves. Seeds 
numerous, yellowish-brown, transversely oval, unequal at the base. 
Plant bright-green, glabrous, or occasionally with a few scattered 
hairs. 
Reticulated Medick. 
French, Luserne Denticulée. German, Gezahntfriichtiger Schneckenklee. 
SPECIES V.—MEDICAGO MACULATA. Sibth. 
Puate CCCXXXIX. 
M. polymorpha, Zinn. Sm. Eng. Bot. ed. i. No. 1616. 
Rootstock none. Leaflets inversely deltoid, obcordate, gene- 
rally with a dark blotch in the centre. Stipules denticulate, 
with triangular acuminated teeth on the margins. Flowers few, in 
long-stalked, lax sub-umbellate heads. Pods coiled into a spiral 
making 4 or 5 turns, globular, scarcely compressed; coils becoming 
gradually smaller towards the apex, not reticulated, but with 
indistinct concentric veins on the faces; their back rather broad, 
with a double nerve and a very narrow lateral furrow on each side 
of it (¢.e. between the dorsal and extra-marginal nerves). Spines in 
2 rows, divaricate, curved throughout. Seeds numerous, slightly 
notched at the hilum. Plant with scattered hairs. 
In pastures, waste places, hedge-banks, and by roadsides. 
Frequent in the South of England, especially on sandy or chalky 
soils, but not native North of Yorkshire. 
England, [Scotland,] Ireland. Annual or biennial. Spring 
and Summer. 
Very like M. denticulata, but generally larger, the leaflets 
broader and with a blackish-purple irregular blotch in the centre 
of each. Stipules shorter and broader, and having triangular teeth 
instead of the long slender segments of M. denticulata. When 
in fruit, the two cannot possibly be mistaken for each other, as in 
the present species the pod is coiled into a little ball about the size 
of a large pea, not compressed, and without the elegant reticula- 
tions on the faces present in M. denticulata. The dorsal nerve is 
also double in M. maculata, the extra-marginal nerves are much 
closer to it, and the spines are curved over the faces of the pod. 
The whole plant is of a brighter green, and there are more or less 
