LEGUMINIFER 2. 65 
margins. Stipules free, resembling the leaflets; peduncles axillary, 
with umbellate heads of few or numerous flowers, which are gene- 
rally yellow. The pods show an evident relation to the Coronilleze. 
The name of this genus is variously derived. Some authors say it is of Egyptian 
origin, others that it is the Nwroc of Theopbrastus and Dioscorides ; the true Lotus 
is, however, the Zizyphus Lotos. In mythology, Lotos was a nymph turned into a tree 
to avoid the pursuit of Priapus, and it is most probable that the name was originally 
given to a tree of large size. 
SPECIES I—LOTUS CORNICULATUS. Zinz. 
Puates CCCLX VIII. CCCLXIX. 
Rootstock short, czespitosely branched, emitting few or no 
stolons. Stems decumbent, simple or branched. Peduncles three 
to five times as long as the leaves. Heads 3- to 10-flowered. 
Calyx-teeth nearly equal, erect in the bud; the 2 uppermost trian- 
cular, converging, separated by a blunt sinus, the 3 lower trian- 
gular contracted into subulate, rather shorter than the tube. 
Corolla twice as long as the calyx or more; standard with the 
claw dilated and vaulted near the middle, rather abruptly widening 
into the lamina. Pod cylindrical, slightly depressed and not 
beaded when ripe. 
Suzs-Srecres IL—Lotus eu-corniculatus. 
Puate CCCLX VIII. 
L. corniculatus, Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ. et Helv. ed. ii. p. 197. ries, Sum. Veg. Scand. 
p. 47. Gr. & Godr. Fl. de Fr. Vol. I. p. 432. 
L. corniculatus, vars. 6 and c, Benth. Handbook Brit. Bot. p. 171. 
L. corniculatus, vars. a and /3, Hook. & Arn. Brit. Fl. ed. viii. p. 106. 
L. corniculatus, vars. a, 3, and y, Bab. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. v. pp. 80, 81. 
Stems short, rather stout, nearly simple. Leaflets oblanceolate 
or obovate, rather obtuse. Stipules ovate or lanceolate. Wings 
oblong-obovate, nearly straight on the upper margin, curved on the 
lower margin of the lamina from the middle to the apex. 
Var. a, vulgaris. 
Nearly glabrous. Leaflets thin. 
Var. 6, crassifolius. 
Sub-glabrous. Leaflets thick and fleshy. 
Var. y, villosus. 
Stem, leaves, and calyces with numerous long spreading hairs. 
VOL. III. K 
