LEGUMINIFERA. ity 
base, narrowly winged. Leaves with 2 to 3 (rarely 4) pairs of ovate- 
elliptical, elliptical, oblong, or linear-oblong mucronate leaflets ; 
common petiole terminating in a setaceous point. Stipules lance- 
olate, half-sagittate at the base, with a triangular-acute auricle. 
Peduncles longer than or equal to the leaves, 2- to 6-flowered. 
Flowers drooping, in a lax raceme. 3 lower calyx-teeth ovate- 
acuminate, shorter than the tube; the upper pair much shorter, 
and directed upwards. Corolla three times as long as the calyx. 
Pods oblong-linear, sub-cylindrical, slightly compressed. Seeds 
globular, smooth ; hilum about one-fourth the circumference of 
the seed. 
Var. a, genuinus. 
Leaflets varying from oval-elliptical to elliptical or oblong. 
Var. 8, tenuifolius. 
Orobus tenuifolius, Roth. Fl. Germ. Vol. I. p. 305. 
Leaflets varying from strap-shaped to linear. 
In woods and thickets, amongst heath and in grassy places. 
Very common, and generally distributed. Var. 6 not so frequent 
as var. a. : 
England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Spring and Summer. 
Rootstock black, with enlargements at intervals from the size 
of a pea to that of a small cherry. Stems 8 to 18 inches high. 
Leaflets in var. a 1 to 2 inches long, blunt or suddenly acuminate 
at the apex—in (6, sometimes 3 inches long, tapering gradually 
and very acute. Stipules + to $ inch long. Peduncles 1 to 5 inches 
long. Flowers } to 3 inch long, pale dull-crimson fading to blue, 
and at length tinged with green. Pods sessile, spreading or slightly 
reflexed, 14 to 2 inches long, black when ripe, nearly as wide as the 
depth between the sutures. Seeds $ inch in diameter, reddish- 
brown, slightly shining. Plant deep-green, slightly glaucous, espe- 
cially on the under side of the leaves, glabrous, or with a few short 
scattered hairs on the stipules. 
This plant usually (but not always) turns black in drying. 
Tuberous Bitter Vetch. 
French, Orobe tubereux. German, Berg Platterbse. 
SPECIES XI—-LATHYRUS NIGER. Wimm. 
Pirate CCCCVII. 
 Orobus niger, Zinn. Hook. in Eng. Bot. Sup. No. 2788. Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ. et 
Helv. ed. ii. p. 226. Fries, Sum. Veg. Scand. p. 46. 
