72 AMONG THE WILD FLOWERS. 
On dry hills there is the Broom, Sarothamuus, 
with its large yellow flowers. Under foot in 
various places, where the soil is sandy and dry, 
scarcely distinguishable from the short herbage, 
you may find beds of the pretty Bird’s-foot, 
Ornithopus, stems prostrate, 3 to 12 inches 
long; leaves with many pairs of downy leaf- 
lets; and minute but beautiful white flowers 
with crimson veins. The pods are several 
together, curved and jointed, and spreading so 
as to resemble a bird’s claw. 
Then there is the Vetchling, Lathyrus 
macrorrhizus, sometimes given as Orodus tuber- 
osus, the Heathpea, with its purple flowers, 
variegated with red and blue; and to this 
genus, Lathyrus, belong the Yellow Vetchling, 
L. pratensis, and the handsome and vigorous 
climber, Z. Sylvestris, Wood Vetch, with its 
large racemes of greenish yellow flowers varied 
with purple. These last two bloom in the 
summer. 
Soon we shall have the two species of Bird’s- 
foot Trefoil, Lotus corniculatus, whose rich 
yellow flowers are painted with scarlet, and 
L. major ; both bearing pods which are claw- 
like. 
