PEA AND BEAN TRIBE 199 



The seeds of the Tufted Vetch are roundish and black ; doubtless they, 

 with those of the other vetches, contribute to furnish food for our wild birds. 



3. Wood Bitter Vetch (F. drohus). — Leaves pinnate, hairy; with 

 from seven to ten pairs of egg-shaped, somewhat oblong acute leaflets; 

 stipules half arrow-shaped, slightly toothed at the base ; flower-stalks many- 

 flowered ; stem branched, prostrate, hairy ; tendrils reduced to a point. 

 Plant perennial. This "Wood-vetch or Wood-pea, as it is often called, flowers 

 in May and June, having oi>e-sided clusters of cream-coloured blossoms with 

 purple streaks. It is not common in the South of England, but in the woods 

 and mountainous and rocky places in the West, it is not an unfrequent plant 

 among bushes. 



4. Rough -podded Purple Vetch (F. Uthynica). — Flower-stalks 

 shorter than the leaves, 1 or 2-flowered ; leaflets either linear or lanceolate, 

 acute, upper leaf-stalks having two pairs ; stipules half arrow-shaped and 

 toothed ; calyx-teeth lanceolate, somewhat awl-shaped. Plant perennial. 

 This rare species is found where the soil is of gravel, occurring chiefly near 

 the sea. The flower is of purplish colour, with paler, almost white wings, 

 and the round seeds are speckled with black and grey. The blossoms are 

 most often solitary, and appear in July and August. 



* ■*■ Peduncles short, axillary, feiv-floiuered ; calyx equal at the base. 



5. Spring Vetch (F. lathyroides). — Flowers solitary, sessile; pods 

 smooth ; leaflets in two or three pairs, inversely egg-shaped or oblong, tipped 

 with a spine; calyx-teeth awl-shaped; stipules entire, not marked with a 

 dark spot ; pods linear, smooth ; seeds nearly cubical, roughish. Plant 

 annual. This species is very nearly allied to the next, looking like a dwarfed 

 specimen of it. Its stem is prostrate, and usually about six inches long. 

 The flowers are of bright purple, and expand in April and May. 



* * * Flowers axillary, scarcely stalked ; calyx swelling at the base on one side. 



6. Common Vetch {F. saliva). — Flowers solitary or in pairs, nearly 

 sessile ; leaflets in from four to seven pairs, oblong or inversely heart-shaped, 

 the upper ones narrowest, all tipped with a spine ; calyx-teeth equal ; pods 

 slender, somewhat silky ; stipules half arrow-shaped, toothed at the base, 

 marked Avith a sunken dark spot ; seeds round and smooth. Plant annual. 

 This Vetch is often found growing apparently wild in fields and hedges, but 

 it is no native, and has most probably escaped from cultivation. The plant 

 is very extensively sown for cattle, and is the summer and winter tare of the 

 agriculturist. These two Tares were long regarded as diff'erent species, but 

 Professor Martyn, on cultivating them both, found that they were not even 

 distinct varieties, only requiring that the one should be sown in the spring, 

 the other in October. This is the only species of the genus, except the 

 bean, Avhich is cultivated to any extent in this country. 



The Tare crop is of so much importance in our own land, that Mr. Young 

 observed, that not one-tenth of the animals reared for the use of man could 

 be supported without it. "This Common Vetch," he says, "maintains more 

 animals than any other plant whatsoever, no artificial food being to be com- 

 pared with it." Another advantage of the Tare to the cultivator is mentioned 



