202 LEOUMINOS^ 



black. These seeds were formerly said to produce deliility in the limbs if 

 they happened to be mingled with the flour made into bread, but this state- 

 ment has been quite disproved, though they impart to the flour a strong and 

 disagreeable flavour. Dr. Withering remarked, that both the Tine Tare and 

 the four-seeded species increase with superabundant fertility ; for it appears 

 from experiments, that a single seed will, by the produce of one plant only, 

 multiply a thousand-fold in a short time. 



12. Slender Tare (F. tetraspSrma). — Flowers from one to seven to- 

 gether ; leaflets in from three to six pairs ; pods slender, oblong, smooth, 

 containing from four to eight seeds ; stipules half arrow-shaped, entire. 

 Plant animal. This Tare has very small pale purple flowers in June and 

 Jul}^, and is the most slender of all our vetches. It is not unfrequent in corn- 

 fields and hedges in England, but is more rare in Scotland. Mr. Babington 

 and other botanists describe also a species under the name of Vzcia gracilis, 

 in which the flowers are twice as large as in V. tdraspdrma ; but Sir Wm. 

 Hooker and Dr. Arnott consider this plant but one of the several varieties, 

 differing slightly from the ordinary form of the species. 



14. Vetchling, Everlasting Pea (Ldthyrus). 



1. Meadow Vetchling (L. prafJnsis). — Flower-stalks many flowered; 

 leaves of one pair of lanceolate, three-nerved, slightly silky leaflets ; stipules 

 arrow-shaped, as large as the leaflets ; calyx-teeth awl-shaped ; pods veined ; 

 seeds found and smooth. Plant perennial. The bright yellow flower of 

 this handsome Vetchling may be seen, during July and August, in most 

 l)ushy grassy places, the stems acquiring greater length, and the flowers an 

 additional luxuriance, when the plant grows on the moist meadow, or among 

 the bushes through which the brook is murmuring its music. The stems 

 are angular, but not winged, and are often two or three feet long, climbing 

 by means of their tendrils. Cattle are said to be very fond of this plant. 



2. Narrow-leaved Everlasting Pea {L. syMsfris). — Leaf of two 

 sword-shaped leaflets ; flowers four or five together ; stipules half arrow- 

 shaped ; calyx-teeth triangular and awl-shaped, two upper ones short ; stems 

 winged ; pods netted with veins ; seeds smooth. Plant i^erennial. This is 

 not a very frequent flower in our woods and thickets. It is very much like 

 the Everlasting Pea of the gardens, but a much smaller plant. The blossoms 

 are large, of a somewhat dull pinkish -purple colour, more or less tinged with 

 green, and marked with purple veins. They are jDroduced during June, 

 July, and August. This Pea is found in the middle and south of England, 

 but it is doubtful if always wild. Salisbury Craigs is a well-known habitat 

 of the plant, and the author has found it in several places in Kent, as at 

 Higham near Rochester, and about Lymne Castle near Hythe. It is exceed- 

 ingly abundant along some of the Cornish cliffs, climbing up the stems of the 

 Great Reed. It occurs also in some places in Scotland and in North Wales. 

 The stem, which is almost flat, climbs to the height of six or seven feet by 

 means of its tendrils. 



3. Broad-leaved Everlasting Pea (L. latifdlius). — Flowers growing 

 several together ; leaves of one pair of narrowly egg-shaped pointed leaflets ; 

 stipules broad, half arrow-shaped ; pods veined ; seeds rough ; stem winged. 



