PEA AND BEAN TRIBE 205 



The stem of this plant is about two or three feet high, the leaflets about two 

 inches in length, and the flowers, which are produced from June to August, 

 are bluish-purple. 



6. Rough-podded Vetchling (L. hirsutus). — Leaf of one pair of long 

 and narrow leaflets ; flower-stalks :2-flowered ; pods hairy ; seeds round, and 

 rough with tubercles ; stem and leaf-stalk winged. Plant annual. This is a 

 very rare Vetchling, having pale blue flowers with a crimson standard. It 

 blossoms in July and August, and has l)een found in cultivated fields in 

 Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Yorkshire. 



7. Yellow Vetchling (L. aphdca). — Flower-stalks single-flowered; leaf- 

 stalks leafless, bearing tendrils ; stipules arrow-shaped, very large, and looking 

 like leaves. Plant annual. This singular plant is described as leafless, 

 because, though in the young seedlings small tender leaves are occasionally 

 developed, and consist of a single pair of leaflets, yet, in the full-grown state 

 of the plant, the leaf-stalk spreads into a tendril, and the plant is then justly 

 termed leafless, as the expanded plane of the leaf is not present. The pair 

 of stipules at the base of each tendril are, however, as ornamental as leaves 

 would be ; and this is a pretty little plant, its yellow flowers appearing from 

 June to August on its slender, weak, climbing stem. It is very rare, but 

 grows in the borders of sandy or gravelly fields in some parts of England, 

 especially Warwickshire, Norfolk, and Gloucestershire, but extending south- 

 wards as far as Kent and Devonshire. The author has received very 

 luxuriant specimens from the Forest of Dean. The seeds of this species are 

 very unwholesome, and if eaten are said to cause intense headache. 



8. Crimson Vetchling {L. nissdlia). — Leaflets wanting, a simple, long, 

 narrow, sessile, leaf-like leaf-stalk supplying their place ; stipules very small, 

 and awl-shaped ; pods cylindrical ; seeds round and rough ; stem generally 

 erect. Plant annual. This very pretty species, which is often called Grass 

 Vetch, is not common. It grows in grassy and bushy places about fields 

 and parks ; its stem is about a foot high, and it may easily be distinguished 

 from any other of our wild Vetches by its grass-like leaves. Though not 

 climbing in graceful convolutions, yet it is peculiarly elegant in form, and 

 the small flowers are light crimson. The author has found it in meadow- 

 lands about Tunbridge Wells. It blossoms in June and July. 



15. Bitter Vetch (Orobus). 



1. Tuberous Bitter Vetch {0. tuberdsus). — Leaflets in from 2 to 4 

 pairs, smooth, Avithout tendrils, and glaucous on the under surface ; stipules 

 half arrow-shaped, toothed at the base ; stem simple, erect, winged ; pods 

 cylindrical, seeds round. Plant perennial. This pretty Vetch is not un- 

 common in woods and thickets, especially in mountainous disti'icts. It has 

 clusters of the purple and pink veined flowers on long stalks, in the axils of 

 its leaves, and has much of the general aspect of the Vetches, but is without 

 tendrils. It flowers in May and June, and after the blossoms have died, the 

 long, black, drooping pods are very conspicuous. In country places it is 

 often called Peaseling, or Wood Pea. The French term it IJOrohe, the 

 Germans Die Bcrgerbse ; it is the Erben of the Dutch, and the Orobo of the 

 Italian and Spaniard. There is a variety of this plant with linear leaves, 



