PEA AND BEAN TRIBE 207 



Thetford, in Norfolk, where other plants would not thrive, this has been 

 cultivated with advantage. It is not, however, like our wild species, a small 

 plant, but commonly attains the height of two feet. Our Bird's-foot was 

 said by herbalists to be of "a binding, drying quality, and very good for a 

 wound-drink, as also for an outward application in cure of wounds." 



17. Joint Vetch (Arthrolubium). 



Sand Joint Vetch (A. ebradedtum). — Flower-stalks about as long as the 

 leaves, from 2 to 4-flowered ; stipules very small ; leaves pinnate, with many 

 pairs of ol^long leaflets, the lowest pair remote from the stem ; pod curved 

 upwards, jointed, and rough. This little Vetch is very similar to the bird's- 

 foot, but has no floral bract. It is exceedingly rare, being found in this 

 kingdom only in the Scilly and Channel Islands. It has small yellow or 

 yellowish-white flowers, with red lines, appearing from June to August ; and 

 its stem is prostrate, and scarcely thicker than a thread. 



18. Horseshoe Vetch {Hippoaipis). 



Tufted Horseshoe Vetch {H. comdsa). — Flowers from 5 to 8, in an 

 umbel, their stalk longer than the leaves ; pods curved, rough, having smooth 

 joints and semicircular notches. This is a common annual plant, on chalky 

 and limestone soils, and well known in such districts of England, though 

 rare in Scotland. It might be mistaken for the bird's-foot lotus, but for its 

 singular pods, which look so like a number of horseshoes united together at 

 their extremities, that we wonder that the old herbalists did not consider 

 them as indicative of some uses in farriery. We have one or two pretty 

 species of this genus in the garden, brought from the south of Europe. The 

 blossoms of the tufted species are yellow, and are produced from May to 

 August. 



19. Saintfoin (Ondbrychis). 



Common Saintfoin (0. sativa). — Leaves pinnate, nearly smooth ; 

 leaflets oblong, entire, in about twelve pairs ; legumes wrinkled and toothed ; 

 wings of the corolla as short as the calyx ; stem ascending. Plant perennial. 

 The very handsome crimson flowers of the Saintfoin are, during June and 

 Jvily, familiar to those who live in those counties in which chalk or limestone 

 prevails. It is not only to be commonly found wild in such districts, but it 

 is often largely cultivated on chalk soils, where it is of great duration and 

 worth ; its especial value being that it may be grown on lands unfit for 

 being constantly under tillage, and which would yield little produce if laid 

 down in pasture. On many a sunny slope its richly-tinted spikes form a 

 wide mass of crimson, and we know of no cultivated field which is more truly 

 ornamental to the landscape than the field of Saintfoin. The long descending 

 roots of this plant can penetrate the fissures of rocky or chalky substrata, 

 which the roots of other plants of field culture could not reach. Its herbage 

 is equally fitted for pasturage, or for making into hay. Arthur Young says, 

 that upon soils proper for it, no farmer can sow too much of it ; and in the 

 code of agriculture it is pronounced to be one of the most valuable herbage 

 plants which we owe to the bounty of Providence. Fuller, in his " Worthies 



