LOT 



L O T 



pistilluvn is a columnar germ, oblong: style quently send up several of these stalks, especi- 

 siniple, ascending : stigma an inflected point : ally if the old ones be cut down : they are hairy, 

 the pericarpium is a legume cylindric, stiff and and divide into several branches : the leaves are 

 straight, stuffed, longer than the calvx, many- ternate, hoary, with two stipules: the flowers 

 celled, two-valved : the seeds several and cy- in heads on long axillary peduncles: the calyxes 



very hairy : the corollas dirty white, with a few 

 marks of pale red : the pods short, thick, 

 chestnut-coloured, containing several roundish 

 seeds. It is a native of the South of Europe, 

 flowering from June to August. 



The fifth species rises with weak shrubby 

 stalks three or four feet high, sending out many 

 slender branches, thinly set with small hoary 

 leaves, having five leaflets, spreading like the 

 fingers, and sessile : the flowers at the extremi- 

 ty of the branches in small heads. They are 

 ..s axillary, alternate, from two to three inches very small and white, appear at the end of 

 long, each sustaining one (sometimes two) large June, or in July, continue to September, and are 

 redllowers at the top, with three leaves just succeeded by short pods, containing two or three 



It is a native of the South 



lindric. 



The species cultivated are : \ . L. ietragnnn- 

 loloSj Winged Rird's-foot Trefoil ; 2. L. jaco- 

 Iceus, Dark-flowered Bird's-foot Trefoil ; 3. L. 

 creticus, Silvery Bird's-foot Trefoil; 4. L. 

 hirsutus, Hairy Bird's-foot Trefoil ; 5. L. Du- 

 ryenium, Shrubby Bird's-foot Trefoil. 



The first has an annual root : the stems seve- 

 ral, decumbent, upright, about a foot long, 

 having at each joint a ternate leaf : the leaflets 

 ovate ; the stipules of the same shape : pedun- 



under the flower. The wings are very dark pur- 

 ple, appearing to be black at the end : the le- 

 gume thick, with four broad undulatine wings : 

 the seeds sub-globular, the size of a small 

 pea, smooth, pale or livid purple, without 



small round seeds, 

 of Europe. 



Culture. — The first sort is raised by sowing 

 the seed annually in spring, in the open ground, 

 in the places where the plants are to remain, in 



spots. It flowers in June and" July, and the patches in different parts, of live or six seeds in 

 seeds ripen in autumn. It is a native of each, half an inch deep. The plants soon come 

 Sicily. up, which, remaining in the same place for flow- 

 It was formerly cultivated as an esculent ering, require only occasional weeding, being 

 plant, for the green pods, wheh are said to be either suffered to trail, according to their natu- 

 still eaten hi spine of our northern counties, ral growth, or tied up to sticks, 

 but they are very coarse. It is now chiefly The other sorts may be increased by seeds and 



cuttings. 



The seeds should be sown in pots of light 

 earth or in a moderate hot-bed ; and when the 

 plants are about three inches high be planted 

 out in separate small pots of light rich earth, 

 giving water, and placing them in the shade till 



cultivated in flower-gardens for ornament. 



The. second species has a slender woody stem, 

 from two to three feet high, sending out many 

 slender herbaceous branches : the leaves sessile, 

 hoary : leaflets narrow, white : the flowers ax- 

 illary from the upper part of the stem, four or 



five, on very slender peduncles, of a yellowish fresh-rooted, 



deep purple colour : the pods taper, slender, The cuttings of the young stalks and 



little more than an inch long, containing five branches may be planted any time in the spring 



or six small roundish seeds. It is a native of or summer, in beds or pots of rich mould, 



the Cape Verd Islands, flowering all the sum- giving shade and water. They emit roots, and 



mer and autumn, and many times a great part form plants in a few weeks, but may be greatly 



of the winter. facilitated by covering them close with hand- 



The third species rises with slender stems glasses till they begin to shoot at top ; then 



which require support, from three to four feet they should be gradually inured to the air, 



high, sending out a few side branches. At each and soon after be transplanted into separate 



joint is a neat silvery ternate leaf, with two pots. 



appendages or stipules : the peduncles axillary, The young green seed-pods of the first sort 



from two to three inches long, sustaining were formerly dressed and eaten as peas, or in 



heads of yellow flowers, which part in the mid- the manner of kidney-beans, 



die, each head containing four or six flowers : The other kinds effect an agreeable variety in 



these appear in,*May, June, and July, and are collections of green-house plants, both in their 



succeeded by long taper pods filled with roundish foliage and flowers. They all require shelter 



seeds, which ripen in the autumn. It is a native from frost, the two first in particular ; the two 



of Spain and the Levant. last are somewhat hardier-, and sometimes suc- 



The fourth species has a perennial stalk three ceed in the full ground all the year, in warm dry 



feet high : when the roots are large, they fre- situations. A few plants should however con- 



