PEA AND BEAN TRIBE 



73 



Thickets, or on gravelly or chalky soil; uncommon. Fl. June, 

 July. Perennial. 



2. A. danicus (Purple Milk Vetch). Stem prostrate, only a few 

 inches long ; flower-stalks longer than the leaves ; legumes erect, 

 hairy ; flowers purplish (sometimes white), in short spikes. Chalky 

 and gravelly places. Fl. June, July. Perennial. 



3. A. Alpinus (Alpine Milk Vetch). Stems branching, prostrate ; 

 leaflets 8-12 pairs, with a terminal odd one ; flowers drooping, 

 bluish or white, tipped with purple ; legumes pendulous, clothed 

 with black hairs. Mountainous pastures, Perthshire, Braemar, 

 and Clova in Scotland ; rare. Fl. July. Perennial. 



Vicia Hirsuta (Hairy 

 Vetch, or Tate) 



13. ViCIA (Vetch) 



1. V. hirsuta (Hairy Vetch, or Tare). 

 A slender, much-branched plant, forming 

 tangled masses of steins and leaves ; 

 leaves consisting of 6-8 pairs of leaflets ; 

 /lowers about 6 together, minute and 

 bluish white ; legumes hairy, 2-seeded. 

 This, though a mischievous weed, is not 

 the Tare of the Holy Scriptures, which is 

 supposed to be the Darnel (Lolium temu- 

 lentum). Fields and hedges ; very com- 

 mon. Fl. all summer. Annual. 



2. V. tetrasperma (Slender Vetch). Flowers 1-7 together, on a 

 slender stalk, light purple ; legumes smooth, usually 4-seeded ; 

 whole plant much slenderer and less branched than the last. Found 

 in similar situations, but less common. Fl. all summer. Annual. 



3. V. gracilis (Slender Vetch), is by some botanists considered a 

 distinct species, others make it a variety of the last. The flowers 

 grow 1-4 together, and are larger than in V. tetrasperma ; legumes 

 6-8-seeded. Found in the south of England. Fl. all summer. 

 Annual. 



4. V . cracca (Tufted Vetch). Leaflets in about 10 pairs, narrow, 

 pointed, silky, with tendrils ; stipules half arrow-shaped, scarcely 

 toothed ; flowers crowded in one-sided spikes. One of the most 

 ornamental of British plants, climbing along the tops of hedges, 

 and adorning them with its slender spikes of blue and purple flowers. 

 Bushy places ; frequent. Fl. July, August. Perennial. 



5. V. sylvatica (Wood Vetch). Leaflets in about 8 pairs, ellip- 

 tical, abrupt, with a short point ; stipules crescent-shaped, deeply 

 toothed at the base ; legume an inch long, smooth, 4-6-seeded. 

 A large and beautiful species, with a long stem 3-6 feet high, 

 climbing by means of its branched tendrils. Flowers numerous, in 



