26 FLOWERS OF THE HILLS AND DRY PLACES 



Sainfoin (Onobrychis viciaefolia, Scop.) 



The distribution of this plant in the North Temperate Zone is 

 West and S. Europe and Northern Asia, and it is unknown before this 

 period in early beds. In Great Britain it is found in Somerset, Wilts, 

 Dorset, Hants, and in the Thames district; it is absent from S. Kent, 

 but occurs throughout Anglia except in Hunts, and not in West 

 Gloucestershire, Monmouth, or Stafford, in the Severn district; in 

 Wales it is found only in Glamorgan, and elsewhere is introduced. 

 Watson regards it as doubtfully indigenous in Mid and S.-E. Eng- 

 land, and it is usually a relic of cultivation. It is a plant of hilly, rocky 

 ground, and is a feature of the south country and the eastern counties, 

 dispersed by farming operations, but as a fodder plant turns up, or is 

 likely to do so, wherever quarrying is in progress. 



The stems are long, suberect, rather rigid, with numerous leaves, 

 with leaflets each side of a common stalk, consisting of 3-12 oblong 

 or linear lance-shaped leaflets, shortly stalked, and with a blunt point, 

 entire, practically smooth, dark-green, with an odd or terminal one. 



The flowers are in close racemes, rose-red, with dark veins. The 

 tube of the calyx is silky, and it is short with awl-like teeth. The 

 wings of the flowers are very short. The pods are dark-brown, netted, 

 rough, roughly semicircular, downy, and contain one seed. 



The Sainfoin grows to a height of 1 8 in. It flowers during June, 

 July, and August. It is a most beautiful perennial which is quite 

 worthy of cultivation by the horticulturist. 



The flower resembles those of Melilotus and Trifolium repens, but 

 in the Sainfoin the carina or keel does what the alae or wings did with 

 it in the latter case, springing back after being pressed down. The 

 alae are reduced and just cover the claw of the carina, not allowing 

 the removal of honey laterally. The insect settles on the carina, which 

 is a lever for downward rotation, and its elasticity causes it later to 

 recoil. The stigma is prominent and when the flower is visited by 

 a bee it touches the bee's abdomen, in older flowers protruding i mm. 

 beyond the carina. Cross-pollination is accomplished, the flowers being 

 attractive, and the calyx tube is short (2-3 mm.). The vexillum is 

 broad and ascends obliquely, being a fulcrum or lever for the bee's 

 head when pushing back the carina with its legs. Honey and pollen 

 are both accessible to short-lipped bees. The visitors are Hymenoptera 

 (Apidae), Diptera(Syrphidae); Lepidoptera, Green-veined White Butter- 

 fly (Pieris napi\ Lycana, Zygoma, Euclidia glyphica, Plusia gamma. 



