300 DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA. \JCL. XVII. 



about three in each head, bright-yellow, generally streaked with red. 

 Perennial : flowers from May to September : grows in pastures, abun- 

 dantly. An excellent pasture plant. It presents several varieties, some 

 of which have been considered as species, especially one with long slender 

 stems, the L. tennis of some botanists. Eng. Bot. vol. xxx. pi. 2090. 

 Eng. Fl. vol. iii. p. 312. 1086. 



2. L. nuijor. Greater Bird's-foot Trefoil. Heads many-flowered, de- 

 pressed ; stems erect, hollow ; legumes drooping, cylindrical ; claw of 



the standard linear ; shorter filaments not dilated. 'Stems erect, from 



one to two feet high, succulent and tubular : flowers from sir to twelve, 

 yellow. Perennial : flowers in July and August : grows in moist pas- 

 tures, and by ditches and hedges : common. J'-ng. Bot. vol. xxx. pi. 2091. 

 Eng. Ft. vol. iii. p. 313. 1087. 



3. L. angustissimus. Slender Bird's-foot Trefoil. Flowers solitary, or 

 in pairs ; stems tubular, much branched, prostrate ; legumes two-edged, 

 very slender ; calyx loosely hairy, its teeth fringed, twice as long as the 



tube. Stems from six to ten inches long : flowers yellow. Perennial : 



flowers in May and June : grows in meadows on the southern and wes- 

 tern coasts of England and Ireland : very rare. Eng. Bot. vol. xiii. 

 pi. 925. Eng. Fl. vol. iii. p. 315. 1088. 



19. MEDICA'GO. MEDICK. 



Calyx inferior, tubular, permanent, with five acute, nearly equal 

 teeth. Corolla of five petals, deciduous j standard egg-shaped, 

 ascending, with a short broad claw ; wings inversely egg-shaped, 

 cohering by their lower edges ; keel of two united petals with 

 separate claws, oblong, obtuse, depressed by the germen, and 

 finally spreading widely. Filaments ten, nine united nearly to 

 their summits into a compressed tube, split above, the other hair- 

 like, separate; anthers small, roundish. Germen stalked, oblong, 

 compressed, incurved or spiral, starting elastically from the keel, 

 and forcing back the standard. Style awl-shaped, straight, ascend- 

 ing ; stigma terminal, minute. Legume compressed, inflected, 

 sickle-shaped, or spiral, one-celled, two-valved. Seeds several, 

 kidney-shaped, smooth. Name, from Medike of the Greeks, the 

 plant having been introduced from Media. 364. 



1. M.falcdta. Yellow Sickle Medick. Clusters erect ; legumes sickle- 

 shaped ; stem procumbent. Stems about two feet long : flowers pale- 

 yellow, sometimes green, occasionally purple. Perennial : flowers in 

 June and July : grows in pastures and borders of fields, in some parts of 

 England, but is not indigenous. Eng. Bot. vol. xv. pi. 1016. Eng. Fl. 

 vol. iii. p. 317. 1089. 



2. M. lupulina. Black Medick Nonesuch. Spikes egg-shaped, erect ; 



legumes kidney-shaped, one-seeded; stem procumbent. Resembles 



Trifolium minus in its stems and yellow flowers. Annual : flowers from 

 June to September : grows in pastures and fields : common. Eng. Bot. 

 vol. xiv. pi. 971. Eng. Fl. vol. iii. p. 318. 



3. M. maculdta. Spotted Medick. Stalks two or three-flowered ; leaf- 

 lets inversely heart-shaped, spotted ; stipules acutely toothed ; legumes 

 spiral, depressed, fringed with long bristles. Stems prostrate; leaflets 



