ER V 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



ER V 



519 



1. Eroteum Thoeoides. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, serrate- 

 toothed ; flowers axillary, solitary. Native of Jamaica. 



2. Eroteum Uudulutum. Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, acu- 

 minate, serrate; flowers crowded, axillary. Branches flexuose 

 at top, hairy, tomentose, especially towards the tip ; leaves 

 alternate, two or three inches long, coriaceous, broad lance- 

 olate, acute at both ends, smooth, paler underneath, thicker 

 at the edge ; the younger ones nerved, and hairy underneath ; 

 petioles very short; peduncles four or five,' but sometimes 

 solitary, one-flowered, the same length with the petioles ; 

 calicine leaflets ovate, very finely ciliate, obtuse. It varies 

 with smooth branches. Native of Jamaica, St. Kill's, Monl- 

 serral, and Guadaloupe. 



Ervum; a genus of ihe class Diadflphia, order Decandria. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth five-parted, 

 length of the corolla; divisions linear, acuminate, nearly 

 equal. Corolla: papilionaceous; standard flat, slightly re- 

 flex, roundish, larger; wings obtuse, shorter by half than 

 the standard ; keel shorter than the wings, acuminate. Sta- 

 mina: filamenta diadelphous, (simple, and nine-cleft,) rising; 

 antherae simple. Pistil: germen oblong. Style: simple, 

 rising. Stigma: obtuse, beardless. Pericarp: legume ob- 

 long, obtuse, columnar, knotty with the protuberant seeds. 

 Seeds: two to four, usually roundish, somewhat compressed. 

 Observe. This genus differs from Vicia in the stigma alone. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: five-parted, the length of 

 the corolla. The species are, 



1. Ervum Lens; Flat-seeded Tare, or Common Lentil. 

 About two flowers on a peduncle: seeds compressed, convex. 

 It is an annual plant, and the least of the pulse kind thai is cul- 

 tivated. It rises with weak stalks, a foot and a half high, hav- 

 ing pinnate leaves at each joint, composed of several pairs of 

 narrow leaflets, terminated by a tendril, which supports it by 

 fastening about some other plant. The flowers come out on 

 short peduncles from the sides of the branches ; they are 

 small, of a pale purple colour, and three or four together ; 

 legumes short and flat, containing two or three flat round 

 seeds, a little convex in the middle. The flowers appear in 

 May, and the seeds ripen in July. It grows spontaneously 

 in the corn-fields of France and Germany, the pastures of 

 Carniola, and the vineyards of the Valais. The Lentil has 

 not been long cultivated in England, and is now propagated, 

 either as food for catlle, or for the seeds, which are used in 

 soups. They are commonly eaten by the poorer inhabitants 

 of some islands of the Archipelago, and other warm countries, 

 although they are held in little estimation. Hill says, that 

 when ground into powder, they make poultices for swellings, 

 but are not much regarded. The seeds of Lentils are com- 

 monly sown in March, where the land is dry, but April is the 

 best time in moist ground. The usual quantity of seed 

 allowed to an acre is, from a bushel and a half to two 

 bushels. If these be sown in drills in the same manner as 

 Peas, they will succeed better than when they are sown broad- 

 cast : the drills should be a foot and a half asunder, to allow 

 room for the hoe to clean the ground between them ; for if 

 weeds be permitted to grow, they will overtop and starve the 

 Lentils. The seeds will ripen in July, when the plants should 

 be cut and dried, and the seeds afterwards threshed out for 

 use. There is another sort, or rather variety, which is culti- 

 vated by the name of French Lentil. It is the Lens Major of 

 Caspar Bauhin, and is much more worthy of cultivation than 

 the common sort, which is preferred before it. This pulse is 

 frequently called Tills in some parts of England. 



2. Ervum Tetraspermum ; Smooth Tare. About two 

 flowers on a peduncle : seeds globular, four in a legume ; 

 root annual ; stems, in open places, slender, weak, and much 



branched, bul among corn supporting themselves by tendrils 

 to a foot or more in height, two-edged, and inclining to four- 

 cornered ; stipules in pairs, the lower semisagittate, the upper 

 entirely or nearly so; flowers on slender capillary peduncles, 

 as often single as in pairs; calix somewhat hairy, the lower 

 segments longest; corolla violet, often blood-coloured. This 

 is easily distinguished from the third species, for in that the 

 pods are hairy, and contain only two seeds; in this they are 

 smooth, and contain four; in that the flowers grow in a kind 

 of cluster, in this seldom more than two grow together. It 

 is exceedingly fertile, one plant, casually pulled up, having 

 two hundred and twenty pods on it. It is found in most 

 corn-fields, clinging to the corn, and, if the season, favours its 

 growth, sometimes quite overcoming it. Both this and the 

 next species are small annual Tares, which flourish among 

 Wheat and Rye in many parts of England, and are not ad- 

 mitted into gardens. They may be easily destroyed in fields, 

 if only cut up when they begin to flower. 



3. Ervum Hirsututn ; Hairy Tare. Peduncles many-flow- 

 ered ; seeds globular, two in a legume. Annual. Stems 

 weak, much branched, climbing, quadrangular, streaked, 

 from one to two feet high; lower stipules with two, three, or 

 four awl-shaped teeth ; the upper ones awl-shaped or entire ; 

 leaflets mostly linear, sometimes lanceolate, eight to twelve 

 pairs, somewhat alternate, terminated by a branched tendril. 

 It is easily distinguished from the foregoing; the leaves not 

 being pointed, as in that, but truncate; ihe stipules divided 

 into many more segments; the flowers, and consequently the 

 legumes, growing in a kind of cluster, being rough, and con- 

 taining two seeds. It grows among corn, and is more de-r 

 structive to it, being stronger and more prolific than the other 

 species. In wet seasons whole crops are overpowered by this 

 plant. All sorts of cattle eat it. These two are called Tine 

 Tare, that with smooth pods, and this with rough pods. 

 They are common in Japan and Cochin-china. See the pre- 

 ceding species. 



4. Ervum Soloniense ; Spring Tare. About two flowers 

 on a peduncle, awned ; petioles acuminate ; leaflets obtuse; 

 flowers small, reddish ; legumes slender, an inch in length, 

 with three or four minute hexaedral seeds in each. It is dis- 

 tinguished by its earliness, the tenuity of its parts, and the 

 shape of its seeds. It appears at the close of winter, in neg- 

 lected pastures, in France ; and flowers in April and May. 

 See the first species. 



5. Ervum Monanthos ; One-flowered Tare, or Lentil. Pe- 

 duncles one-flowered, larger than the common Lentil, climbing 

 by means of bifid and trifid tendrils ; petioles horizontal ; 

 leaflets sixteen to eighteen, linear, retuse, with a point; sti- 

 pules two, alternately larger, different in form; peduncle 

 one-flowered; calix three times shorter than the corolla, with 

 the toothlets nearly equal; standard compressed, whitish, 

 with violet veins; legume large, somewhat nodding, contain- 

 ing two or three seeds, the size of peas, compressed, with an 

 obtuse margin. Annual : flowering from May to July. Na- 

 tive of Russia ; found also among Lentils at Herborn in Ger- 

 many, and in the county of Nice. See the first species. 



5. Ervum Ervilia; Officinal Tare. Germina naked and 

 plaited ; leaves unequally pinnate. This is an annual plant, 

 rising with angular weak stalks a foot and a half high, having 

 at each joint one pinnate leaf, composed of fourteen or fifteen 

 pairs of leaflets, like those of the Vetch, but narrower. The 

 flowers come out from the sides of the stalk, on peduncles an 

 inch long, each sustaining two pale-coloured flowers, which 

 are succeeded by short pods a little compressed, each contain- 

 ing three or four round seeds: the pods swell at the place 

 where each seed is lodged. The seeds ground to flour are 



