668 



H ED 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



H ED 



them at least three feet distance from other plants, amongst 

 which they should be interspersed, to continue the succession 

 of flowers; where they will make a fine appearance when 

 blown, especially the red sort, which produces very beautiful 

 Mowers. As these plants decay after they have perfected 

 their seeds, there should annually be a fresh supply of 

 plants raised, where they are desired, for the old roots sel- 

 dom continue longer. They are very proper ornaments for 

 large borders, or to fill up vacancies among shrubs; but they 

 grow too large for small borders, unless their stalks are 

 pruned off, leaving only two or three on each plant, which, 

 if kept upright with sticks, will prevent their hanging over 

 other flowers. 



70. Hedysarum Flexuosum ; Waved-podded Hed.ysa.rum. 

 Legumes jointed, prickly, flexuose; stem diffused. Thestalks 

 rise nearly a foot high, and the leaves are composed of two 

 or three pairs of ovate leaflets, terminated by an odd one. 

 The flowers come out in spikes at the tops of the stalks, and 

 are of a pale red, intermixed with a little blue. They appear 

 in July, and are succeeded by jointed pods, which are waved 

 on both sides, forming an obtuse angle at each joint ; the 

 seeds ripen in autumn. Native of the Levant. This and the 

 two following species should be sown in April where they are 

 to remain, and require only to be thinned where they are too 

 near, and kept free from weeds. 



71. Hedysarum Humile; Dwarf Hedysarum. Legumes 

 jointed, rough ; wings of the corolla obsolete; spikes hirsute; 

 stems depressed, half a foot in length, usually with one branch 

 and leaf only ; root perennial ; leaflets obovate, oblong, vil- 

 lose underneath. It is an annual plant, and flowers in July 

 and August. Native of the south of France and Spain. See 

 the preceding species. 



72. Hedysarum Spinosissimum ; Prickly Hedysarum. Le- 

 gumes jointed, prickly, tomentose; stem diffused; annual. 

 The legume has generally two orbicular joints equally prickly; 

 the stem is terminated by small spikes of purple flowers, 

 which are succeeded by small rough legumes. Native of 

 Spain and Portugal. See the 70th species. 



73. Hedygarum Virginicum. Stem shrubby; legumes 

 jointed, smooth, pednncled, upright; leaflets oblong, blunt, 

 small, many; flowers violet-coloured, in terminating spikes. 

 The legumes are slender, with roundish, flatted seeds. 

 Native of Virginia and Cochin-china. 



74. Hedysarum Fruticosum. Leaflets alternate, oblong, 

 soft; stipules subulate; racemes axillary; joints of the le- 

 gumes netted; corollas purple; legumes flatted, with the 

 joints wrinkled and netted. It is a very handsome plant, 

 grateful to horses, and extremely useful in fixing driving 

 sand. Native of Siberia. 



75. Hedysarum Pumilum. Stem undershrubby ; wings 

 shorter than the banner, and banner shorter than the keel ; 

 legumes one-seeded. This is a small shrub, only a hand in 

 height ; spike smooth ; banner half the length of the keel, 

 which is very large, broad, and blunt; calix even, with very 

 short awl-shaped teeth. Native of Spain. 



76. Hedysarum Argenteum. Leaves pinnate; legumes 

 one-seeded, wrinkled ; spikes ovate, very hairy ; stems erect, 

 hairy ; root-leaves simple ; petiole elliptic, the next ternate ; 

 flowers crowded ; cauline peduncles axillary, elongated, 

 higher than the stem, tomentose, hoary at top; corolla pur- 

 ple, half the length of the calix ; banner orbiculate ; wings 

 minute. Native of the Levant and Barbary. 



77. Hedysarum Onobrychis ; Cultivated Hedysarum, 

 Saintfoin, or Cock's Head. Legumes one-seeded, prickly; 

 -vings of the corolla equal in length to the calix ; stem elon- 

 gated ; root perennial ; peduncles long, slightly hairy, bear- 



ing numerous flowers in a long spike, thickly imbricate 

 upwards, each with an awl-shaped bracte, longer than the 

 pedicle; corolla standard oval, slightly emarginate, partly 

 bent back, shorter than the keel, flesh-coloured, striated 

 with red veins; wings not longer than the teeth of th calix, 

 hooked near the base, pale flesh-colour; keel broad, bent 

 with an obtuse angle at the top, flesh-coloured, with a deeper 

 red beneath. It is much cultivated in several parts of 

 Europe, in dry soils, for feeding cattle; and is found in 

 England on Gogmagog hills, Newmarket heath, about Roy- 

 ston in Norfolk, on Salisbury plain, in Cambridgeshire, Hert- 

 fordshire, on Epsom downs, Cotswold hills, about Malton in 

 Yorkshire, and generally in all other hilly situations and 

 calcareous soils. It yields great abundance of excellent fod- 

 der, but is supposed to be much sooner damaged by rain, 

 when cut, than any other sort of plant usually mown for 

 hay. The old English names were Medick Vetchling, and 

 Cock's Head. The modern name of Saintfoin came from 

 France, whence we originally had the seed. The Germans 

 have many names for it : they call it Esparzette, Esper, Spar- 

 sette, der Gemeine Sussklee, Hahnenkopf, Hahnenkamn, 

 Haknem Kammklee, Grosser Turkischer Klee, Turkischer 

 Kleberklee, Schweizerklee, Wickenklee, Eselswicken, Heilig- 

 heu, Stachelheu, Stachelafire, Weidhopfenkraut, Gurtriemen, 

 Frauenspiegel, rothe Ramsen, Sainfoin. The Dutch call it 

 Haanekammetje's : the Swedes and Danes, Esparset, and 

 Sainfoin : the French Sainfoin, (Saintfoin,) Esparcette, Foin 

 de Bourgogne : the Italians, Cedrangola : the Spanish and 

 Portuguese, Pipirigallo. Native of England, France, Flan- 

 ders; many parts of Germany, as the Palatinate, Bohemia, 

 Silesia; in Austria, Carniola, Switzerland, Savoy, Italy, 

 Spain, Siberia; on hilly pastures, and open downs, particu- 

 larly in a calcareous soil. If sown upon a dry, gravelly, or 

 chalky soil, it will continue eighteen or twenty years; but on 

 a deep moist soil the roots will run down into the ground, 

 and in the winter season the moisture will rot them ; so that 

 it seldom lasts two years in such places. It is esteemed one 

 of the best sorts of fodder for most cattle, and is a great 

 improvement to chalky hills, upon which it succeeds better 

 than in any other soil, and will continue many years, pro- 

 vided there be a surface of six or eight inches upon the chalk. 

 The best time for sowing the seed is the beginning or middle 

 of April, according to the season, observing always to do it 

 in dry weather, otherwise the seeds will be apt to burst, and 

 never come up. The seed being large, the common allow- 

 ance is four bushels to an acre, but three bushels are amply 

 sufficient. If it were sown in rows, as directed for Lucerne, 

 it would be a great improvement to the plants; for, when these 

 have room enough, they branch out on every side, and be- 

 come very strong ; and by hoeing between them the natural 

 grass may be kept down, which, if permitted to grow, will 

 rob the Saintfoin of its nourishment, and in time destroy it. 

 Saintfoin is frequently sown with Oats or Barley, but this is 

 a very bad method, for what is gained from the crop of 

 corn, will be doubly lost in the Siiintfoin ; and this generally 

 holds true in most sorts of grass-seeds, for the corn growing 

 over it, so weakens the crop beneath, that it scarcely re- 

 covers its strength in a year after. The ground in which 

 the seed is sown should be well ploughed, and made very 

 fine. If it be sown in drills, the drills should be eighteen 

 inches asunder, and about an inch deep ; if the plants come 

 up too thick, they should be hoed out to the distance of six 

 or eight inches, when the ground is hoed to destroy the 

 weeds. The first year, by no means feed the crop down; 

 for, the crown of the roots being young and tender, 

 cattle would eat it so low as entirely to destroy the 





