TEEFOILS LADY'S-FINGEE. 87 



and the plant grows to the height of two or three feet ; it is 

 covered with soft hairs. 



The Bird's-foot Trefoil (L. corniculatus, Plate VI., fig. 8), is 

 a cheerful inhabitant of every lane and field in nearly every 

 county. Its pretty sweet-scented yellow clusters, tinged with 

 crimson when in bud, are welcome everywhere ; its strong 

 deep-penetrating root makes a secure anchorage even in the 

 shifting sand of the river-bed, and the equally unreliable 

 bank; it covers plots on the chalk downs with its bright 

 flowers, and adorns the exhausted lime-quarry; indeed the 

 difficulty would be to say where it does not grow. 



The Slender Bird's-foot Trefoil (L. tenuissimus), Fanny 

 found at Clevedon; it has only two or or three flowers in a 

 cluster. 



The Smallest Bird's-foot Trefoil (L. angustissimus), grows 

 on cliffs about Talland and Polperro ; it has only one flower 

 on a stalk, or occasionally two. The plant is very woolly. 



We have none of us found the Oxytropis ; but I have a 

 pretty specimen which was sent to me from Scotland. The 

 large blue flowers are collected in heads, and open in July 

 (Oxytropis uralensis). 



The Lady's -Finger (Anthyllis vulneraria), is a plant with 

 woolly foliage. Its flowers are yellow, and grow in pairs of 

 dense clusters. A general observer would call it a well-grown 

 yellow Clover, but upon a closer inspection you at once 

 perceive that the large head is composed of two distinct 

 clusters. This plant grows commonly in pastures about 

 Bipon. I have also found it in the vicinity of Richmond, and 

 there are specimens here from Kent and Warwickshire. 



The Milk Vetches have tumid legumes, white or purple 

 flowers, and pinnate leaves. 



The Sweet Milk Yetch (Astragalus glycyphyllus), grows 

 two or three feet high when supported, but more often trails 

 along the ground, or among low bushes. It has large, light 

 green leaves, composed of nine or more oval leaflets ; its 



