BIRD'S-EYE. 



BIRD'S-FOOT TREFOIL. 



Linnaeus says, that kine, sheep, goats, and 

 swine eat the leaves, but that horses refuse 

 them. The scent of the leaves, when bruised, 

 resembles rue. The variety with red fruit, 

 commonly called the Cornish cherry, flowers 

 two or three weeks earlier, and is therefore 

 not so desirable for the shrubbery. The bird- 

 cherry may be propagated by layers, which 

 should be performed in autumn, but the hand- 

 somest trees are raised from seed, which may 

 be sown at the same season. A wet soil is not 

 congenial to this tree. (Phillips's Syl. Flor. 

 vol. i. p. 134; Smith's Eng. Flor. vol. ii. p. 

 354.) 



BIRD'S EYE (Veronica chamaedrys). The 

 Germander Speedwell, or wild germander. A 

 troublesome weed in fields. It is found very 

 commonly in groves, meadows, pastures, and 

 hedges. It is a perennial, flowering in May 

 and June. Herbage light green. Flowers 

 numerous, transient, but very beautiful, bright 

 blue with dark streaks and a white centre ; 

 their outside pale and flesh coloured. The 

 flowers expand in fine weather only. Some 

 take this for the German "forget-me-not." It 

 vies in beauty with the true one, Myosotis pa- 

 lustris. (Smith's Eng. Flor. vol. i. p. 23.) See 

 SPEEDWELL. 



BIRD'S FOOT, COMMON ( Ornithopus per- 

 pusillus). A weed found most generally in 

 sandy or gravelly pastures. Root fibrous, an- 

 nual, though it is sometimes propagated by 

 subterraneous lateral knobs in the manner of 

 a potato, in which case the seeds are abortive. 

 The stems, often numerous, are procumbent, 

 from three to ten or twelve inches long. 

 Leaves alternate, of from five to ten or twelve 

 pair, of small uniform elliptical leaflets. 

 Flowers three or fotfr in each little head or 

 tuft. 



The species of bird's foot are curious on 

 account of their jointed pods, but not worth 

 culture as plants of ornament. 0. sativus is, 

 however, a most valuable agricultural plant. 



BIRD'S-FOOT TREFOIL, or CLOVER 

 (Lotus). The common name of a genus of 

 plants that flourishes in a singular manner in the 

 most exposed and dry situations. On bowling- 

 greens and mown lawns it forms a fine green 

 close herbage, even in hot seasons ; and in 

 meadow and pasture grounds it is frequently 

 abundant. Its very strong deep tap root is the 

 caus.e of its resisting drought. Smith describes 

 four species : 1. Common bird's-foot trefoil 

 (L. corniculatus), a perennial, flowering in the 

 second week of June, and ripening the seed 

 about the end of July, and successively to the 

 end of autumn ; common in open grassy pas- 

 tures. [PI. 9, g.] Some botanists have con- 

 sidered the following species (L. major) to be 

 a variety of the carniculatus, but the difference 

 between them is obvious at first sight; and 

 this difference remains permanent when the 

 plant is raised from seed, and cultivated on 

 different soils. What renders a specific dis- 

 tinction here of most importance to the farmer 

 is;' 'the difference which exists between them in 

 an agricultural point of view. Heads de- 

 pressed, of few flowers, root branching, some- 

 what woody ; the fibres beset with small gra- 

 nulations ; stems several, spreading on the 

 180 



ground in every direction, varying in length 

 from three to ten inches, simple or branched 

 Flower stalks erect or recumbent, five times 

 as long as the leaves, each bearing from two 

 to five bright yellow flowers, dark green when 

 dried, and they change to orange when verging 

 towards decay. This species is recommended 

 for cultivation, though under the erroneous 

 names of milk-vetch and Astragalus glycyphyl- 

 !os, by the late Dr. Anderson, in his Agricultural 

 Essays, as being excellent for fodder as well as 

 for hay. Mr. Curtis and Mr. Wood also re- 

 commended it. Linnaeus says that cows, 

 goats, and horses eat it ; and that sheep and 

 swine are not fond of it. With regard to 

 sheep (says the late Mr. G. Sinclair, Hurt. 

 Gram. Woo. p. 310), as far as my observations 

 have extended, they eat it in common with the 

 herbage with which it is usually combined ; 

 the flowers, it is true, appeared always un- 

 touched, and in dry pastures little of the plant 

 is seen or presented to the cattle, except the 

 flowers, on account of its diminutive growth 

 in such situations. This, however, is nearly 

 the case with white or Dutch clover; sheep 

 seldom touch the flowers while any foliage is 

 to be found. Mr. Woodward informs us that 

 it makes extremely good hay in moist mea- 

 dows, where it grows to a greater height than 

 the trefoils, and seems to be of a quality equal, 

 if not superior, to most of them. Professor 

 Martyn observes, that, in common with several 

 other leguminous plants, it gives a substance 

 to hay, and perhaps renders it more palatable 

 and wholesome to cattle. The clovers contain 

 more bitter extractive and saline matter than 

 the proper natural grasses, and the bird's foot 

 trefoils contain more of these vegetable prin- 

 ciples than the clovers. In pastures and mea- 

 dows, therefore, where the clovers happen to 

 be in small quantities, a portion of the trefoil 

 (L. cornicu lotus) would doubtless be of advan- 

 tage ; but it appears to contain too much of 

 the bitter extractive and saline matters to be 

 cultivated by itself, or without a large inter- 

 mixture of other plants. It does not spring 

 early in the season, but continues to vegetate 

 late in the autumn. In irrigated meadows, 

 where the produce is generally more succulent 

 than in dry pastures, this plant cannot with 

 safety be recommended, at least in any con- 

 siderable quantity. It is more partial to dry 

 soils than the next species (L. major) ; it at- 

 tains to a considerable height when growing 

 among shrubs, and seems to lose its prostrate 

 or trailing habit of growth entirely in such 

 situations. 2. The greater bird's-foot trefoil 

 (L. major) flourishes in wet bushy places, osier 

 holts and hedges ; very different from the fore- 

 going species in general habit, and naw techni- 

 cally distinguished by several clear and suffi- 

 cient characters. The stems are from one to 

 two or three feet high, upright, clothed more 

 or less with long loosely-spreading hairs. 

 Leaves fringed with similar hairs ; flowers 

 from six to twelve in each head, of a duller 

 orange than the former. The weight of green 

 food or hay is triple that of the foregoing spe- 

 cies, and its nutritive powers are very little in- 

 ferior, being only as 9 to 8. These two species 

 of bird's-foot trefoil may be compared to each 



