LEGUMINOS^E 415 



Cotyledons very similar to those of T. Foenum-grsecum, articu- 

 lated with the petiole, 13 mm. long, 6 mm. broad ; petiole 4 mm. 

 long. 



Stem herbaceous, annual, erect or flexuous, terete, pale green 

 hairy ; 1st internode 4-5 mm. long ; 2nd 10 mm. ; 3rd 5 mm. 



Leaves as in other species, glabrous above, sparsely hairy beneath 

 when young, glabrescent ; petiole subterete, channelled above, 

 articulated above the sheathing stipules, hairy, pale green slightly 

 tinged above with red ; stipules adnate to the petiole for two- 

 thirds their length, hairy, pale green or almost colourless, with 

 ovate, acuminate, free tips, entire. 



No. 1. Unifoliolate ; leaflet articulate with its petiole, rotund, 

 entire, succulent like all the rest. 



No. 2, and all succeeding. Pinnately trifoliolate ; leaflets obovate- 

 cuneate, emarginate, finely serrulate from the middle upwards, with 

 numerous ascending, parallel nerves ending in the serratures, bright 

 green above with a red midrib, glaucous beneath ; middle leaflet 

 largest ; rachis between the leaflets 4 mm. long. 



Medicago saliva, L. 



Fruit a legume spirally twisted into two or three coils, several- 

 seeded. 



Seeds oblong with a notch near the hilum, exalbuminous, 2-3 

 mm. long ; testa smooth, yellowish ; hilum inconspicuous, near the 

 micropyle. 



Embryo curved or rounded on itself, filling the whole of the 

 seed, colourless ; cotyledons oblong with a tendency to become fal- 

 cate, fleshy, entire, sessile, with their edges towards the hilum ; 

 radicle square or triangular, acute, considerably shorter than the 

 cotyledons and accumbent. 



M. lupulina, L. 



Legume small, kidney-shaped, not spirally twisted, black. 

 Seed smaller than in M. sativa, rather more orbicular, 1-5-2-5 mm. 

 in diameter. 



Medicago orbicularis, All. (fig. 271). 



In germination the spirally coiled legume splits readily along 

 the dorsal suture, and the radicles of the various seeds seem all to 

 make their exit along one side, while the cotyledons push out 

 along the opposite side. By this means the fruit is effectually fixed 

 to the soil while the embryos have no difficulty in getting out. The 



