SPECIES AND VARIETIES CULTIVATED. 175 



It grows to the height of 3 to 4 feet, and is readily 

 recognized by its narrow leaflets and reddish-coloured 

 flowers. 



8. V. Narbonensis Narbonne or Broad-leaved Vetch. 

 This is an annual species, a native of France, and is 

 largely cultivated in some parts of the Continent as a 

 forage plant. It differs considerably in appearance from 

 the preceding. It has a strong habit of growth, from 2 to 

 3 feet in height, not requiring much support from other 

 plants. The stems are branching, stout, soft, and hollow ; 

 the leaflets, about six on each leaf, are large, roundish, 

 and entire; the flowers are of a reddish purple colour; 

 and the seed-pods are either without any, or with very 

 short foot-stalks. It yields a large and close-growing 

 crop of excellent fodder; if sown in the autumn, it 

 is sufficiently hardy to withstand our winters well, 

 and grows very fast in the early spring months, at 

 which period it comes in very usefully; and cattle are 

 fonder of it and eat it more readily at that time than 

 when the clover season comes on. It is found to retain 

 its greenness in winter in a remarkable degree, and to 

 yield an abundant crop in the spring. 



The V. serratifolia Saw -leaved Vetch and the V. 

 platycarpus Large-podded Vetch which are both cul- 

 tivated on the Continent, greatly resemble the V. Nar- 

 bonensis in appearance and general habit of growth. 

 Indeed, they seem to constitute a distinct division of 

 vetches by themselves, forming, so to speak, by the 

 broadness of their leaves, the thickness and succulency of 

 their stems, and their stout and erect habit of growth, a 

 connecting link between the ordinary slender-stemmed, 

 climbing vetches, and the stout, erect- growing bean, or 

 V. faba, as it was formerly termed, but which has since 

 been separated by modern botanists into a distinct genus 

 the Faba vulgaris, as it is now called. 



