PULSE FAMILY 



the apex, narrowed or wedge-shaped at the base; the leaves 

 short-petioled. 



THE FLOWERS: nearly sessile, crowded in a raceme. 



THE FRUIT: a narrow pod, one inch to two inches long, 

 densely covered with short, soft hairs. 



The Hoary Pea, growing in extensive clumps on the 

 Commons presents a grey-green appearance of its finely 

 divided leaves and a bright touch of colour in the blossom 

 shaped like that of a pea, and having straw-yellow wings, 

 and crimson-red keel. 



LEGUMINOS^E PULSE FAMILY 



Desmodium sessilifolium, (Torr.) T. and G. 



Magenta-blue Sessile-leaved Tick Trefoil. 



July-September 



Desmodium: from Greek for a band or chain, in allusion to 



the connected joints of the pods. 

 Sessilifolium: Latin for a stemless leaf. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: dry, sandy soil of the Commons. 



THE PLANT: spreading, much branched; the stem one foot, 

 to two feet long and slender, with short, soft hairs. 



THE LEAVES: alternate; pinnately three-compound, the 

 leaflets linear or linear-oblong, blunt at the apex, rough 

 above, downy beneath; the stems much shorter than the 

 leaflets. 



THE FLOWERS: very small, in panicles at the ends of the 

 branches. 



THE FRUIT: a jointed pod. 



The Tick Trefoils are sometimes difficult to discover 

 for they spread their long and slender branches in rosettes 

 among the other green things on the ground. The sprays 

 ii 161 



