26 



BRITISH FLORA 



than the leaves, and the calyx teeth are awl-like, 

 straight in bud. The standard is inversely egg- 

 shaped, the claw awl-like, longer than broad, 

 longer than the wings, and does not turn green. 

 The pods are rough, round, twice as long as the 

 calyx. The seeds are more or less kidney-shaped. 

 The plant is 2-12 inches long, flowering from June 

 to August, and is a herbaceous annual. 



Smooth Vetch (Vicia leevigata, Sm.). This 

 vetch is allied to V. lutea. The plant is hair- 

 less (hence leevigata). The flowers are blue or 

 whitish. The calyx-teeth are unequal. The pods 

 are smooth. Only a single specimen is known, 

 that in Smith's herbarium. It is 6-15 in. high, 

 flowering in June and July, and is a herbaceous 

 annual. 



Sea Pea (Lathyrus maritimus, Big.). The 

 habitat of this plant is sea shingle, pebbly sea- 

 shores, on the E. coast, pebbly beaches. The 

 habit is vetch-like. The stem is angular, not 

 winged. The plant is hairless, bluish-green. The 

 rootstock is black, long, and stout. The stem is 

 creeping below, prostrate. The leaflets are in 

 3-5 pairs, oval, oblong, alternate, or more or less 

 opposite, nerved, large, blunt. The leaf-stalks are 

 sometimes curved back. The tendrils are short. 

 The stipules are leaflike, large, heart-shaped to 

 egg-shaped, half spear-shaped, stalkless. The 

 flowers are variegated, purple, turning blue, on 

 stout stalks, with 5-10 flowers, shorter than the 

 leaves. The ultimate stalks are shorter than the 

 calyx. The bracts are small. The pod is hair- 

 less, swollen, bent back, straight. The 6-8 seeds 

 are smooth, rounded, one-third surrounded by the 

 hilum. The plant is 1-2 ft. high, flowering in July 

 and August, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



ORDER ROSACE^E 



Ritbns dumnoniensis, Bab. The habitat of this 

 plant is sandy places among rocks by the coast. 

 The stem is strong and stout, furrowed, with a 

 few short, stiff hairs at first. The prickles are 

 crowded, long, straight, and slender. The leaf- 

 lets are large, dark-green above, felted below. 

 The panicle is pyramidal, large, the partial rachis 

 and long flower-stalks covered with fine acicles or 

 needle-like points. The petals are large, roundish, 

 milky-white. The contrasting colours, crowded 

 long prickles, large panicle and white handsome 

 flowers help to distinguish this species, and it is 

 nearest to R. incurvatus and R. rhamnifolius. 



Scotch or Burnet Rose (Rosa spinosissima, L.). 

 The habitat of this plant is open places, especially 

 near the sea, heaths, and sand dunes. The plant 

 has the shrub habit, and is small, erect, bushy, 

 much branched. The stem is erect, the branches 

 compact and short. The prickles are many, 

 crowded, unequal, passing into bristles and glandu- 

 lar hairs, awl-like, nearly straight. The leaves 

 are slightly or not glandular, the 7-9 leaflets are 

 simple, toothed, simply or doubly, small, hairless 

 above, broad. The flowers are small, white or 

 pink, 3 or more, with long-pointed, simple sepals, 

 the calyx-tube hairless, the limb simple, without 



glands. The styles are free. The fruit is nearly 

 round, with no disk, hairless, erect, black. The 

 plant is 6-24 inches high, flowering from May to 

 July, and is a deciduous shrub. 



Rosa rubella, Sm. The habitat of this plant is 

 sands by the coast. It is a small spreading bush. 

 The leaflets are simply or doubly toothed, elliptical 

 to oval, rounded at the tip, hairless, without glands, 

 rather acute. The leaf-stalks are long, densely 

 glandular. The prickles are slender, straight, or 

 acicles only. The flower- stalks are aciculate, 

 hairy, glandular. The sepals are glandular on 

 the back. The petals are cream-colour or reddish, 

 the flowers i or 2. The styles are densely softly 

 hairy. The fruit is egg-shaped, pitcher-shaped, 

 tapered each end, hairy below, drooping when 

 ripe, scarlet. The flowers and leaves are red- 

 tinted. 



ORDER CRASSULACE^E 



White English Stonecrop (Sedum anglicum, 

 Huds.). The habitat of this species is rocks, and 

 banks chiefly near the sea, sandy places. The 

 plant has the cushion habit, forming matted tufts. 

 The plant is smooth, bluish -green or reddish. 

 The stems are prostrate, then ascending. The 

 flowering stems are leafy, ascending. The leaves 

 are crowded, mostly alternate, gibbous below, 

 ovate, oblong, fleshy, spurred below. The flowers 

 are crowded, few, white or pink, with red spots, 

 in short, smooth, bifid scorpioid cymes. The sepals 

 are short, blunt. The petals are lance-shaped, 

 acute - pointed, keeled. The carpels are pink. 

 The plant is 3-5 in. high, flowering from June to 

 August, and is a herbaceous annual. 



ORDER ONAGRACE^: 



Evening' Primrose (CEnothera odorata, Jacq.). 

 The habitat of this plant is sandy ground on the 

 coasts of Somerset and Cornwall. The habit is 

 erect. The stems are purplish, branched, with 

 spreading hairs. The foliage is bright-green. 

 The leaves are short-stalked, the lower nearly flat, 

 with green or purple nerves, the radical leaves 

 linear to lance-shaped, toothed, wavy, the stem- 

 leaves egg-shaped to lance - shaped, narrowed. 

 The flowers are large, bright-yellow, fragrant 

 (hence odorata), becoming red. The petals are 

 longer than the stamens. The capsule is long, 

 cylindrical, club-shaped, downy. The plant is 

 2-3 ft. high, flowering from July to September, 

 and is a herbaceous perennial. 



CEnothera Lamarckiana, Ser. This species is a 

 casual which occurs in waste places, and is well 

 known from the interesting experiments made by 

 De Vries upon the variations to which the plant 

 is liable, which he calls mutations. It differs from 

 CEn. biennis (Sect. XII, Vol. V) in having more 

 pointed radical leaves. The style is longer than 

 the stamens. The capsule is less hairy. The 

 plant is 2-4 ft. high, flowering between July and 

 September, and is a herbaceous biennial. 



CEnothera ammophila, Focke. This plant is a 

 North American species which has been found on 



