8o 



BRITISH FLORA 



The habitat of this plant is hedges, woods, and 

 copses. The habit is climbing or trailing, the 

 lower part of the stem weak and thin. The leaves 

 are hairy, the leaflets egg-shaped, lance-shaped, 

 blunt, in 4-8 pairs, smaller upwards on the leaf- 

 stalk, membranous. The stipules are half arrow- 

 shaped, entire or divided. The flowers are in a 

 raceme, nearly stalkless, axillary, purplish, 2-6- 

 flowered, the stalks shorter than the calyx-teeth. 

 The calyx-teeth are unequal, shorter than their 

 tube, the 2 upper curved upwards, hairy. The 

 upper part of the style is hairless, or nearly so, 

 bearded. The pod is stalked, hairless, erect, 

 linear to oblong, beaked, black, 6-io-seeded. The 

 seeds have the hile linear, extending two-thirds 

 round the seed. The plant is 6 in. to 3 ft. high, 

 flowering from May to August, or as late as 

 November, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Common Vetch (Vicia sativa, L.). The habi- 

 tat of this plant is hedges, roadsides, waysides, 

 where it is an escape from cultivation. The 

 habit is as in the last, climbing or trailing. The 

 stem is stout. The leaflets are in 5-7 pairs, 

 variable, elliptic, inversely heart-shaped, or egg- 

 shaped to oblong, blunt or notched, the lower 

 shorter and broader, the upper narrow, linear, 

 blunt, short-pointed. The stipules are half spear- 

 shaped, entire. The flowers are axillary, solitary, 

 or usually paired, nearly stalkless, pale -purple, 

 the standard smooth. The calyx-teeth are equal, 

 lance-shaped to awl-like, as long as their tube. 

 The pods are mostly parallel to the stem, stalk- 

 less, 2-3 in., linear, 4-io-seeded, rather hairy or 

 silky. The seeds are rounded, slightly flattened 

 at the border. The hile is linear, extending \ 

 round the seed. The plant is 6-18 in. high, 

 flowering from May to July, and is a herbaceous 

 annual. 



Bithynian Bush Vetch (Vicia btthynica, L.). 

 The habitat of this species is bushy places on a 

 gravelly soil, and waste places. The habit is 

 trailing or climbing. The stems are numerous 

 from the root, hairless except above, wavy. The 

 leaves are long. The tendrils are long, branched. 

 The leaflets are in 1-2 pairs above, linear, lance- 

 shaped, blunt, short-pointed, acute. The stipules 

 are large, toothed, half arrow-shaped. The 

 flowers are pale-purple with paler wings. The 

 calyx-teeth are slender, longer than their tube, 

 unequal, lance-shaped, awl-like. The calyx is 

 swollen below. The stalks are i-3-flowered, less 

 than the leaves, the ultimate ones as long as the 

 calyx. The pod is shortly stalked, netted, hairy, 

 linear-oblong, rough, large, beaked, 4-6-seeded. 

 The seeds are large, round, speckled, dark- 

 brown, with an oval hile. The style is hairy all 

 over above. The plant is 1-2 ft. high, flower- 

 ing from May to August, and is a herbaceous 

 perennial. 



Grass-leaved Vetchling (Lathyrus Nissolia, L.). 

 The habitat of this species is grassy bushy 

 places, banks. The plant has the grass habit. 

 The stems are ascending, very slender. There 

 are no leaves or tendrils, but grass-like leaf-stalks 

 which are leaflike, or phyllodes, which serve as 



leaves. They are long, flat, entire, fine-pointed, 

 with many parallel nerves. The stipules are 

 minute, awl-like. The flowers are erect, crimson 

 or purple, the stalks i-2-flowered, long, slender. 

 The teeth of the calyx are lance-shaped, the lower 

 longest. The pods are slender, cylindrical, flat- 

 tened at the border, hairless. The seeds are 

 granulate, round, with a small, oval hile. The 

 plant is 1-3 ft. high, flowering in May and June, 

 and is a herbaceous annual or perennial. 



ORDER ROSACES 



Wild Plum (Prunus domestica, L.). The habi- 

 tat of this species is hedges. The plant has the 

 tree or bush habit. Suckers are produced, but 

 the plant when cultivated is usually grafted. The 

 branches are straight, spineless, downy, the bark 

 brown. The leaves are egg-shaped, elliptic, downy 

 on the ribs below. The flower-stalks are hairless. 

 The fruit, a drupe, is oblong, round to egg-shaped, 

 yellow, or purple, or black. The plant is 6-20 ft. 

 high, flowering in April and May, and is a decid- 

 uous tree. 



Rubus castrensis, Wolley-Dod. The habitat of 

 this plant is field and roadside hedges. The habit 

 is arching, prostrate. The stem is olive-green. 

 The prickles are numerous, wide-spreading or bent 

 down, fairly strong. The leaves have lobes radiat- 

 ing from a common centre, with lateral lobes, over- 

 lapping, olive-green. The leaflets are coarsely, 

 doubly, or irregularly toothed. The terminal 

 leaflet is nearly round, broadly inversely egg- 

 shaped, oval, .with long, blunt, and narrow point, 

 heart-shaped. The panicle is long, cylindrical to 

 pyramidal, loose, the branches wide-spreading, 

 with 1-4 flowers forming a corymb. The sepals 

 are wide-spreading or loosely turned back through- 

 out. The petals are quite white. 



Rubus dumetorum, Wh. & N. The habitat of 

 this plant is hedges, waste ground, &c. The stem 

 and panicle rachis are armed with many unequal, 

 straight prickles, acicles, and gland-tipped organs. 

 The leaflets are usually thick. The stipules are 

 usually narrow. The panicle is long, regular, 

 compound, the rachis hairy, strongly armed like 

 the stem. The petals are large, round, hardly 

 clawed. The fruit is partly imperfect, composed 

 of few large drupelets, and the fruiting sepals are 

 erect or partly spreading. The plant flowers in 

 July and August. It is a deciduous shrub. 



Silverweed (Potentilla anserina, L.). The habi- 

 tat of this plant is waysides, roadsides, damp 

 pastures, and the coast, &c. The habit is prost- 

 rate. The plant is stoloniferous, silky. The 

 rootstock is slender, branched. The leaves are 

 green above, interruptedly pinnate, with stolons 

 from the axils, silky below. The leaflets are 

 numerous, oblong, deeply toothed, the teeth tipped 

 with silky hairs, or divided nearly to the base^ 

 alternate, close, stalkless, inversely egg-shaped, 

 oblong, blunt. The stipules enclose the buds, and 

 are hooded. The flowers are large, solitary, yel- 

 low, on axillary, solitary, slender stalks. The 

 bracteoles are toothed. The achenes are smooth. 



