CLASS XVII. ORDER IV. 287 



Stems rigid, compressed, four angled. Stipules arrow shaped, 

 meeting each other round the stem, a little toothed at base. 

 Petioles with a double channel above, and ending in a branched 

 tendril. Leafets about ten, nearly oval, mucronated, reticulated 

 with transparent veins. Flowers large and showy. Racemes 

 six to eight flowered with a long, angular peduncle. Calyx 

 ventricose, the two upper segments broadest and shortest. Ban- 

 ner reflexed, obcordate, purple. Wings paler, with a large tooth 

 above. Keel also pale and toothed above. Stamens united into 

 a tube. Germ oblong-lanceolate, compressed. Style ascending, 

 flat, never carinated, pubescent above for about half its upper 

 side. Legumes oblong, subfalcated, turgid. Seeds globular, 

 as large as pepper, turning dark when dry. — Beach, Dorchester, 

 Chelsea. — May, July. — Perennial. 



Lathyrus palustris. L. Marsh LatTiyrus. 



Stem winged; stiptiles semisagittate, lanceolate; 

 leafets six, lanceolate: peduncles about three flow- 

 ered. 



Stem slender, broadly winged, supported by the tall meadow 

 grass among which it grows. Leaves pinnate, the leafets ob- 

 long-lanceolate, acute or slightly obtuse and mucronated, the 

 common petiole ending in a branched tendril. Peduncles much 

 longer than the leaves, with a few drooping, purple flowers. 

 Wings of the corolla with a tooth at base. Wet meadows, 

 South Boston, Brighton. — June. — Perennial. 



313. VICIA. 

 ViciA CRACCA. L. Tufted Vetch. 



Peduncles many flowered ; flowers imbricate, leaf- 

 ets lanceolate, pubescent; stipules semisagittate, 

 mostly entire. 



Stem square, slender, somewhat downy. Leaves of many 

 pairs, the leafets often alternate, linear lanceolate, mucronate, 

 downy or villous, the petiole terminating in a branched tendril. 

 Peduncles about twenty flowered ; the flowers purple; forming 

 long, crowded, recurved, unilateral racemes. In fences, &c. 

 Cambridge, Maiden. — July. — Perennial. 



