CLASS XVII. ORDER 111. ] ASTRAGALUS. 965 
from five to seven pairs, and an odd one ovate, smooth, a bright 
green. Stipules ovate lanceolate, acutely pointed, entire. Injlo- 
rescence axillary clusters, on peduncles, much shorter than the leaves. 
Flowers crowded, sessile, pale yellow. Bracteas linear, lanceolate. 
Calyx short, the teeth unequal. Corolla close, narrow. Legumes 
crowded, erect, about an inch long, smooth, curved inwards, obtusely 
three angled, the inner edge acute, the two outer ones obtuse, with 
the suture deeply pressed in between them. Seeds about eight, 
yellowish, attached to the inner suture. 
Habitat—Woods, thickets, hill sides, and the borders of fields, 
especially in a gravelly soil. 
Perennial ; flowering in June and July. 
This is along straggling plant with flowers, neither distinguished 
for beauty of colour, or form; the herbage has, when masticated, a 
sweetish taste, which shortly changes to that of a nauseous bitter, 
on which account it is refused by cattle: it is a troublesome weed 
in hilly pastures. 
2. A. hypoglot'tis, Linn. (Fig. 1116.) Purple Mountain Milk-veich. 
Stem spreading, hairy; stipules ovate; leaves shorter than the 
peduncles ; leaflets small, ovate, slightly emarginate; legumes erect, 
capitate, roundish, ovate, acuminate, hairy, single seeded. 
English Botany, t. 274.—English Flora, vol. iii. p. 294.—Hooker, 
British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 272.—Lindley, Synopsis, p. 78. 
Root of slender spreading woody fibres. Stems several, spreading, 
prostrate at the base, curved upwards, branched, angular, somewhat 
furrowed, and more or less clothed with erect hairs. Leaves alter- 
nate, the common stalk slender, furrowed, from one to two inches 
long, leaflets from six to twelve pairs, small, ovate, obtuse, slightly 
emarginate, dark green, and scattered over with coarse hairs. 
Stipules ovate, hairy. Inflorescence crowded heads of numerous 
flowers, on axillary or terminal peduncles, longer than the leaves, 
angular, striated; and hairy. Bracteas linear, lanceolate. Calyx 
oblique, with five linear obtuse unequal teeth, clothed with black 
hairs. Corolla large, for the size of the plant, blue and purple, often 
variegated, and sometimes white. Zegumes small, ovate, acuminate, 
curved, triangular, the outer suture pressed inwards, so as to form a 
furrow, dark brown, clothed with white hairs, and bearing a solitary 
seed. 
Habitat.— Dry hilly, chalky, or gravelly pastures, especially in the 
eastern parts of England and Scotland. 
Perennial ; flowering in June and July. 
The clusters of flowers are very large for the size of the plant, and 
in the more elevated situations they are a fine dark purple colour, 
very beautiful. It is frequent in the sub-alpine pastures of the Con- 
