32 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



SPECIES III.— M ELILOTUS ARVENSIS. Waliroth. 

 Plate CCCXLIII. 



Bab. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. v. p. 7G. Benth. Handbook Brit. Fl. p. 1C3. Hook. & Am. 



Brit. Fl. ed. viii. p. 100. 

 Waliroth, Sched. Crit. p. .591. Fries, Sum. Veg. Scand. p. 48. 

 M. officinRlis, "Lam." Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ, et Helv. ed. ii. p. 183. Gr. & Godr. 



Fl. de Fr. Vol. I. p. 402. 

 M. Petitpierreana, " WlUdenow." Reich. Fl. Excurs. p. 498. 



Root slightly thickened and elongate. Stem erect, branched, 

 especially near the base. Racemes elongated, rather dense in 

 flower, but lax in fruit. Corolla twice the length of tbe calyx. 

 Standard longer than the wings, which exceed the keel in length. 

 Pod shortly stipitate, shortly oval-ov^oid, scarcely acuminated but 

 apieulate at the apex, with very conspicuous transverse folds, 

 which are at length replaced by seams on the faces, which are quite 

 glabrous. 



In waste places and roadsides. Rare, and probably native only 

 in Essex, Herts, Cambridge, Norfolk, and Suffolk. In Kent and 

 South Essex I have seen it gro^\dng plentifully in grass fields, 

 doubtless introduced with continental seed, and I have specimens 

 which grew under similar circumstances, from Yorkshire and 

 Lancashire. In Scotland, found only on the ballast hills at St. 

 David's, Eifeshire. 



England, [Scotland,] Ireland. Biennial. Late Summer and 

 Autumn. 



Closely resembling the two preceding, but not so tall, being 

 from 1 to 3 feet higli, most branclied towards the base. Elowers 

 about the size of M. alba, generally pale yellow, but some- 

 times white, when it appears to be the M. Petitpierreana of 

 Willdenow. Fruiting racemes more elongated than those- of 

 M. officinalis, but less so than those of M. alba. Pod ^ inch 

 long, not black when ripe as in the two preceding, but brownish- 

 olive, rounder and less acuminate at the apex than in either ; when 

 young it is marked with strongly-defined transverse wrinkles or 

 folds, but when mature, the folds disappear, and in their places, or 

 rather by the side of where they were, seams or furrows are to be 

 found. In dried specimens in flower, the keel, standard, and 

 wings being each a little longer than the other serves to distinguish 

 this from the two preceding species. 



Field 3IeUlot. 



French, McUlot de Petitjneire. German, GebrauchlicJier Steinklce. 



