LEGUMINIFERiE. 23 



Sub-species I.— MedicagO sylvestris. Fries. 

 Plate CCCXXXV. 



M. sylvestris, Fries, Mant. III. p. 92. Bab. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. v. p. 75. 



M. falcata, var. Hook. & Am. Brit. Fl. ed. viii. p. 98. Be/ith. Handbook Brit. Fl. 



p. 161. 

 M. media, " Pers." (falcato-sativa), Beich. Fl. Germ. Excurs. p. 504. 

 in. falcato-sativa, <?r. & Goilr. Fl. de Fr. Vol. I. p. 382. 

 M. falcata, /5 versicolor, WMroth, Sched. Grit. p. 398. Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ, at Helv. 



ed. ii. p. 176. 



Flowers in a short raceme, yellow changing to blackish green, 

 finally becoming purplish at the tips ; standard striped with dark- 

 green lines. Pod coiled into a semicircle or into a complete ilat 

 ring. 



In sandy and gravelly places. Eare. Confined to the counties 

 of Cambridge, Norfolk, and Suffolk, where these three are con- 

 tiguous, in the neighbourhood of Chippingham, and Thetford, and 

 at Cromer. 



England. Perennial. Summer and Autumn. 



Stems weaker, more branched and diffuse than in M. sativa. 

 Leaflets generally smaller and narrower. Flowers in shorter heads, 

 and the pods not coiled, never making more than a single turn and 

 sometimes less. 



The greater number of botanists consider this plant either as 

 a hybrid between M. sativa and ]\I. falcata, or as a variety of 

 the latter, to which it appears to be really more nearly related. 

 Fries gives as a distinguishing character the pith being inter- 

 rupted, not contiguous so as to make the stem perfectly solid as in 

 his M. falcata ; but this does not appear to be the case in the few 

 specimens which have come under my notice. Fries emjihatically 

 denies the possibility of its being a hybrid, giving, however, no 

 reason for his opinion. But as in this country it appears to be 

 found in places where M. sativa does not occur, this may be one of 

 the grounds on which he has arrived at this conclusion. 



The pod, though generally making one complete turn, is occa- 

 sionally very little more ciu-ved than in the ordinary form of 

 M. eu- falcata of this work ; and the disposition of the flowers is 

 also variable. 



As I have never seen the plant alive, I do not feel competent 

 to give any decided opinion on the distinctness of M. sylvestris as 

 a species ; so I have adopted the middle course of considering it as 

 a sub-species of M. falcata, of which, however, it is possibh^ that 

 it is merely a variety ; this, however, can only be tested by long- 

 continued cultivation from seed. 



Fries' Lucerne. 



