G2 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



SPECIES XX.— TRIPOLI UM MINUS. Belhan. 



Plate CCCLXVI. 



Bah. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. v. p. 80. Lowe, Man. Fl. Mad. p. 152. 



T. procumbens, llvds. Benth. Handbook Brit. Fl. p. 170. IIooJc. k Am. Brit 



Fl. ed. viii. p. 106. Qr. & Gudr. Fl. de Fr. Vol. I. p. 423 (non Linn. 



Herb. !). 

 T. filiforme, Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ, et Helv. ed. ii. p. 195. Fries, Sum. Veg. Soand. 



p. 48 (lion Linn. Herb. !). 



Rootstock none. Stems several, slender, wiry, ascending or 

 procumbent, branched. Leaves shortly stalked, generally pin- 

 nately trifoliate ; leaflets obovate or oblanceolate, generally truncate 

 or notched at the apes, finely denticulate in the upj^er portion. 

 Stipules adnate for less than half their length, half-ovate, rounded 

 at the base, the free portion ovate-triangular, abruptly acuminated. 

 Flower-heads axillary, on stalks which exceed their own length, 

 and are usually longer than the leaves from which they spring, 

 sub-globular, somewhat lax, many- or few-flowered. Flowers on 

 pedicels which are nearly as long as the calyx-tube, at length 

 reflexed. Calyx-tube bell-shaped ; upper teeth triangular, shorter 

 than the tube ; lower teeth subulate, exceeding it ; all unaltered in 

 fruit. Corolla longer than the calyx ; standard broadly oblanceolate, 

 slightly enlarged and faintly ribbed in fruit, a little exceeding the 

 wings and keel, folded together longitudinally over the pod, keeled 

 on the back. Pod as broad as and not much shorter than the 

 standard. Style not a quarter the length of the pod. 



In fields, pastures, waste places, and by roadsides. Very 



suiting the Herbarium) to undervalue it as the standard by which nomenclature is to 

 be settled ; but when we consider that the species can be determined by observation 

 from the Herbarium, and only by inference from imperfect data from the writings of 

 an author, there surely ought to be no hesitation in preferring the sure to the uncer- 

 tain. It must be kept in view that when an author has confounded species manifestly 

 distinct, it is of no consequence what form retains the name he has given to the com- 

 posite species, provided that uniformity of nomenclature be attained ; and this is much 

 more likely to be arrived at by referring to a specimen than to a meagre and imperfect 

 description, or references (possibly erroneously quoted) to other descriptions as meagre 

 and imperfect, or to ill-executed plates. ]\I. Soyer-Willemet goes the length of saying 

 that he considers there is confusion in the Linnjean Herbarium ; by which I suppose he 

 wishes it to be understood that the labels may have been crossed ; but if this be his 

 meaning, he cannot be aware that the species are pasted to sheets of paper, and the 

 name written on the sheet itself by Linuajus' own hand. 



