LEGUMINIFER^U 67 



Sob-Species II. — Lotus tenuis. Kit. 



Plate CCCLXIX. 



TFooh. <fe Borr. in Eng. Bot. Sup. No. 2615. Gr. k Godr. Fl. de Fr. Vol I. p. 432. 

 L. tenuifolius, Reich. Fl. Excurs. p. 50G. Koch, Syn. FL Germ, et Ilelv. ed. ii. p. 197 



Fries, Sum. Veg. Scand. p. 47. 

 L. corniculatus, var. tenuis, Benth. Handbook Brit. Fl. p. 171. Bab. !Man. Brit. Bot. 



ed. V. p. 81. 

 L. corniculatus, var. tenuifolius, Hook. <t Am. Brit. Fl. ed. viii. p. 106. 

 L. decumbens, Forst. Sm. Eng. Fl. Vol. III. p. 314. 



Stems elongated, slender, wiry, much branched. Leaflets 

 acute, those of the lower leaves oblanceolate-elliptical, of the upper 

 oblanceolate-linear. Lower stipules strapshaped-lanceolate, upper 

 ones linear-lanceolate. Wings oblong-oblanceolate, curved on the 

 lower margin of the lamina only at the apex. 



In meadows and waste places, especially on damp or clayey 

 soils. Rather rare, but pretty generally distributed in England ; 

 rare in Scotland, where it has been found in Linlithgowshire, Tor- 

 farshire, and Kincardineshire. It is not marked in Dr. Moore's 

 Irish list. 



England, Scotland. Perennial. Summer. 



This plant certainly comes very near to L. eu-corniculatus, but 

 all the botanists who have cultivated it have found its peculiarities 

 constant. The stems are more wiry and slender, much longer (some- 

 times between 2 and 3 feet long), and much more branched ; the 

 stolons are more constantly present, the leaves and stipules 

 narrower; the peduncles longer and more slender. The flowers 

 are smaller, f to -| inch long, and usually fewer in number than in 

 L. eu-corniculatus, and the curvature on the under margin of their 

 wings is much more abrupt ; the keel is less deep ; the calyx has 

 always fine hairs, and the teeth rather shorter in proj)ortion to its 

 length. The pods are rather paler coloured, and the seeds a little 

 smaller. 



Slender Birds-foot Trefoil. 



SPECIES II.— LOTUS MAJOR. Scop, 

 Plate CCCLXX 



Bab. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. v. p. 81. Uook. Si Arn. Brit. Fl. ed. viiL p. 107. Sm. Eng. 



Bot. No. 2091. 

 L. uHginosus, Schkuhr. Fries, Sum. Veg. Scand. p. 47. Gr. <t Godr. Fl. de Fr. Vol. I. 



p. 432. Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ, et Ilelv. ed. ii. p. 197. Beich. Fl. Excurs. p. 506. 

 L. corniculatus, var. a major, Benlh. Handbook Brit. Bot. p. 171. 



