LEGUMINIFER.E. 69 



equal, longer than the tube, all subulate. Heads 1- to 4-flowered. 

 Flowers one-quarter longer than the calyx. Pods cylindrical, 

 faintly beaded when ripe. 



Sub-species I.— Lotus diflFusus. Sm. 



Plate CCCLXXI. 

 Sm. Eng. Bob. No. 925. 

 L. angustissimus, Bab. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. v. p. 81. Koch, Syn. Fl. Qerm. et Helv. 



ed. ii. p. 108. Gr. & Godr. Fl. de Fr. Vol. I. p. 430. 

 L. angustissimus, var. a, Beiith. Handbook Brit. Bot. p. 171. 

 L. angustissimus, var. a, minor. Hook, ik Am. Brit. Fl. ed. viiL p. 107. 

 L. gracilis, Wcddst. it Kit. Reich. Fl. Excurs. p. 505. 



Stems slender. Flowers usually solitary, and seldom more than 

 2 together. Wings gradually widening to near the apex. Beak 

 of the keel forming nearly a right angle with the basal portion. 

 Pod slender, four to six times as long as the calyx. 



On dry banks and in pastures and waste places. Very rare. On 

 the castle rock at Hastings, Sussex; Stokes Bay, Hants; Maker 

 Heights, &c., Devonshire ; more plentiful in the Channel Islands. 



England, Ireland (?). Annual. Summer. 



Root producing from the crown numerous stems, which are 

 ascending or decumbent, 3 to 18 inches long, with short lateral 

 branches. Leaflets 3- to f inch long, elliptical-oblanceolate, blunt 

 or acute. Stipules ovate, or ovate-lanceolate, subsessile. Peduncles 

 usually a little longer than the leaves, but varying from as long to 

 twice as long when mature. Flower-heads with a trifoliate bract 

 at the base, very frequently reduced to a single flower. Pedicels about 

 as long as the calyx-tube. Flowers \ inch to f inch long, yellow. 

 Calyx-teeth very slender, with long hairs. Pod f to 1| inch long, 

 15- to 30-seeded. Plant greyish-green, more or less thickly pubes- 

 cent with slender spreading hairs. 



The annual root and sub-solitary small flowers with the calyx- 

 teeth longer than the tube will prevent this plant from being 

 confounded with small hairy states of the two preceding species. 



Long-podded Small Birds-foot Trefoil. 



French, Lotier L)ij/us. 



Sub-Spkcies II. ?— Lotus hispidus. Desf. 



Plate CCCLXXII. 



Bab. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. v. p. 81. Gr. & Godr. Fl. de Fr. Vol. I. p. 431. Reich. R 



Excurs. p. 505. 

 L. angustissimus, var. hispidus. Benth. Handbook Brit. Fl. p. 171. 

 L. angustissimus, fl major. IIoolc. & Arii. Brit. Fl. ed. viii. j) 107. 



