84 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



SPECIES I— VI CI A HIRSUTA. Koch. 

 Plate CCCLXXXII. 



Bah. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. v. p. 82. Hook, k Am. Brit. Fl. ed. viii. p. 114. Benth. 



Handbook Brit. Fl. p. 177. Fries, Sum. Veg. Scand. p. 46. 

 Ervuni hirsutum, Linn. Sm. Eng. Bot. No. 970. Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ, et Helv. 



ed. ii. p. 218. 

 Cracca minor, " Eiv." Gr. k Godr. Fl. de Fr. Vol. I. p. 475. 



Annual. Leaves with 6 to 10 pairs of strap-shaped or 

 oblong-linear leaflets, truncate-emarginate, and apiculate at the 

 apex ; common petiole terminating in a branched tendril. 

 Lower stij)ules laciniate, the upper ones simple. Peduncles equal 

 to or shorter than the leaves, 2- to 6-flowered. Calyx-tube not 

 gibbous on the upper side ; teeth nearly equal, subulate, a little 

 longer than the tube. Corolla not twice as long as the calyx. 

 Pods reflexed, sessile within the calyx, oblong, compressed, 

 obliquely truncate at the apex, abruptly acuminated into a short 

 beak terminating the upper suture, generally hairy. Seeds 2, 

 compressed, globular, with the hilum linear, one-third the circum- 

 ference of the seed. 



A weed in cultivated ground, and in hedges and waste places. 

 Very common and generally disti*ibuted. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Annual. Sj)ring to Autumn. 



Stem weak, branched or simple, climbing, 1 to 2 feet long or more. 

 Leaflets 5 to f inch long, narrowly-oblong or strap- shaped, a little 

 narrowed towards the base. Stipules slender, cut into 2 to 4 long 

 subulate segments, the innermost segment broader than the others, 

 those of the upper leaves usually entire. Peduncles axillary, f to 2 

 inches long, shortly awned at the apex. Pedicels scarcely as long 

 as the calyx, ascending, forming an angle with the spreading flowers. 

 Plowers \ inch long, whitish tinged with pale blue, in a lax raceme 

 at the upper part of the peduncle ; standard scarcely spreading, 

 a little longer than the other petals. Style glabrous. Pod |^ to |- 

 inch long, black or dark brown wlien ripe, convex on the margin at 

 the base above, then straight to the apex ; nearly straight below to 

 near the apex, where the margin becomes convex, not much more 

 than twice as long as deep, bossulated by the seeds, with short 

 white woolly hairs in all the British specimens I have seen. Seeds 

 about the size of a rape-seed, smooth, black, or pale olive-yellow 

 marbled with blackish-purple. Plant greyish-green, more or less 

 thickly clothed with distant short hairs. 



Hairy Tare. 



Frencli, Ers Hcrisse. German^ Zitlerlinse. 



