'90 ENGLISH BOTAKY. 



SPECIES VI.— VICI A SYLVATICA. Lirm. 

 Plate CCCLXXXVII. 



Rootstock creeping. Stem weak, climbing or trailing. Leaves 

 with 6 to 10 pairs of oval or broadly elliptical leaflets, rounded or 

 truncate and mucronate at the apex ; common petiole terminating 

 in a simple or branched tendril. Stipules half-lunate, laciniate, 

 the upper ones half-sagittate, toothed only at the base. Peduncles 

 equalling or exceeding the leaves, with 5 to 18 flowers in a lax uni- 

 lateral raceme. Pedicels as long as the calyx-tube. Calyx glabrous, 

 the tube more convex on the upper than on the lower side ; teeth 

 slightly unequal, triangvxlar-subulate, the lowest one longest but 

 shorter than the tube, the 2 upper ones similar to the others but 

 a little shorter. Standard three times as long as the calyx, not con- 

 tracted above the middle. Pods reflexed, stipitate on a gynophore 

 longer than the calyx-tube, narrowly oblong or elliptical-oblong, 

 compressed, acuminated at the apex into a rather long sharp beak, 

 glabrous. Seeds globular, brownish, with the hilum linear, two- 

 thirds the circumference of the seed. 



In woods and thickets, and on rocky banks, particularly in 

 hilly districts. Rather rare, bat widely distributed, extending 

 from Somerset and the Isle of Wight to Aberdeenshire and Argyle- 

 shire. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer. 



Stems 2 to 4 feet long, more often trailing than climbing. The 

 leaves on the short lateral branches frequently have the tendrils 

 reduced to subulate points not much longer than those of V. Orobus. 

 Leaflets thin in texture, i to f inch long, broader than those of the 

 preceding species. Stipules very broad, palmatoly laciniate or 

 deeply toothed, spreading or reflexed, the principal segments fre- 

 quently tipped with purple. Peduncles 2 to 7 inches long, bare of 

 flowers for abovit half their length. Flowers f inch long, white 

 tinged with lilac. Standard gradually widened out towards the 

 apex, which is veined with purple and scarcely notched; wings 

 with a few purple veins ; keel with a purplish blotch at the apex, 

 the bend in tlie lower margin nearly a right angle, and the apex 

 very broad, which makes the flowers considerably broader towards 

 the apex than in the two preceding species, in which the angle is 

 more obtuse. Style with short hairs all. round underneath the 

 stigma. Pods black or dark olive when ripe, 1 to \\ inch long, 

 minutely shagreened all over, in a nearly continuous line with the 

 gynophore, slightly curved upwards at the beak, which terminates 



