LEGUMINIFERJ3. 93 



oblong-oval lamina. Pods spreading or sprcading-reflcxcd, stipitate 

 on a gynoiilioro shorter than the calyx-tube, oblong, scarcely com- 

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

 curved downwards, clothed with rather long hairs with papillae or 

 tubercles at their bases, rarely glabrous. Seeds globular-compressed, 

 smooth with shallow distant punctures ; liilum oblong, three times 

 as long as broad and one-fii'th of the circumference of the seed. 



Bdb-Specibs I.— Vicia eu-lutea. 



Plate CCCLXXXIX. 



V. lutea, Snu Eng. Bot. No. 481. Bab. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. v. p. 85. Bentk Handbook 

 Brit. Fl. p. 179. 



Plant sparingly clothed with short hairs. Upper stipules 

 "usually blotched with purple. Calyx-teeth very unequal, the upper- 

 most about half as long as the tube. Pod hairy, hairs with papillse 

 or tubercles at their bases. 



On stony banks and shingly sea-beaches. Very local. I have 

 only seen it from Shoreham, Sussex ; Weymouth, Dorset ; Dunure, 

 Ayr ; North Queensferry, Pife ; and St. Cyrus, Kincardineshire ; 

 hut it is reported also from Cornwall, Somerset, Devon, and 

 Suffolk. 



England, Scotland. Annual. Summer and Autumn. 



Plant growing in tufts, with the stems 3 to 18 inches long, pro- 

 cumbent or prostrate, at least in the stations where I have seen it, 

 though doubtless it would climb by its tendrils if there were sup- 

 port within reach, which is not the case on a pebbly sea-beach. 

 Leaflets i to f inch long, those of the lowest leaves frequently oval, 

 but the upper ones much narrower. Flowers very long and narrow, 

 f to 1 inch long, straw-coloured, often tinged with purplish lead- 

 colour or entirely of the latter colour ; standard scarcely spreading, 

 longer than the wings and much longer than the keel. Pods 1 to 

 1-^- inch long, nearly ])lack when ripe, with a falcate beak. Seeds 

 ■|: to ^ inch in diameter, globular, slightly compressed, rather dim, 

 very finely punctured, blackish-brown or paler marbled with black. 

 Plant greyish-green, with rather long distant hairs, especially on 

 the petioles and margins of the leaves. 



The Pifeshire and Ayrshire plants are smaller and more crespi- 

 tose, with the tendrils simple or even rudimentary, the flowers 

 smaller, more inclining to lead-colour than straw-colour, the pods 

 smaller, and the seeds shorter ; while the specimens from St. Cyrus 

 and Shoreham are larger and stouter, with the tendrils branched, 

 the flowers longer, straw-colour with or without a lead-coloured 

 tinge on the standard towards the base, and the pods and seeds 



