100 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



late, the iippermost pair the shortest, ahout equal to the tuhe, the 

 lower ones exceeding it. Standard glabrous, thrice as long as the 

 calyx-tuhe, with the lamina ohlong-oval. Pods spreading, stipitate, 

 with the gynophore much shorter than the calyx-tube ; compressed, 

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

 downwards, sparingly clothed with short woolly hairs, with papillae 

 or tubercles at their basis. Seeds sub-globular, compressed, indis- 

 tinctly pitted ; hilum oval, one-sixth the circumference of the seed. 



Var. a, latifol'ms. 



Leaves oval or elliptical. All the stipules deeply toothed. 



Var. 3, anffusiifolkis. 



Leaves strapshaped-elliptical or linear, very acute ; upper stipules 

 sparingly toothed. 



On grassy banks, especially near the sea and on cliffs and bushy 

 places. Very local. Reported from the counties of Devon, Somer- 

 set, Dorset, Sussex, Kent, Essex, Gloucester, Worcester, Glamorgan, 

 and Denbigh ; but I have met with it myself only near Leigh, 

 Essex, and between Eolkestone and Sandgate, Kent ; the broad- 

 leaved plant I possess from several places near Bristol, Somerset, 

 and from Budleigh Salterton, Devon. 



England. Annual. Spring to Autumn. 



Stems growing in tufts from the crown of the root, branched 

 only at the base ; 6 inches to 2 feet long. Leailets 1 to 2 inches 

 long, in vav. a often -l inch broad, but in var. sometimes not 

 more than | inch. Pechxncles j to 2 inches long, generally 1-tiow- 

 ered, but having sometimes a pair. Elowers f inch long. Standard 

 pale dull-purple ; wings white, witli a blue blotch near the base. 

 Pods 1\ to If inch long, reddish-brown, varying to brownish- 

 black when ripe ; reticulated, faintly bossulated by the seeds. 

 Seeds ^ inch in diameter, dull-brownish, sometimes marbled with 

 black. Plant dull-green, slightly glaucous, glabrous or slightly 

 pubescent. 



This plant has sometimes quite the habit of a Lathyrus, and 

 has repeatedly been mistaken for Lathyri;s hirsutus, but the wing- 

 less stem, and the leaflets of the upper leaves more than one pair, 

 as well as the sliorter peduncles and longer and narrower flowers, 

 furnish obvious distinctions, in addition to the dill'erence of generic 

 character. 



Bithynian Vetch. 



