LEGUMINIFEK.E. 103 



Stems several from the crown of the root, slightly curved at the 

 base, then erect, rather still', 1 to 3 feet high, simple or slii^htly 

 hranched. Petioles 3 to 7 inches long, resembling blades of grass. 

 Peduncles slender, 1 to i inches long, bearing rarely more tlian 1 

 spreading flower. Flowers } to -^ inch long, bright-crimson with 

 the keel paler. Calyx gibbous at the base above, the 3 lower teetii 

 longer than the upper 2 ; standard with the lamina orbicular, 

 spreading with the sides slightly reflexed, longer than the wings 

 and keel. Pod slightly droo{)ing, 1-| to 2-| inches long, about the 

 thickness of a crow-quill, the sides with longitudinal anastomosing 

 veins. Seeds maroon or rcddish-blaek, roundish, compressed, 

 slightly shining, covered with small tubercles; hilum oblong, one- 

 ninth the circumference of the seed. Plant green, the leaves 

 glaucous above. 



Before this plant comes into flower it is scarcely possible to 

 detect it, from its close resemblance to the grasses among which it 

 grows ; the petioles, however, do not sheathe the stem as the leaves 

 of grasses do. 



Grass-leaved Vetch. 



French, Gesse sans Vrilles. German, Blattlose Platlerhse. 



The specific name of this plant was given to it in honour of M. G. Nissole, a 

 French botanist, whose zeal induced him to adopt the ingenious expedient of searching 

 the siftings of grain imported from foreign parts, by growing which he obtained many 

 curious exotics. The leaves of the plant are so like grass, that unless it be in blossom 

 it may readily be overlooked and mistaken for it. 



Section III.— ETJ-LATHYRUS. Serlnge, in Z>. C. Prod. 



Petioles all bearing leaflets and terminating in tendrils. Calyx- 

 tube gibbous at the base above. 



SPECIES III.— LATHYRUS HIRSUTUS. LiuTi. 

 Plate CCCXCIX. 



Root annual. Stems weak, climbing or trailing, winged. 

 Leaves with 2 or 4 pairs of elliptical or linear-elliptical leaflets, 

 mucronate at the apex ; common petiole terminating in a short 

 branched tendril. Stipules rather small, half-sagittate. Peduncles 

 longer than the leaves, generally 2- (but sometimes 1- or 3-) 

 flowered. Calyx-teeth ovate-acuminate, as long as the tube. 

 Corolla twice as long as the calyx. Pods oblong, compressed, 

 straight, hairy ; the hairs with tubercles at the base. 



In bushy places and borders of fields. Very rare, and appa- 

 rently confined to the southern part of the county of Essex-, where 

 it occurs in several places. I have only seen it at Hadleigh Castle, 



