162 THE PEAFLOWEE TRIBE. 



exceedingly short and not booked, lias been sometimes considered as a 

 species under the name of M. apiculata. 



5. Spotted Sledick. Medicago maculata, WiUd. 

 {M. polymorpha, Eng. Bot. t. 1616.) 

 An almost glabrous annual, so hke the last in fohage, stipules, and flowers, 

 that, without tlie fruit, it can be scarcely distinguished but by a few spread- 

 ing hairs on the leafstalks, visible when held up against the hght. It is often 

 also more luxuriant, the leaflets have usually a dark spot in the centre, 

 and the flowers fewer in the raceme. The pod has 3 or 4 spires, much 

 more compact than in the denticulate 31., giving the whole pod a more 

 globular form, the surface is less veined, and the edge thicker, more or less 

 furrowed between the prickles, whioli are finer and more curved. 



In cultivated and waste places, in western and southern Europe to the 

 Caucasus, rarely extending into Germany. Not uncommon in central and 

 southern England. Fl. spring and summer. 



6. Bur Medick. KTedica^o minima, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2635.) 



An annual, like the two last, but usually smaller and more compact, and 

 clothed with short, soft hairs or down. Stipules entire or very shortly 

 toothed. Flowers few, mintlte, on short peduncles. Pod smaller than in 

 the two last species, nearly globular, of 2, 3, or 4 compact spu-es edged 

 each with a double row of hooked prickles. 



In open pastures and waste places, widely spread over Europe and 

 western Asia, extending northwards to southern Sweden. Rare in Britain, 

 and only in some of the southern and eastern counties of England. Fl. spring 

 and summer. Like other species, it varies much in the size of the pods 

 and the length of the prickles : in Britain they are usually small. 



YI. MELIXiOT. MELILOTTJS. 



Herbs with leaves pinnately trifoholate, the leaflets usually toothed, the 

 stipules slightly adhering to the leafstalks, and small yellow or white 

 flowers, in long, loose racemes on axillary peduncles. Calyx Stoothed. 

 Petals falling ofl^ after fading, the keel obtuse. Stamens diadelphous, the 

 upper one entirely free. Pod of one or very few seeds, straight, thick, 

 small, but longer than the calyx, and indehiscent. 



A genus of few species, all south European or west Asiatic, but some 

 spreading over most parts of the world. They were formerly united with 

 Clover, but their inflorescence gives them a very different aspect. From 

 Trigonel they difier chiefly in the short, thick pod, usually with only 1 or 

 2 seeds. 



Flowers white 3. White 3i. 



Flowers yellow. 

 Pod iiTegularly net-veined and wrinkled. Stem usually 2 or 3 



feet high 1. Common M. 



Pod transversely wrinkled. Stem usually under 2 feet high ... 2. Field M. 



1. Common Melilot. Melilotris officinalis, Linn. 

 {Trifoliuni, Eng. Bot. t. 1340.) 

 An annual or biennial, usually erect, 2, 3, or even 4 feet high, branched 

 and glabrous ; the leaves usually distant, on long leafstalks. Stipules nar- 

 row. Leaflets of the lower leaves obovate or nearly orbicular, those of the 



