176 THE tEAFLO^EB TEIBE. 



Abundant in some parts of England, but not in Scotland or Ireland. Fl. 

 spring and summer. 



XVI. SAINFOIN. ONOBEYCHIS. 



Herbs, with pinnate leaves, without tendrils, and spikes of flowers usually 

 pink, on long axillaiy peduncles. Stamens diadelphous, the upper one 

 quite free. Pod sessile, flat, hard, 1-seeded, and indehiscent, strongly 

 veined or pitted, and usually either prickly, crested, or winged. 



A genus of several species, chiefly from the eastern Mediterranean region 

 and west-central Asia, very distinct from any other British Peafloiver, but 

 only differing from Sedysarum (a large European and Asiatic genus, which 

 includes the so-called French Honeysuckle of our gardens) in the pods being 

 reduced to a single article. 



1. Common Sainfoin. Onobrychis sativa, Lam. 

 {Hedysarum Onohrychis, Eng. Bot. t. 96.) 



Stock perennial, but of few years' duration, with several ascending stems, 

 1 to 1^ or rarely 2 feet long. Stipules brown, thin, and finely pointed. 

 Leaflets numerous, oblong, slightly downy underneath, glabrous above. 

 Peduncles longer than the leaves, bearing in theii' upper half a spike of pale 

 pink flowers, at first closely packed, but lengthening out as the flowering 

 advances. Calyx-teeth long and slender. Wings of the corolla shorter 

 than the keel and standard. Pod twice as long as the calyx, the upper 

 edge nearly straight, the lower semicircular, bordered with short teeth, 

 sometimes prickly, the flat surface marked with raised veins. 



In hmestone districts, in central and southern Europe, and temperate 

 Asia ; much cultivated for forage, and occasionally naturalized further 

 northward. In Britain, believed to be ti'uly indigenous in southern and 

 eastern England, but not recorded from Ireland. Fl. early summer. 



XVII. VETCH. VICIA. 



Herbs, with weak stems, often slightly climbing, half-sagittate stipules, 

 and pinnate leaves ; the leaflets usually numerous ; the common leafstalk 

 ending in a simple or branched tendrd, or at least in a small point. Flowers 

 in the axils of the leaves, sohtary, clustered, or in pedunculate racemes, 

 blue, purplish, white, or pale yellow. Petals usually rather narrow. Upper 

 stamen quite free, or connected with the others, at least, in the middle. 

 Style cylindrical or slightly flattened, with a tuft of hairs below the stigma 

 on the outer side, or shortly downy aU round under the stigma, or rarely 

 quite glabrous. Pod more or less flattened, opening in two valves, with 

 several, or rarely only two seeds, either globular or shghtly flattened. 



A numerous genus, widely spread over nearly the whole globe, but most 

 abundant m temperate regions ; in the tropics almost confined to mountain 

 districts, and unknown in AustraUa. The tendrils distinguish it from all 

 our Leguminous plants, except the following genus. Pea, from which it is 

 absolutely separated chiefly by the style ; but also in all our species, except 

 the Bithynian V., the more numerous and smaller leaflets, and the general 



