EOSACE*. 183 



In thickets and open woods, under hedges, etc., throughout Europe, ex- 

 cept the extreme north. Abundant in Britain. Fl. spring and early sum- 

 mer. This and the hlaclc P. form part of the old genus Orobv.s, still kept 

 up by many botanists, but only differing from Pea by the want of tendrils 

 to the leaves. 



9. Black Pea. Iiathyrus niger, Wimm. 

 {Orobus, Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2788.) 



A glabrous perennial, always turning black in drying ; the rootstock shoi t 

 and not tuberous ; the stems erect or ascending, branched, 1 to 2 feet high 

 or even more. Stipules small and narrow. Leaflets 4 to 6 pairs to each 

 leaf, ovate or elliptical, 6 lines to an inch long, the common stalk ending in 

 a short point. Peduncles longer than the leaves, with a short raceme of 6 to 

 8 flowers. Pod glabrous, near 2 inches long. 



In mountainous and rocky districts, throughout temperate Europe to the 

 Caucasus, extending far into Scandinavia. In Britain, only known from two 

 localities, in Perth and Forfar. FL summer. 



XXV. THE ROSE FAMILY. EOSACE^. 



Herbs, shrubs, or trees, with alternate leaves, mostly toothed 

 or divided, the stipules seldom wanting and often leaf-like. 

 Flowers in cyme,-!, or solitary at the ends of the year's shoots, 

 or more rarely in lateral bunches or racemes. Sepals 4 or 5, 

 united at the base into a lobed calyx, either enclosing the ovary 

 or adhering to it, or rarely quite free from it. Petals 4 or 5 

 or rarely none. Stamens usually indefinite in number, inserted 

 with the petals on the calyx below its lobes. Ovary of 1, 2, or 

 more carpels, usually distinct at the time of flowering, but 

 sometimes combined even then into a single 5-celled ovary, 

 which is then always inferior or combined with the calyx. As 

 the fruit enlarges, the carpels either remain free or are variously 

 combined with each other or with the calyx. Seeds 1 or 2 (or 

 in Spirrta 3 or 4) in each carpel. Embryo with large cotyledons 

 and no albumen. 



A numerous family, widely spread over the' globe, but more in the tem- 

 perate and cooler parts of the northern hemisphere than within the tropics. 

 The indefinite stamens inserted on the calyx are sufficient to distinguish the 

 greater number of the genera from all other British plants. In the few cases 

 where the stamens are apparently definite, there are no petals, but they then 

 differ widely from all other apetalous genera by their stipules and divided 

 leaves, as well as by the structure of the ovary. 



rOvary or ovaries superior or free from the calyx, though sometimes enclosed 

 1 J in it 2 



l^Ovary or ovaries inferior or adhering to the ealyx-tube, which is closed over them \i 

 „ f A single ovary 3 



\ Several ovaries 4 



„ r Trees, with a deciduous calyx and succulent fruit 1. Pbttktts. 



l Herbs, with the calyx persisting round the dry seed- vessel 4 



