266 DIADELPHIA— DECANDRIA. Ononis. 



permanent thorns. Leaves few, scattered, small, awl-shaped, 

 entire, spinous-pointed, deciduous. Fl. large, solitary or in 

 pairs, of a bright golden yellow, with a very peculiar oppressive 

 scent. Bracteas 2 at the base of the calyx, small, ovate, lax or 

 spreading, densely downy, as well as the simple Jlower-stalks, 

 and outside of the calyx, the teeth of which cohere so closely as 

 to escape a casual view. Legumes downy, bursting elastically 

 in dry hot weather^ with a crackling noise, and scattering their 

 seeds extensively. 

 The wood is very hard. The chief use of this shrub is to afford 

 firing for the poor. Its full growth is attained in 4 years, and it 

 ought not to be cut more frequently. 



2. U. nanus. Dwarf Furze. 



Teeth of the calyx lanceolate, spreading. Bracteas minute, 

 close-pressed. Branches reclining. 



U. nanus. Forst. in Sym. Syn. 160. Tonbr. 83. Fl. Br. 757. 



Engl. Bot.v. II. t.743. fVilld.v.3. 969. 

 U. minor. Roth Catal. v. 1 . 83, not 33. 

 U. europseus /3. Linn. Sp. PL 1045. Huds. 312. 

 Genista spinosa minor. Rail Syn. 475. 

 G. spinosa major brevibus aculeis. Bauh. Pin. 394. 

 G, aculeata minor, sive Nepa Theophrasti. Ger. Em. 1321 ./. 

 Nepa apud Theophrasti. Lob. Ic. 788./. 



On dry elevated heaths, less common than the preceding. 



Shrub. August — October. 



This, as Dr. Roth justly observes, is in every part but half the size 

 of the last. The branches are more recumbent ; the flowering 

 ones more cylindrical and elongated. Leaves awl-shaped, hairy. 

 Fl. scarcely half the size of U. europceus, paler, with a more 

 yellow calyx, and narrower standard. The most essential cha- 

 racters however consist in the more distinct and spreading calyx- 

 teeth, and the minute, rounded, close-pressed, often hardly dis- 

 cernible bracteas. These marks are conclusive and constant j 

 and this species, which blossoms chiefly in autumn, may readily 

 be known at a distance from the more common one, however 

 starved, or injured by too frequent cutting, the latter may happen 

 to be. 



355. ONONIS. Rest-harrow. 



Linn. Gen. 370. Juss. 354. Fl.Br.758. Lam. t. 616. Gcertn, 



t. 154. 

 Anonis. Tourn. t. 229. 



Cal. tubular, in 5 rather deep, linear, pointed segments, 

 slightly curved upwards; the lower one longest, subtending 

 the keel. Cor. of 5 petals ; standard larger than the rest. 



