DIADELPHIA— DECANDRIA. Hippocrepis. 291 



Cal. bell-shaped, permanent, divided, about half way down, 

 into 5 acute, lanceolate segments; the 2 uppermost 

 shortest, and less deeply separated. Cor. of 5 petals, 

 their claws longer than the calyx ; standard heart-shaped, 

 ascending, with a vaulted claw; wings obovate, obtuse, 

 with flat broadish claws ; keel of 2 combined petals, 

 rounded, pointed, with very narrow separate claws. Filam, 

 10; 9 united into a tube, open at the upper edge; the 

 tenth quite distinct ; all curved upwards at the extremity. 

 Anth. roundish. Germ, slender, compressed, tapering 

 into an awl-shaped ascending s/j//(?. Stigma linear, rather 

 flattened, quite smooth. Legume compressed, partly mem- 

 branous, incurved, jointed, notched, separating finally at 

 the joints, each of which is nearly crescent-shaped, simple 

 or bordered, closed, tumid, containing a solitary, curved, 

 oblong seed. 



Annual or perennial herbs, larger than the last genus. Leaves 

 pinnate, with an odd leaflet, uniform. Stipulas membra- 

 nous, oblong, undivided. Fl. umbellate, yellow ; in one 

 species solitary. Legumes curiously notched. 



I. H. comosa. Tufted Horse-shoe-vetch. 



Legumes umbellate, rough ; their joints neither dilated nor 

 bordered. 



H. comosa. Linn. Sp. PL 1050. WiUd. v. 3. 1 159. Fl. Br. 777. 

 Engl.Bot.v.\.t.3[. Dkks.H. Sice, fasc.8. 14. Hook.Scot.2l6. 



Ferrum equinum n.39l. Hall. Hist. v. 1. 170. 



F. equinum Germanioum, siliquis in summitate. Bauh. Pin. 349. 

 Raii Syn. 325. 



F. equinum comosum. Riv. Tetrap. Irr. t. 97. f. 2. 



F. equinum capitatum. Column. Ecphr. 302. t. 301. f. I. Moris. 

 V.2. \ 18. sect. 2. 1. 10. f. 3. 



Sferra cavallo. Camer. Epif. 642. f. 1 . 



On dry chalky banks ; sometimes on limestone. 



Plentiful in Kent, Berkshire, Cambridgeshire, at Marhani in Nor- 

 folk, and in most chalk countries. 



Perennial. May — August. 



Root woody, running deep into the ground. Stems branched at 

 the bottom, furrowed, leafy, smooth, procumbent, from 6 to 12 

 inches long. Leaflets from 7 to 11, obovate, obtuse or abrupt, 

 very minutely pointed, somewhat fleshy ; smooth above ; more 

 or less hairy 'beneath. Stipulas ovate, entire, a little spreading. 

 Fl. about 6 or more together, in umbels, rising high above the 

 rest of the plant, on long, stout, smooth, naked, axillary or ter- 

 minal, stalks. Standard deep yellow, and striated, in front j 



v2 



