Lotus.'] 



XXVI. LEGUMINOS^ : TRIFOLIE^. 



105 



I 



( 



t* 



Dry pastures and borders of fields, frequent. ©. G — 8. — Pri- 

 mary or central stem erect; lateral ones or branches ascending or 

 procumbent, sometimes wanting. This is well distinguished from 

 the following by its large, dense, hop-like heads of j^oerers, and the 

 standard which is striate when old, 



19. T. minus Relh. (lesser yelloio TJ); heads of 8 — 15 close 

 flowers on rigid peduncles, pedicels rarely half the length of the 

 tube of the calyx, upper calyx-teeth about ^of the length of 

 the lower, standard truncate obscurely furrowed much broader 

 than and quite covering the mature legume, lower leaf-stalks 

 much longer than the stipules, leaflets obcordate central one on 

 a longer stalk, stems decumbent hairy. £J. B. t. 1256. 



, Dry pastures and road-sides, frequent. ©. 6, 7. — We entertain 

 inany doubts whether this and the next are essentially distinct, or even 

 if the characters assigned are constant : the pedicels certainly vary 

 considerably in length, being sometimes so short that the flowers may 

 be almost called sessile, sometimes almost as long as the tube of the 

 calyx. 



20. T, Jiliforme L. (slender yelloio T.) ; heads on capillary 

 peduncles of 2 —5 lax racemed flowers, pedicels longer than the 

 tube of the calyx, upper calycine teeth half the length of the lower 

 ones, standard even deeply notched as narrow as and not cover- 

 ing the ripe legume, leaf-stalks scai-cely the length of the sti- 

 pules, leaflets obcordate equally stalked, stem glabrous. JE. B. 

 t 1257. T. micranthum Viv. 



Dry pastures and road-sides, frequent. ©. 6, 





late 



10. Lotus Linn. Bird's-foot Trefoil. 



C«?. 5-toothed; teeth nearly equal. i^eeZ ascending, much 

 acuminate. Legume cylindrical, somewhat spongy within, 

 and imperfectly many-celled. — Flowers umbellate: peduncles 

 hearing a leaf at their apex. Leaves trifoliolate. — ISTanie ; sup- 

 posed to be one of the three kinds (the herbaceous) of the Xojrog 

 of the Greeks. 



I 



riorniciddtus L. (common B.) ; heads depressed umbel- 

 10-flowered, peduncles very long, calyx-teeth of the 

 flower-bud straight, the two upper ones always converging, 

 claw of the standard obovate and inflated above stems decum- 

 bent. — a. vidgaris; leaves obovate nearly glabrous. — (a) 

 everywhere glabrous or nearly so, leaflets thin, 

 jus Z.; E. B. t. 2090. — (6) leaflets thick fleshy. — /3. villosus ; 

 leaves obovate and as well as the stem and calyx clothed with 

 very long spreading hairs. — v. tenuif alius : leaflets 

 lanceolate or linear-obovate. 



a. Pastures everywhere, abundant, the second form near the sea. 

 P. rare, Hiirham. TCpnt- • T?.,rn^;rvK Salterton * 



L. cornicula- 



-y. tenuifolius ; leaflets narrow 

 L. tenuis Kit. ; E. B. S. t. 2615. 



Higham, Kent ; 



Budleii>;h 

 F 5 



Sandgate, 



» 



