106 



XXVL LEGUMINOS^: ASTRAGALE^, {.^^ytvopis 



\ 



f 



tube or longer, stems procumbent, legumes slender, 

 heads 



7. not very common. 1:^. 7, 8. — The two upper ca/ycme teeth con 

 verge with a rounded sinus between them: in the next they divert' 

 forming an acute angle. '^ 



2. L. major Scop, {iiarrow -leaved B.) ; heads depressed um- 

 bellate 8 — 12-flovvered, 2')eduncles very long, calycine teeth 

 Subulate from an angular base always spreading, the two uppei. 

 ones diverging, claw of the standard linear, leaflets obovate 

 stems nearly erect tubular. E. B. t. 209L * 



Sides of ditches and moist bushy places, by no means unfroquent 

 %, 7, 8. — The place of growth of this plant, in moister situations 

 than L, cornicidatns, consequently inducing a greater developinent of 

 every part, is, in itself, almost sufficient to account for the triflino- 

 variations which distinguish it from that well-known species. It is 

 sometimes nearly glabrous, but usually hairy ; and a very hairy state 

 has been gathered in Ireland. 



3. L. avgustissimus L. (slender B.) ; villous, heads 1—4- 

 flowered, peduncles scarcely twice as long as the leaves, leaflets 

 ovate-lanceolate, calyx-teeth straight in the bud as long as the 



— a. minor; 

 1 — 2-flowered, legumes about 6 times longer than tie 

 calyx often 20-seeded. L. diffusus E. B. t. 925. — (3, major; 

 heads 2 — 4-flowcred, legumes rugose shorter and broader about 

 2 — 3 times the length of the calyx about 12-seeded, L. hispidus 

 Desf. : E. B. S. t. 2823. 



South of England, very rare. — a. Castle rock at Hastings, Sus- 

 sex ; at Kingstelgnton and Bishopsteignton, Devon : Stokes Bay, 

 near Gosport, Hants. Strand, near Passage, Ireland. Jersey. — j8. 

 Cornwall, near the Lizard and Penzance ; Devonshire. 0. 5—8. 



Iloivers much smaller, and aspect very different from any of the 



preceding. The more luxuriant the specimens are, the thicker and 



shorter is the legume : in this respect our British specimens of the 



var, j8. accord better with L. hirsutus Desf. as originally described 



from cultivated plants, than do wild ones from the south of Europe. 



Sometimes var, a. has the legume only ^ a line thick and 12 lines long, 



and i8. a line thick and only 6 lines long ; but numerous intermediate 



states may be observed. The characters usually derived from the 



relative length of the calyx-tube and teeth, the length o^ i\\Q peduncles 



the heak of the legumes, and the shape of the leaflets and stipides, only 



apply to British specimens, and are quite insufficient to separate foreign 



ones of these two varieties. 



Tribe III. Astragalk^e. Legume spuriously and longitudi- 

 nally 1- or 2' celled^ by the introjlexion of one of the svtiires. 

 Stamens diadelphous (9 and 1). Stems herbaceous^ or some' 

 what shrubby. Leaves pinnate. (Gen. 11, 12.) 



11. OxYTROPis De Cand. Oxyti'opis. 



1 



Keel with a narrow point. Legume tumid 2-celled (more or 



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