282 
The BRITISH HERBAL. 
compofed of three or four pairs of pinne regu- 
larly placed, witha tendril growing from the end. 
The pinnz are oblong, narrow, and fharp- 
pointed, of a deep green, and not at all indented 
at the edges. 
The flowers are placed on long, flender pe- 
dicles rifing from the bofoms of the leaves, feve- 
ral of them ftanding in a row one over another 
on each pedicle ; and they are large, and of a 
mixed colour, partly red and partly blue. 
DIVISION. IL. 
Long-leaved Clymenum. 
Clymenum foliis longioribus. 
‘The root is compofed of numerous flender 
. fibres, connected to a fmall head. 
The ftalk is weak, flatted, and of a pale green, 
very flightly edged; and, when tolerably fup- 
ported, it will grow to four feet high. 
The leaves ftand thick upon it, and are pin- 
nated : each is compofed of three or four pairs of 
very fine, long, and narrow pinnz; which are 
tharp-pointed, not at all dentated at the edges, 
The pods are large and flender, and the feeds 
are roundifh. 
We have it in the neighbourhood of London, 
and many other places among bufhes. It flowers 
in July. 
Ray calls it Vicia lathyriformis, five vicia la- 
thyroides noftras. Merret, Lathyrus ex ceruleo & 
rubro mixtus. tis the only fpecies of clymenum 
we have wild. 
FOREIGN SPECIES. 
and of a beautiful pale green: the rib on’ which 
thefe ftand is terminated by a long fine tendril. 
The flowers grow from the bofoms of the 
leaves on long flender footftalks; and they are 
large and purple. 4 
The feed-veffel is long and flender, and the 
feeds are roundifh and brown. 
It is a native of Italy, and flowers in July. 
Morifon calls it Lathyrus anguftifolius leptoma- 
crolobus femine rotundo, Others, Clymenum Ita- 
lorum. 
GE AN Und vIV. 
YELLOW VETCHLING. 
AS PB AS CA, 
HE. flower is of the papilionaceous form, and is compofed of four petals. The vexillum is large, 
nipp’d at the extremity, and turned back at the top and fides. The ala are fhort, crooked, and 
obtufe. Thé carina is broad, of a half-round fhape, and fplit in the middle. The cup is of a bell- 
like fhape, and is divided into five irregular fegments at the edge: the two upper ones are fhort, and 
the fingle under one is very long. The pod is oblong and rounded. The leaves are placed in pairs 
upon the ftalk, and are of a three-cornered fhape. f 
This is a very fingular genus: there is but one known fpecies of it, and that is a native of Britain. 
We are unhappy in wanting an Englifh generical name for it, for that of yellow vetchling feems to re- 
fer to another genus. As I have a diflike to inventing new names, I fhall advife the ftudent to ufe 
the Latin one aphaca. 
Linnzeus places this among the diadelpbia decandria ; the ftamina being ten, and formed into par- 
cels, nine in one, and a fingle one in the other: but he confounds it, among feveral other genera, 
with the lathyrus. He does not allow the leaves of this plant to be properly fuch, but only a kind of 
ftipulz, fuch as others of the pea and lathyrus kind have upon the ftalk, at the places where the 
proper Jeaves rife. But this is a forced thought. ‘The leaves are as properly and perfeétly leaves as 
thofe of any other plant ; and their great fingularity perfetly diftinguifhes the genus from all others 
of the papilionaceous leguminous clas. 
Yellow Vetchling. 
Aphaca. 
The root is long, flender, and furnifhed with 
many fibres. ; 
The ftalk rifes-ufually fingle, and frequently 
is nor at all branched: it is round, almoft up- 
tight, and not more than a foot high. 
The leaves are numerous, and they are very 
fingular: they are of a triangular figure, broad, 
fharp-pointed, and terminated by two points at 
the corners ofthe bafe: they ftand two together 
at the joints, and are of a pale and fomewhat 
ycllowith green. From the bofoms of thefe there 
rife tendrils ; but the plant is low, and tolerably 
ftrong ; fo that it wants them lefs than many other 
kinds. ; 
The flowers are fupported fingly on flender 
footftalks, and they are moderately large and 
yellow. 
The pod is oblong, and the feeds are roundifh. 
It is found in many parts of England on dry 
hilly paftures, and flowers in Augutt. 
C. Bauhine calls it Vicia lutea foliis convolvoli 
minoris, Others, Aphaca. 
The feeds of the aphaca are faid to. be ufeful 
againft epileptic diforders; but there is no good 
authority for crediting it. 
GE Ne Uaas 
