\ 
283 
The SBGRMT tril ste Rein 
GR Be N 
Ue Soe Vn 
Vert Ty TC" SET: 
Viel 
TA 
Spek flower is compofed of four petals, and is of the papilionaceous kind, The vexi'lum is of an 
oval figure, and has a very long bottom furrounding the rudiment of the fruit : 
is nipped and pointed, the fides turn back, and there is a line of an elevated form runni 
whole length of the back of it. The al are oblong, ftrait, and fomewhat heart-fathion 
have long bottoms. The carina is fhorter than the alz: it has alfo an oblong bottom, 
vided into two parts. The pod is long, and of a tough fubftance, and is terminated by a point: 
feeds are round. The leaves are pinnated, and compofed of numerous pairs; and they have not the 
bluith colour, which is almoft univerfal among the pea kind, and common to mott of the | 
Linnzus places this among the diadelphia decandria; the threads in the flower being: te 
affortments. But he joins with it the bean, among fome other equally different plants. 
the top of it 
ng down the 
ed and they 
which is di- 
the 
athyri. 
n, in two 
In vindication of this he fays, that, having repeatedly examined and compared the flowers of the 
vetch and bean, there appeared to him no effential difference: fo that, upon their fimilitude, he 
makes the bean a fpecies of verch, not a diftin genus. 
That difference, which is not feen in the flower, is evident in the pod and feeds of thefe plants 
and in Nature no two genera of this clafs are more perfectly feparated. : 
This author fays, that, in the leguminous tribe, the fhape of the fruit’alone is not to determine a- 
genus to be diftinét. But thefe are arbitrary words. Fancy may dictate laws in this cafe, but Na- 
ture has eftablifhed none. It is certain that the difference of the fruit is a fufficient mark for the 
diftinétion of genera among the leguminous plants; and thefe are properly feparate genera : 
therefore we do not include the bean among the vetch kind, but fhall treat onl 
fo called under this head. 
Del Vo IeS2i O-Ne<T. 
1. The Common Tare. 
Vicia vulgaris fativa femine nigricante. 
The root is compofed of numerous, long, thick, 
and irregular fibres. 
The ftalks are numerous, round, weak, and 
of a pale green: they ftand irregularly, and are 
fcarce able to keep themfelves up without fup- 
ports. : 
The leaves are very numerous, long, and nar- 
row: they are pinnated, but without an odd leaf 
at the end, a tendril growing in its place: each 
is compofed of fix or eight pairs of pinne ; and 
they are of a dufky green, and fomewhat hairy. 
The flowers ftand in the bofoms of the leaves, 
ufually two together, fupported on very fhort 
footftalks : they are large, and of a mix’d red 
and purple colour. 
The pods are large, long, and pointed: they 
ftand ufually pointing upwards: the feeds are 
numerous, round, and naturally blackith. 
It is common wild in the corn-fields of Italy, 
and is in our country alfo a native, but not fo 
common. I have feen it where there were no 
merks of the feed ever having been brought to 
the place, in our northern counties ; and it is alfo 
frequent wild in Ireland. 
C. Bauhine calls it Vicia vulgaris fativa femine 
nigro. 
He diftinguihes as a diftingt fpecies the verch 
with whitifh feeds, and many authors foliow him; 
but this is only a variety. 
2. Great Buth-Vetch. 
Vicia pinnis ovatis floribus numerofis. 
The root is long, flender, and furnifhed with 
many thick and ftrageling fibres. 
The ftalk is lender, weak, and of a pale green: 
it is 
y of verches properly 
Bekele SHS P Be sks, 
it is not able to fupport itfelf without climbi 
but, when bufhes are near it, 
five feet in height, 
The leaves are numerous, and placed irregu- 
larly: they are very beautifully pinnated, each 
being compofed of feven, eight, or more pairs 
of pinnz, which are of an oval form, and freth 
green colour. A tendril ftands in the place of an 
odd leaf at the end of each rib, 
The flowers are large, and of a beautiful bright 
red, ftriped with a deeper red, or with a pale 
purple: they ftand in clufters, fix or more toge- 
ther, and have fhort footftalks. 
The pods are finall: they are fhort and com- 
preffed ; and the feeds are blackifh, and nearly 
round. 
It is common in thickets, and flowers in July, 
C. Bauhine calls it Vicia maxima Dumeterum, 
Others, Vicia fepium perennis. Tt is fometimes _ 
feen with white flowers, but very rarely. 
nB3 
will rife to four or 
3. Great Buth-Vetch with fhort pinne. 
Vicia pinnis brevioribus obtufis floribus numer ofis. 
The root is compofed of numerous, long, thick 
fibres. 
The ftalk is weak, but very long: when there 
is a fufficient fupport of buthes, it often grows to 
fix feet. 
The leaves are pinnated, and each has eight or. 
more pairs: thefe are fhort, obtufe, and of a deep . 
green colour. 
The flowers grow in tufts with fhort footftalks, 
and are throughout of a dull purplith colour. 
The pods are fhort and thick; each contains 
about fix feeds, which very much refemble thofe 
of the common tare. ~ 
It is found in thickets and among bufhes in 
our northern counties ; but ic is not common. 
A Ray. 
