~ Jar form : its tafte is fweet, and in fome degree 
Th BRITISH HERBAL. 289 
ground : they are a foot and half long, of a pale 
green, ftriated, and hairy. 
The leaves are pinnated in a very regular and 
beautiful manner: each is compofed of eight or 
ten pair of {mall pinnae, which are oblong, and 
of a dufky green on the upper fide, and of a 
paler green underneath. 
The fowers ftand in little clufters fix or eight 
together, and are of a plain redifh colour on the 
outfide, and of a dead purple, ftreaked with 
white, within. 
The pods are broad, fhort, and fomewhat 
flatted: the feeds are alfo fmall and flatted. 
We have it in the north of England, and in 
fome of the fouthern provinces in woods, but 
not common. r | 
Ray calls it Orobus fylveftris noftras. The 
older writers have not mentioned it. 
2. Heath Orobus. 
Orobus fylvaticus foliis oblongis glabris. 
The root is large, tuberous, and of an irregu- 
refembles that of liquorice. 
D.lp Val ooh OeN ae lls FO 
Broad leaved Orobus. 
Orobus pinnis latis. 
The root is long, thick, and divided into many 
parts. a 
The ftalk is of a pale green, firm, and tole- 
rably upright, and a foot and half high. 
The leaves are very beautifully pinnated : they 
are long, large, and of a pale green: each is 
compofed of two or three pairs of pinnz, which 
are of an oval figure, but fharp-pointed, and of a 
deep green. ; 
G Serre N 
The ftalk is weak, angular, ftriated, of a dufky 
green, and a foot high. : 
The leaves are placed irregularly on it, and are 
of a deep green colour: they are of the pinnated 
kind, the larger confifting of two pairs of pinnae, 
without either a tendril or an odd leaf at the end 
and the fmailer only of one pair. d 
The flowers grow on long footftalks at the tops 
of the ftalks and branches two or three together, 
and they are of a pleafing purple colour. ee 
The pods are long and flender, and the feeds 
are roundifh, 
It is very common among) bufhes on heathg 
and in woods, and it flowers in April and 
May. » 
Ray calls it Orobus fylvaticus foliis oblongis 
glabris, Others, Aftragalus fylvaticus, Aftraga- 
loides, and Lathyrus lignofior. 
The roots fliced and boiled are good againft 
coughs; and in nephritic complaints : they on 
any occafion are ferviceable to obtund the acri- 
mony of humors, 
RE AG Neg SS: Pike Tehes. 
The flowers grow in clufters, eight or ten toge- 
ther, on long footftalks rifing from the bofoms 
of the leaves: they are fmall, and of a faint 
purple. 
The pods are longifh and flender, and the feeds 
are fmall and round. 
It is a native of Italy, and flowers in May and 
June. ; 
Clufius calls it Orobus fylvaticus venetus; and 
others adopt the fame name. 
Uses ae es 
GRASS-VETC H; 
NISSOLTA. 
HE flower is papilionaceous, and is compofed of four petals. The vexillum is large, and the 
top and fides turn back; the extremity alfo is a little nipped. The alz are fhort, blunt, anda 
little hooked. The carina is broad, and of a half-round figure, and is fplit at the bottom. The pod 
is very long, and the feeds are numerous and round. The leaves are placed fingly and alternately on 
the ftalks; and are long and narrow, refembling thofe of grafs. 
Linnzus places this among the diadelphia decandria, the flower having ten threads, nine connected 
in one body, and a fingle one feparate. But this author does not allow the plant to be a diftiné&t ge- 
nus. He joins this, as the clymenum, apbaca, and others, all improperly with the /athyrus, making 
them {pecies of that genus. The conformity of the flowers in all thefe plants is this author’s reafon 
for his fyftem permits him to look no farther: but as the fpecies are numerous, and generical dif- 
-tin@tions therefore needful, where they can be fupported, this fimilarity of the flowers is the reafon 
why the characters fhould be more carefully fought in other parts of the plant. The leaves afford 
thefe abundantly: and the genus of /athyrus, as he eftablithes it, is thus with perfect reafon, and by 
very obvious characters, divided into four ; the proper Jathyrus having a fingle pair of pinnz only, the 
clymenum two or more pairs, the aphaca fingle leaves in pairs, and the gra/s-vetch fingle leaves 
placed alternately. 
" Thefe are diftinétions as fixed and invariable as any the whole fcience affords from the flowers of 
plants: they are ufeful in the higheft degree, and they are obvious and familiar. 
Of this fingular genus there is but one known fpecies, and that is a native of Britain: 
N° 29. . 4£E The 
