Tieh SRETISH 1H ER AT 
gl 
G EN U 8 
VII. 
BP? A EOR CVE. T 6 Fy. 
BOR. BOM, 
WHE flower is papilionaceous. The vexillum is large, roundith, 
The alz are fhort and obtufe. 
divided at the edge into five narrow fegments. 
a kind of joints by the fwelling of the feeds. 
The carina is very fhort, and terminates ina point, 
flat, and lightly turned back: 
The cup is 
The fruit is a long, rounded pod, diftinguithed into 
_ Linnzus places this among the diadelphia decandria ; the threads being difpofed as in all the preceding 
genera. This genus is generally called orodus; but that name being appropriated to another, it is beft 
to ufe the other term ervum. 
Narrow-leaved Bitter Vetch: 
Ervum foliis anguftis. 
The root is compofed of many flender 
fibres. 
The ftalks are numerous, weak, and trailing, 
unlefs fupported. 
The leaves are long and narrow : they are com- 
pofed of numerous pairs of oblong and flender 
pinnee, and are of a dufky green. 
The flowers are large and white: they ftand 
fingly on long, flender footftalks, rifing from the 
bofoms of the leaves. i 
The feed-veffel is long, and appears jointed, 
{welling out at the places where the feeds lie, 
It is a native of Italy, and the fouth of France, 
and flowers in Auguft. 
C. Bauhine calls it Orobus filiquis articulatis flore 
majore. Others, Qrobus verus, and Orobus re- 
ceptus herbariorum, : 
Tt isa difpute whether this be or be not the 
orobus of fome of the antient writers ; but it is 
of little confequence, the virtues being too in- 
Geer 
Neo Uns 
confiderable to warrant any great enquiry on that 
head. 
2. Small-flowered Bitter Vetch. 
Ervum flofeulis minoribus. 
The foot divides into numerous fibres; and is 
whitith. - i 
The ftalks are flender, weak, hollow, of a 
pale green, and half a yard high. 
The leaves are large, and of a beautiful green; 
they are compofed each of fix or more pairs of 
long and narrow pinne; with an odd one at the 
end. 
The flowers are very finall and white: fome- 
times lightly dafhed with purple. 
_ They ftand three or four together, on long, 
flender footftalks. 
The pods are flender; long, and very deeply 
divided or jointed by the fwelling of the feeds. 
The feeds are {mall and cornered. 
It is a native of France, and flowers in Auguft. 
C. Bauhine calls it Orobus femine obtufo trian- 
gulo. Others, Cicer orobienm. 
IX, 
SECURIDACA. 
HE flowet is papilionaceous. The vexillum is fhort; of a heart-like fhape, and turned back at 
the top and fides. 
The alz are oval, obtufe, and convergent upwards. 
The carina is flatted, 
fhort, and pointed. The cup is divided into two principal parts; the upper one is divided again into 
two, and the lower one into three fegments. 
the feeds are fquare. 
The feed-veffel is very long, flender, and flatted, and 
Linnzeus places this among the diadelpbia decandrias the threads in the flower being ten, and dif- 
pofed as in the preceding genera, 
Great yellow Securidaca. 
Securidaca major flore flavo. 
The root is divided into many parts, and fur- 
nifhed with innumerable fibres. 
The ftalks are numerous, and of a pale green, 
tough, and branched; and, when properly fup- 
ported, they will rife to the height of four feet or 
more. : 
The leaves are large, and beautifully pianated : 
each is compofed of fix or eight pairs of pinnz, 
with an odd one at the end; and thefe are broad, 
fhort, obtufe, ‘and of a bright green. 
The flowers are large and yellow : they grow in 
tufts, four or more together upon the tops of flen- - 
‘der footftalks rifing from the bofoms of the leaves, 
The feed-veffels are long, flender, flatted, and 
fomewhat hooked. 
It is common in France and Italy among corn, 
and flowers in Auguft. ; 
C. Bauhine calls it Securidaca lutea major. 
Linneus makes it a fpecies of coronilla. 
G EON: Urs 
