i9*°l HOLM—CICER ARIETINUM 



447 





respects. No mention of this plant is made by Solereder in his 

 comprehensive work Systematische Anatomie der Dicotyledonen. 



C. arietinum is an annual branching from the base, the several 

 stems erect, angular or winged, densely glandular-pubescent, as 

 are also the leaves; the primary root is quite strong, and the 

 lateral roots bear tubercles. The leaves are odd-pinnate with 

 obovate, dentate leaflets (fig. 4), and the stipules are incised 

 (fig. 6). The solitary flowers (figs. 4, 5) are white, with the wings 

 free, and they are borne on axillary peduncles, strongly reflexed; 

 the two prophylla are very distinct. The sessile ovary contains 

 one or two ovules, and the filiform style is incurved. The pod is 

 relatively large (fig. 6), ovoid to oblong, turgid, 2-valved; the 

 seeds (fig. 7) are subglobose with the radicula almost straight. 

 As stated, the plant is glandular-pubescent, and the hairs are 

 clavate and pericellular (fig. 8). They contain free oxalic acid, 

 according to Van Tieghem. 3 



Seedling 



So far, no description has been given of the seedling stage of 

 this plant. The seeds require only a few days (less than a week) 

 to germinate; a young seedling is shown in fig. 1. The primary 

 root (R) is quite long, vertical, and branches freely. There is no 

 hypocotyl, and the cotyledons (Cot) remain subterranean, each 

 with an axillary bud. The plumule develops an erect shoot, the 

 first leaves of which are merely stipules. Fig. 2 illustrates an 

 older seedling with the primary root still longer, and with the 

 cotyledonary buds having developed into small shoots (fig. 3). 

 The primary shoot now represents an erect stem with typical 

 foliage, and several axillary branches. 



It is characteristic of the seedling stage, therefore, that the 

 cotyledons remain underground, subtending axillary buds; that 

 the epicotyl (Ep) is erect and stretched; and that already the 

 first stem leaves subtend branches. The glandular pubescence 

 appears at the seedling stage, but is not shown in the figure, since 

 the hairs cover the stem and leaves completely, and drawn in ink 

 the}- would make the figures completely black. 



3 Van Tieghem, Ph., Traite de Botanique. Paris. 1884 (p. 542). 



