FLORA OP THE BRISTOL COAL-FIELD. 



117 



Vicia gracilis, Lois. 



An addition to the Flora, from the Somerset division. 

 At the time when our Leguminosaa wore published, 

 the mention of tins vetch by Babiugton iii tlie 

 "Flora Bathoniensis " — a solitary record, uncon- 

 firmed during nearly fifty years — did not seem 

 sufficient ground for its being included., Whatevo- 

 uncertainty attached to that record has been re-, 

 moved by Mr. David Fry, who sends me a note on, 

 his rc-discoveiy of the plant. 

 Tlie only record which has hitherto connected this 

 vetch with the Bristol district is the following, in 

 the " Supplement to the Fl. Bathon. 1839," p. 74. 

 " liJrvum gracile. On Barrow Hill." Tliere does 

 not appear to have been any confirmation of V. yra- 

 cilis on Barrow Hill until September, 188G, when a 

 careful examination of the locality disclosed the 

 con tinned existence in fair, but by no means abun- 

 dant, quantity of this rare species, at the spot 

 where it was first discovered by Babington, now 

 nearly lialf a century ago. V. gracilis may easily 

 be mistaken for the closely allied and compara- 

 tively common V. tetrasperma, espooially when, as 

 in the case of the Barrow Hill plant, all the ped- 

 uncles are single flowered, and none of the pods more 

 than five-seeded. But the very differently shaped 

 hilum of the seed affords a character whereby the 

 two species may be satisfactorily separated. In 

 V. , tetrasperma the hilum is linear-oblong and 

 much larger than that of F. gracilis, which is very 

 minute and roundish-oval in outline. Dr. Bos well 

 I'cmarks in E. B. that " the length of the hilum 

 appeal's a constant character' in all the vetches," 



