Distribution: Europe, Siberia, northAvards to about the Arctic Circle, and east- 

 wards roughtly to Lake Baikal, souLh-wesLern Asia, Cashmere. 



Vicia amoena Fischer in DC. Prodrom. II (1825) p. 355; Ledeb. Fl. Alt. Ill, p. 343; 

 Turczan. Cat. Baical. no. 372; Ledeb. FL Ross. I, p. 672; Turczan. Fl. Baical-Dahur. 

 (1842) p. 788, no. 362; Kptiji. $ji. Ajit. II (1903) p. 330. 



It appears from the rather rich material collected that this species is subjected to 

 great variations in nearly every respect. Korshinsky (Acta Hort. Petropol. XII, p. 

 323) separates 3 forms of this one from eastern Asia, viz. /. iypica Regel, /. oblongifolia 

 Regel, and/". g^Zaftra KoRSH. (without diagnosis). The same forms also occur in my 

 material, but as all transitions and combinations are to be found between them, it is quite 

 impossible to separate distinct forms with well defined characters, and the decision 

 where the lines between them should be drawn, thus becomes a mere matter of judge- 

 ment. Firstly, as to the hairiness there are to be found all transitions between specimens 

 with dense hairs and nearly quite glabrous ones. The leaves are 5 — 10 pinnate, and the 

 leaflets vary in shape from broadly ovate through all transitions to very lengthened, up to 

 6 times as long as broad. Some leaflets are of about equal breadth throughout their 

 lenght, others are broadest in the middle, and tapering to the ends, or they are nearly 

 lanceolate and acuminate, tapering upwards from a broader base. The apices of the leaf- 

 lets are generally broadly rounded, or they may be nearly truncate, or even slightly emar- 

 ginate; others are more or less acuminate and mucronate. For the rest, the leaflets vary 

 very considerably in shape and size, even in the very same plant. In my material the 

 maximal length of the leaflets is 3,3 cm., and the corresponding breadth 1,5 cm. Leaves 

 with broad leaflets have, as a general rule, few pairs, and leaves with narrower leaflets 

 more pairs. The pubescence of the leaflets is, like that of the stem, much varying. The 

 stipules are larger or smaller, with the margin entire or toothed. It is, moreover, a rather 

 characteristic fact that the leaflets frequently are not opposite, but often alternate. The 

 flowers, which are to be found in a number of 10 — 15 in each raceme, are 15 — 18 mm. 

 long. The raceme is about twice as long as the axillary leaf. The length of the pedicels 

 is 2 — 3 mm., and the bracts, which, by the way, are deciduous early in season, vary from 

 being small, fine, filiform to attaining a length of over 10 mm., thus by far overtopping the 

 pedicel itself. The species is of vei^ common occurrence on islets in the rivers Yenisei 

 and Abakan, especially in meadows and in thickets, where I have collected it in full 

 flower in June. Besides, I have found the species to be rather common in the Urjankai 

 country, about Ust Sisti-kem, at Ust Kamsara, and Ust Tara-kem. 



Distribution: Southern and south-eastern Siberia, northwards to about 61 3^° north 

 lat., northern Mongolia, China, Manchooria, Corea, Sakhalin, Japan. 



Vicia megalotropis Ledeb. Fl. Alt. IIL p. 344; Karel. et Kiril. Enum. PL Fl. Alt. no. 

 271; Ledeb. Fl. Ross. I, p. 674; Epwj. Uji. Ajit. II (1903) p. 331. 



van typica Trautv. Catal. Viciear. Ross, in Act Hort. Petropol. Ill (1874) I, p. 50; 

 KpMjr. 1. c. 



309 



